The attentional blink reflects retrieval competition among multiple rapid serial visual presentation items: Tests of an interference model

When people respond to a target (T1) in a rapid serial visual presentation stream their perception of a subsequent: target (T2) is impaired if the int ertarget stimulus onset asynchrony is between about 100 and 500 ms. Three e xperiments supported the interference model's (K. L. Shapiro, J. E. Raymond , & K. M. Arnell, 1994) claim that this attentional blink reflects competit ion for retrieval among multiple items in visual short-term memory. Experim ents 1 and 2 revealed that items appearing during the blink are named as T2 on an above-chance proportion of trials when T2 must be identified. Experi ment 3 demonstrated that both the size of the blink and sensitivity to T2 r eflected the number of items competing for retrieval as T2; such competitio n, moreover, occurred at a conceptual or categorical level rather than at a purely visual one. The relationship between the interference and alternati ve models of the attentional blink is discussed.