Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Date of Degree

9-2025

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Program

Cognitive Neuroscience

Advisor

Tony Ro

Subject Categories

Neuroscience and Neurobiology

Keywords

Inhibition of Return, Attentional Blink

Abstract

Inhibition of Return (IOR) and Attentional Blink (AB) are two distinctly defined phenomena that display some intriguingly similar properties. They both describe suppression effects following a visual stimulus that has captured attention, both may be preceded by an enhancement, and both share partially overlapping effect time windows which can be manipulated by task difficulty. The current study attempted to measure the two phenomena simultaneously to test our hypothesis that behavioral indices of AB and IOR will display significant spatial and temporal overlap, suggesting the two phenomena may reflect, at least in part, different aspects of a singular attentional process. To investigate both IOR and AB simultaneously, we combined experimental paradigms for the study of each phenomenon into a dual stream rapid serial visual presentation design, allowing us to assess both spatial and temporal components. Reaction time and accuracy measures were collected for behavioral analyses, respectively, of IOR and AB. Pearson’s analysis revealed significant correlation between RT and accuracy, while separate ANOVAs for each dependent variable found interaction effects of lag and location, suggesting spatiotemporal effects modulate each other, causing quicker recovery from AB for novel than for same locations, while augmenting early lag suppression of same and novel locations during IOR. We conclude AB and IOR commonalities across lags and locations may reflect different aspects of a singular attentional inhibitory mechanism.

Download

Share

COinS