Enhanced frontal activation underlies sparing from the attentional blink: Evidence from human electrophysiology

• Published in: Psychophysiology Vol. 53; no. 5; pp. 623 - 633
• Main Authors: Dell'Acqua, Roberto, Doro, Mattia, Dux, Paul E., Losier, Talia, Jolicœur, Pierre
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.05.2016
• Subjects: Adult; Attention; Attention - physiology; Attentional blink; Attentional Blink - physiology; Brain; Brain - physiology; Electroencephalography; Electrophysiology; Event-related potentials; Evoked Potentials - physiology; Female; Frontal Lobe - physiology; Frontoparietal neural circuit; Gating; Humans; Independent component analysis (ICA); Latency; Male; Memory; Memory, Short-Term - physiology; Neuropsychology; P3 component; Photic Stimulation; Physiology; Short term memory; Temporal variations; Visual evoked potentials; Visual perception; Visual task performance; Young Adult; Attentional blink; P3 component; Event-related potentials; Frontoparietal neural circuit; Independent component analysis (ICA)
• ISSN: 0048-5772; 1469-8986; 1469-8986; 1540-5958
• DOI: 10.1111/psyp.12618

Using the ERP method, we examined the processing operations elicited by stimuli that appear within the same temporal attention window. Forty subjects searched for letter targets among digit distractors displayed in rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP). ERPs were examined under conditions where a single target was embedded among distractors and compared to those recorded when two consecutive targets were embedded among distractors. Standard and independent component analyses revealed two temporally and topographically distinct ERP responses, a midfrontal P3a component peaking at about 300 ms followed by a midparietal P3b component peaking at about 450 ms. With minimal latency variations, the frontal P3a was amplified when elicited by two consecutive targets relative to a single target. The parietal P3b response was also amplified when elicited by two consecutive targets compared to a single target but, in contrast to P3a, it was also associated with a substantially longer time course. These results provide evidence for the involvement of frontal brain regions in the close‐to‐concurrent selection of two consecutive targets displayed in RSVP, and of posterior brain regions in the serial encoding of targets in visual working memory. The present findings are discussed in relation to current models of temporal gating of attention and the attentional blink effect.