Abstract of a study I did in my lab

When participants try to identify two targets in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) sequence, identification of the second target is impaired if it follows the first target in close succession (T1 and T2 for first and second target respectively). This effect is termed the attentional blink (AB), where it is argued that the identification of T1 caused the failure to identify T2. Raymond et al. (1992) demonstrated that the AB effect can be eliminated if participants were told to ignore the first target and ruled out perceptual factors contributing to the AB effect, leading subsequent AB models developed to ignore any possible perceptual components that could have caused the AB effect. In the current study, I test the claim Raymond et al.’s claim by revealing T1 identity to participants prior to its presentation in the RSVP stream, eliminating the need for them to identify it when it appears subsequently. The AB effect fails to be eliminated. This finding casts doubts on extant models such as the interference and processing models in the literature, but gives support to the view that AB ensues due to a failure to pass attentional control between targets effectively. This finding also suggests that a perceptual component is involved in the AB effect.