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attention
You cannot process two rapid events as separate occurrences.
The attentional blink occurs when a second target is missed if it appears within 200 to 500 milliseconds of the first AND is followed by other items (distractors).
It is not a literal window where the system is 'locked' for all incoming information, but a specific competition for processing resources in rapid serial visual presentation.
Your focus comes at the cost of missing the world around you.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Raymond, Shapiro, and Arnell, 1992
- What the check found
- The definition of the attentional blink requires the presence of subsequent distractors. Without them, the 'blink' effect is often not observed.
- Confidence
- Solid, with limits
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.