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attentional blink
Your brain goes blind for a moment after focusing.
When two targets are processed rapidly in an RSVP task, the probability of detecting the second target is significantly reduced if it appears within 200 to 500 milliseconds of the first.
The effect is a reduction in accuracy, not an absolute failure to register the stimulus.
You are effectively offline for a split second after noticing something.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Raymond, Shapiro, and Arnell, 1992, Journal of Experimental Psychology
- What the check found
- While the 1992 Raymond, Shapiro, and Arnell study is the definitive source for the 'attentional blink,' the claim uses overly absolute language ('simply doesn't register') to describe a probabilistic effect.
- 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.