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 a 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 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.