Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Date of Degree

2-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.S.

Program

Cognitive Neuroscience

Advisor

Tony Ro

Subject Categories

Cognitive Neuroscience

Keywords

attentional blink, IOR, P300, N2pc, ERP, EEG

Abstract

Attention can be allocated over time and space and it has long been speculated whether these are a part of the same or different attentional mechanisms. Attentional Blink (AB) and Inhibition of Return (IOR) are cognitive phenomena that are used in experimental settings to study temporal attention (AB) and spatial attention (IOR) respectively. Though known for being representative of different types of attention, they nevertheless display similar characteristics, making them intriguing choices to study the interplay between temporal and spatial attention. For this study we chose a dual-stream rsvp paradigm that would elicit both AB and IOR within the same experiment. As proxies for temporal and spatial attention we used the ERPs P3b and N2pc respectively. P3b, recorded over midline parietal (Pz) electrodes, has been shown to be modulated by the magnitude of the AB in experimental settings. N2pc, recorded as a difference between contralateral and ipsilateral waveforms, at the parietal-occipital (P8/P7) electrodes, has been shown to be modulated by the magnitude of IOR in experimental settings. We were able to replicate these previously demonstrated results with P3b and N2pc, and we also showed a systematic relationship between temporal and spatial attention. Pearson tests showed significant correlations between the amplitudes of the two ERP components. We speculate that temporal and spatial effects seen in AB and IOR share underlying neural mechanisms, or that they have an interference effect on each other when elicited in the same experiment.

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