Concurrency benefits in the attentional blink: Attentional flexibility and shifts of decision criteria

Abstract

Fundamental limitations in performing multiple tasks concurrently are well illustrated by the attentional blink (AB) deficit, which refers to the difficulty in reporting a second target (T2) when it is presented shortly after a first target (T1). Surprisingly, recent studies have shown that the AB, which is often thought of as a manifestation of capacity limitations in central processing, can be reduced when the AB task is performed simultaneously with concurrent distracting activities. In the present study, we sought to investigate whether such concurrency benefits would also be observed when the AB task was performed concurrently with a central demanding timing task. The AB was reduced under concurrent-task conditions, as compared with single-AB-task conditions, even though T1 performance was unaffected by the concurrent task. Moreover, shifts in decision criteria were found to be associated with the concurrency benefit effect.

Action Real-Time Strategy Gaming Experience Related to Increased Attentional Resources: An Attentional Blink Study

“…Furthermore, paradoxically, there is evidence showing that distracting participants' attention from the RSVP task (by introducing an additional task into the RSVP task-e.g., listening to music, thinking about holiday plans, discriminating the presence of a red dot during the AB task) may decrease the magnitude of the AB effect (Olivers andNieuwenhuis, 2005, 2006;Olivers, 2007;Taatgen et al, 2009). In addition, researchers proposed that concurrency benefits in the AB was linked to shifts in decision criteria (Lapointe-Goupil et al, 2011). However, the replicability of these findings needs further examination (i.e., see Footnote 1 in Olivers and Nieuwenhuis, 2006, which noted that attempts to replicate the result of listening to music had failed).…”