Failure to identify the target does not prevent the attentional blink effect

The attentional blink has been attributed to capacity limitations at a cent ral level of processing. We tested whether failure to identify the target w ould eliminate the blink. Two agnostic patients were presented with streams of letters, which they were able to identify, and streams of pictures, whi ch they were unable to identify. The dual-task involved identification of a target and detection of a probe. With letters the duration of the blink wa s equivalent to that of the control subjects. A prolonged blink was observe d in both patients for pictures irrespective of whether the target was iden tified. This result indicates that failure to identify the target does neve rtheless mobilize attentional resources sufficiently to prevent detection o f a second target stimulus. NeuroReport 11:2775-2780 (C) 2000 Lippincott Wi lliams & Wilkins.