Attentional Blink'- Behavioral and neural correlates

Abstract

‘Attentional blink’ which is the inability of processing and reporting the second of the two consecutive targets which appear temporally closer, is a well-studied phenomenon in the consciousness literature for its potential for relieving the temporal dynamics of perceiving and reporting consciously. The phenomenon is thought to involve working memory and attention deficit, both. The present study throws light on the behavioral and neural aspects of the phenomenon. By fitting the results with the multidimensional detection model (m-ADC), it has been found that it is the component of attention called ‘sensitivity’ which gets affected more as opposed to ‘bias’ during the ‘blink period’. The study aims to find out the signatures in the brain for the sensitivity decline in the trials with shorter inter-target interval. The event-related potentials (ERPs) of the electrodes from the occipital, parietal and frontal electrodes are found to have decreased amplitude in the ‘blink’ period, suggesting lesser activity in the brain for processing the second of the two targets. Thus, the neural cause of the deficit in the ability to discriminate during the ‘blink’ period can be studied by correlating it with the ERP amplitudes.