Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Two-timing attention

Nature Neuroscience volume 8, pages 1285–1286 (2005)Cite this article

The attentional blink reveals a fundamental limit in the temporal resolution of attention. By describing the entire sequence of electrophysiological events underlying the blink, a new study provides the first glimpse into the neural cause of this bottleneck.

Imagine that, as a participant in a psychological experiment, your task is to detect two letters appearing within a rapid stream of digits presented at the center of gaze, with each character shown only for one–tenth of a second. How will you fare? Dozens of such experiments predict that you will have little difficulty in reporting the first of the two target letters; however, if the second letter appears within about half a second of the first, your performance in detecting that second target may be pitiful1. Skeptical? Try it yourself: www.cs.kent.ac.uk/people/rpg/pc52/AB_Webscript/instr.html.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Neuroanatomical substrates of the attentional blink.

References

  1. Broadbent, D.E. & Broadbent, M.H. Percept. Psychophys. 42, 105–113 (1987).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Raymond, J.E., Shapiro, K.L. & Arnell, K.M. J. Exp. Psychol. Hum. Percept. Perform. 18, 849–860 (1992).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Marois, R. & Ivanoff, J. Trends Cogn. Sci. 9, 296–304 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Sergent, C., Baillet, S. & Dehaene, S. Nat. Neurosci. 8, 1391–1400 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Duncan, J. Psychol. Rev. 87, 272–300 (1980).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Chun, M.M. & Potter, M.C. J. Exp. Psychol. Hum. Percept. Perform. 21, 109–127 (1995).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Shapiro, K.L., Arnell, K.M. & Raymond, J.E. Trends Cogn. Sci. 1, 291–296 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Dehaene, S., Sergent, C. & Changeux, J.P. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 100, 8520–8525 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Luck, S.J., Vogel, E.K. & Shapiro, K.L. Nature 383, 616–618 (1996).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Vogel, E.K., Luck, S.J. & Shapiro, K.L. J. Exp. Psychol. Hum. Percept. Perform. 24, 1656–1674 (1998).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Shapiro, K., Hillstrom, A.P. & Husain, M. Curr. Biol. 12, 1320–1325 (2002).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Marois, R., Chun, M.M. & Gore, J.C. Neuron 28, 299–308 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Marois, R., Yi, D.J. & Chun, M.M. Neuron 41, 465–472 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Gross, J. et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 101, 13050–13055 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Vogel, E. & Luck, S.J. Psychon. Bull. Rev. 9, 739–743 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, 530 Wilson Hall, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, 37203, Tennessee, USA

    René Marois

Authors
  1. René Marois
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Marois, R. Two-timing attention. Nat Neurosci 8, 1285–1286 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1005-1285

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1005-1285

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing