Boosting out of the blink: An attempt to modulate the attentional blink effect using the attentional boost effect

Abstract

Memory depends on attention. This principle is demonstrated in two different phenomena in attention and memory: the attentional blink effect and the attentional boost effect. The attentional blink effect is a memory deficit that occurs when targets are presented in rapid succession of each other. The attentional boost effect is a memory enhancement that occurs when participants respond to target stimuli while attending to a second set of stimuli. The current study examined whether an attentional boost effect manipulation could reduce the attentional blink deficit by having participants respond to auditory targets presented simultaneously with target words. A follow-up experiment attempted to replicate an earlier study that reduced the size of the attention blink deficit using sound alone, without the boost manipulation (Olivers and Van der Burg, 2008). Results showed no modulation of the attentional blink effect in the first experiment, but a modulation in the second experiment, wherein sound presented simultaneously with a target improved memory accuracy. Results suggested that the attentional boost effect may need to be applied through one modality in order for a modulation of the attentional blink effect to occur.