The Effect Mechanism of Non-Targets on Attentional Blink in RSVP Paradigm

This paper explored the effect mechanism of non-targets on attentional blink (AB) in the RSVP paradigm. In experiment I, the number of non-targets between the first target (T1) and the second target (T2) was manipulated. In the condition of with fewer non-targets, it found that the proportion of correct response increased within 200-500ms of SOA but the J-shaped AB effect was still there. In the condition of without non-targets, the AB effect significantly decreased. It implied that the non-targets between T1 and T2 worked for AB effect, including the forward-masking for T2 and the backward-masking for T1. The latter was more important and necessary on AB. In experiment 2, the processing of T1 became harder. The AB effect was found in the condition of without non-targets. However, compared to the baseline, a stronger AB effect was observed in the condition of with non-targets. It implied that the non-targets disturbed the recognition of T1 by the backward-masking so that the recognition of T2 also failed. In conclusion, the effect mechanism was that the backward-masking for T1 contributed more compared to the forward-masking for T2 on AB effect in the RSVP paradigm.