Smells like … no evidence that odors influence the attentional blink

Abstract

The attentional blink (AB) paradigm is frequently used to investigate temporal attention. Essentially, rapid serial visual streams of several distractors and two targets are presented. The accuracy in detecting the second target stimulus (T2) decreases in the time window between 100 and 500 ms following accurate detection of the first target stimulus (T1). In two experiments, Colzato et al. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 76, 1510–1515, (2014) reported evidence for a modulation of the AB effect depending on the presentation of different ambient odors: Peppermint increased the AB compared with lavender. In the current study, we tried to replicate their basic findings while using different methods and procedures to present the lavender versus peppermint odorants. In three experiments, we found no evidence that these odorants influence the AB effect. We discuss our findings in comparison with those from Colzato et al., in relation to other empirical research in this field as well as in regard to different hypotheses concerning how odorants may influence human cognition.