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The blinking spotlight of attention
- Source :
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, National Academy of Sciences, 2007, 104 (49), pp.19204-9. ⟨10.1073/pnas.0707316104⟩
- Publication Year :
- 2007
- Publisher :
- National Academy of Sciences, 2007.
-
Abstract
- Increasing evidence suggests that attention can concurrently select multiple locations; yet it is not clear whether this ability relies on continuous allocation of attention to the different targets (a “parallel” strategy) or whether attention switches rapidly between the targets (a periodic “sampling” strategy). Here, we propose a method to distinguish between these two alternatives. The human psychometric function for detection of a single target as a function of its duration can be used to predict the corresponding function for two or more attended targets. Importantly, the predicted curves differ, depending on whether a parallel or sampling strategy is assumed. For a challenging detection task, we found that human performance was best reflected by a sampling model, indicating that multiple items of interest were processed in series at a rate of approximately seven items per second. Surprisingly, the data suggested that attention operated in this periodic regime, even when it was focused on a single target. That is, attention might rely on an intrinsically periodic process.
- Subjects :
- Adult
Male
Psychometrics
Computer science
media_common.quotation_subject
Social Sciences
Attentional Blink
050105 experimental psychology
Periodic process
Task (project management)
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
Psychometric function
Humans
0501 psychology and cognitive sciences
Psychological testing
Attentional blink
Attention
Function (engineering)
media_common
Psychological Tests
Multidisciplinary
Extramural
business.industry
05 social sciences
Sampling (statistics)
Pattern recognition
oscillation
[SDV.NEU]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Neurons and Cognition [q-bio.NC]
Female
Artificial intelligence
business
parallel vs. serial
030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Caltech Library Services
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 00278424 and 10916490
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, National Academy of Sciences, 2007, 104 (49), pp.19204-9. ⟨10.1073/pnas.0707316104⟩
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....a2988af9218860567cf6a83378c8914f