• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.127-136
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• 2017

Attentional blink is observed in an identification task of multiple targets during rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) where performance for the second target (T2) that follows within 500ms of the first (T1) shows systematic decrease although that for T1 remains highly accurate. Theories accounting for attentional blink can be classified into two broad categories of resource depletion model and disruption of input filter model. Meanwhile, visual attention capacity shows hemifield independence between left and right visual fields, and many studies reported bilateral advantage in a range of visual working memory tasks. The current research tested two major theories of attentional blink using bilateral independence of attentional capacity. To this end, we conducted two experiments where two RSVPs were presented in either bilateral or unilateral visual fields. Experiment 1 presented two RSVPs which contained both T1 and T2 in either bilateral or unilateral visual fields and tested interaction between attentional blink and bilateral advantage. Experiment 2 removed T1 in one of the two RSVPs to test whether attentional blink obtains when identification of T1 and T2 utilize independent sources of attention across two visual fields. The results showed that subjects were more accurate when two RSVPs were presented in bilateral visual fields (i.e., bilateral advantage) although there was no interaction between attentional blink and bilateral advantage (Experiment 1). In addition, attentional blink for T2 was observed in a T1-absent RSVP even when two RSVPs were presented in bilateral visual fields (Experiment 2). These results support disruption of input filter model rather than resource depletion model.

• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.177-197
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• 2010

Three experiments compared two hypotheses on visual selection; perceptual load hypothesis and dilution hypothesis. The perceptual load hypothesis predicts that perceptual load of task-relevant processing determines the level of task-irrelevant processing whereas the dilution hypothesis predicts that competition for limited-capacity attentional resource, not perceptual load, determines the locus of selection. To compare the two hypotheses, we investigated the influence of perceptual load in visual search on response interference by a distractor. Experiment 1 and 2 manipulated perceptual load by the set size of a search array and the colors of a target and non-targets, respectively. As a result, distractor interference decreased with a set size regardless of perceptual load. In order to further test the set size effect, Experiment 3 manipulated the perceptual categories of non-targets and a distractor. The results showed that distractor interference decreased only when non-targets belonged to the same category as a distractor. Overall, the current findings support the dilution hypothesis, but not the perceptual load hypothesis, and provide the evidence that visual selection is constrained by capacity-limited, category-specific attentional resources.

• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.469-494
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• 2011

It is well known that visual objects belonging to the same perceptual category compete for category-specific, limited-capacity attentional resource. However, it remains to be seen how perceptually identical objects interact with each other during visual analyses. Perceptually identical objects might suppress each other as much as categorically identical objects do. Alternatively, they might cooperate to generate a perceptual representation which is long lasting and robust to noise. Such possibilities were tested in the current research with three behavioral experiments using the Stroop task. As results, relative to a single distractor, Stroop interference was diluted by two different distractors of a category while it was enhanced by two perceptually identical distractors (Experiment 1). This redundancy effect disappeared when two different distractors associated with the same response were presented (Experiment 2), and it was not affected by the between- vs. within-hemisphere distractor presentations (Experiment 3). These findings indicate that the redundancy effect of distractors may be mediated by perceptual representations based on hemisphere-independent attentional resources. Overall, the current study supports the hypothesis that Stroop interference is constrained by category-specific attentional resources and further suggests that redundant presentations of a stimulus overcome such attentional constraints by facilitating perceptual processing.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.242-250
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• 2016

This study was conducted to investigate whether Stroop-related cognitive task will be affected according to the preceding affective valence factored by matchedness in response time(RT) and whether facial recognition will be indexed by specific event-related potentials(ERPs) signature in normal person as in patients suffering from affective disorder. ERPs primed by subliminal(30ms) facial stimuli were recorded when presented with four pairs of affect(positive or negative) and cognitive task(matched or mismatched) to get ERP effects(N2 and P300) in terms of its amplitude and peak latency variations. Behavioral response analysis based on RTs confirmed that subliminal affective stimuli primed the target processing in all affective condition except for the neutral stimulus. Additional results for the ERPs performed in the negative affect with mismatched condition reached significance of emotional-face specificity named N2 showing more amplitude and delayed peak latency compared to the positive counterpart. Furthermore the condition shows more positive amplitude and earlier peak latency of P300 effect denoting cognitive closure than the corresponding positive affect condition. These results are suggested to reflect that negative affect stimulus in subliminal level is automatically inhibited such that this effect had influence on accelerating detection of the affect and facilitating response allowing adequate reallocation of attentional resources. The functional and cognitive significance with these findings was implied in terms of subliminal effect and affect-related recognition modulating the cognitive tasks.

• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.387-408
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• 2010

This study examined the effects of emotional content on the encoding process of emotional stimuli and the effects of emotional context on those of neutral stimuli. It was examined whether the superior memory of emotional stimuli is due to attentional resource allocation. This study were performed an emotional picture and a neutral word were presented in succession at every trials. The results of recognition judgement showed superior memory of emotional pictures than neutral pictures, but showed poorer memory of neutral words in emotional context than those in neutral context. LPC(Late Positive Complex) of ERP results showed the similar pattern: higher amplitude by emotional pictures than neutral pictures, and lower amplitude by neutral words in emotional context than those in neutral context. This result is considered to support attention allocation hypothesis.