Mary H. MacLean

Personality predicts temporal attention costs in the attentional blink paradigm

Accuracy for a second target is reduced when it is presented within 500 msec of a first target. This phenomenon is called the attentional blink (AB). A diffused attentional state (via positive affect or an additional task) has been shown to reduce the AB, whereas a focused attentional state (via negative affect) has been shown to increase the AB, purportedly by influencing the amount of attentional investment and flexibility. In the present study, individual differences in personality traits related to positive affect, negative affect, and cognitive flexibility were used to predict individual differences in AB magnitude. As hypothesized, greater extraversion and openness predicted smaller ABs. Greater openness also predicted higher overall target accuracy. Greater neuroticism predicted larger ABs and lower overall target accuracy. Conscientiousness, associated with less cognitive flexibility, predicted lower overall target accuracy. Personality may modulate the AB by influencing overinvestment via dispositional tendencies toward more or less stringent or capable cognitive control.

Executive control processes of working memory predict attentional blink magnitude over and above storage capacity

When two masked, to-be-attended targets are presented within approximately half a second of each other, performance on the second target (T2) suffers, relative to when the targets are presented further apart in time or when the first target (T1) can be ignored. This phenomenon is known as the attentional blink (AB). Colzato et al. (Psychon Bull Rev 14:1051–1057, 2007) used an individual differences approach to examine whether individual AB magnitude was predicted by individual differences in working memory (WM), using the operation span paradigm (OSPAN). They found that OSPAN score was inversely related to AB magnitude even when a fluid intelligence measure (Raven’s SPM) was partialled out. However, it is not clear from this study whether it was the executive control aspect of working memory, the capacity aspect of short-term memory, (or both), that related to AB magnitude. In the present study we used a variety of WM measures that required varying degrees of executive control. OSPAN was negatively related to AB magnitude with Raven’s SPM, reading comprehension, reading rate, and digit forward and backward partialled out. Backward and forward digit span did not predict AB magnitude. These results support the conclusion that a “working” executive component of WM predicts temporal limitations of selective attention beyond static STM capacity and general cognitive ability.

Greater attentional blink magnitude is associated with higher levels of anticipatory attention as measured by alpha event-related desynchronization (ERD).

Accuracy for a second target (T2) is reduced when it is presented within 500 ms of a first target (T1) in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP)-an attentional blink (AB). Reducing the amount of attentional investment with an additional task or instructing the use of a more relaxed cognitive approach has been found to reduce the magnitude of the AB. As well, personality and affective traits, as well as affective states, associated with a more diffused or flexible cognitive approach have been found to predict smaller AB magnitudes. In the current study, event-related desynchronization in the alpha range was used to investigate whether the degree of attentional investment in anticipation of a RSVP trial was related to the behavioral outcome of that trial. As hypothesized, greater alpha ERD before the RSVP trial, indicating greater anticipatory attentional investment, was observed on short lag trials where an AB was present (inaccurate T2 performance) compared to short lag trials where an AB did not occur. However, on trials where T2 was presented after a longer period relative to T1, greater alpha ERD before the RSVP trial was found on trials with accurate T2 performance. Results support models of the AB that propose that greater attentional investment underlies the AB, and furthermore that this attentional investment is prepared in anticipation before each RSVP trial.

Dispositional affect predicts temporal attention costs in the attentional blink paradigm

Theories suggest that positive affect broadens attention, whereas negative affect focuses attention. This position has been supported by studies showing that positive affect leads to more diffuse spatial attention while negative affect leads to more focused spatial attention. Recently, researchers have used the attentional blink (AB) paradigm to show that induced positive affect may also lead to more diffuse temporal attention, allowing greater accuracy for targets presented within a short time interval. The present study investigated whether dispositional affect could modulate temporal attentional diffusion using the AB paradigm. Consistent with the diffusion hypothesis, greater positive affect was associated with smaller AB magnitude, whereas greater negative affect was associated with larger AB magnitude. Thus, dispositional affect can modulate the costs of attentional selection over brief time intervals.

Resting EEG in Alpha and Beta Bands Predicts Individual Differences in Attentional Blink Magnitude.

Accuracy for a second target (T2) is reduced when it is presented within 500 ms of a first target (T1) in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) - an attentional blink (AB). There are reliable individual differences in the magnitude of the AB. Recent evidence has shown that the attentional approach that an individual typically adopts during a task or in anticipation of a task, as indicated by various measures, predicts individual differences in the AB deficit. It has yet to be observed whether indices of attentional approach when not engaged in a goal-directed task are also relevant to individual differences in the AB. The current studies investigated individual differences in the AB by examining their relationship with attention at rest using quantitative measures of EEG. Greater levels of alpha at rest were associated with larger AB magnitudes, where greater levels of beta at rest were associated with smaller AB magnitudes. Furthermore, individuals with more beta than alpha demonstrated a smaller AB effect than individuals with more alpha than beta. Our results suggest that greater attentional engagement at rest, when not engaged in a goal-directed task, is associated with smaller AB magnitudes.