Speeding up the brain? Evidence from an attentional blink and a visual search task.

Previous research suggests that information processing speed and temporal judgements can be altered when the stimulus being judged is preceded by the presentation of a repetitive stimulus e.g. 5-seconds of 5Hz clicks, otherwise known as a click-train (Droit- Volet, 2010; Jones et al., 2010; Penton-Voak et al., 1996; Treisman et al., 1990). Jones et al. (2010) demonstrated that, performance on an iconic memory task, reaction times on mental arithmetic tasks and simple and choice reaction time tasks were reduced when individual trials were preceded by click-trains. The evidence so far suggests that these effects are unique to repetitive stimulation. The current study sought to further explore the effect of repetitive pre-stimulation on attentional processing. Experiment 1 explored the effect of click-trains on the Attentional Blink (AB). A modified version of Raymond et al’s. (1992) RSVP task was employed in which half of all trials were preceded by 5- seconds of 5Hz a click-train. Comparison of click-train and silence trials indicated that the AB was attenuated on click-train trials. Experiment 2 examined the effect of pre- stimulation on visual searching. Participants were required to search for a target defined by a singular or conjunction of features amongst an array of distracters. Comparison of click and silence trials indicated that click-trains reduced reaction times in some instances. The results are discussed in relation to the potential mechanisms by which repetitive pre-stimulation may affect attentional processing.Droit-Volet, S. (2010). Speeding up a master clock common to time, number and length? Behavioural Processes, 85, 126-134.Jones, L.A., Allely, C. S., Wearden, J. H. (in press).Click trains and the rate of information processing: Does “speeding up” subjective time make other psychological processes run faster? The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology.Penton-Voak, I.S., Edwards, H., Percival, A., & Wearden, J.H. (1996). Speeding up an internal clock in humans? Effects of click trains on subjective duration. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 22, 307-320.Raymond, J. E., Shapiro, K. L., Arnell, K. M. (1992). Temporary suppression of visual processing in an RSVP task: An attentional blink? Journal of Experimental Psychology. Human Perception and Performance, 18, 849–60.Treisman, M., Faulkner, A., Naish, P. L. N., & Brogan, D. (1990). The internal clock: Evidence for a temporal oscillator underlying time perception with some estimates of its characteristic frequency. Perception, 19, 705-748.