Intertarget Distractors and Input Filter Compatibility in the Attentional Blink

Abstract

The Attentional Blink (AB) refers to the impairment in report accuracy of a second target when presented shortly after the first target in a stream of distractors. The main goal of the present study was to understand the nature of intertarget distractor interference in the AB by manipulating the compatibility of the distractor immediately trailing the first target and the attentional filter set to select targets preferentially for a conscious report. Results show that distractor/filter compatibility had no impact on the AB, except when the distractor was of the same response category as the targets. In these conditions, the AB was larger in compatible than incompatible conditions, an effect that could be explained by an increase in misselection errors. Results are discussed in relation to extant theories of the AB.