Priming in the attentional blink: Perception without awareness?

Authors: Visser, Troy; Merikle, Philip; Di Lollo, Vincent

Source: Visual Cognition, Volume 12, Number 7, October 2005 , pp. 1362-1372(11)

Publisher: Psychology Press, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

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Abstract:

The attentional blink refers to a reduction in accuracy that occurs when observers are required to identify the second of two rapidly sequential targets. Even when the second target cannot be reported, however, it is still capable of priming the response to a subsequent related item. At issue in the present work was whether this priming is attributable mainly to conscious or unconscious processes. To answer this question, we used an exclusion procedure that permitted an assessment of the relative dominance of conscious and unconscious processes. The results showed that second targets that are identified incorrectly are nonetheless processed extensively outside of awareness. Moreover, this processing is sufficient to prime a subsequent response for at least 1 s after the onset of the prime.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13506280444000733

Affiliations: 1: University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

Publication date: 2005-10-01

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