A LIDA-based Model of the Attentional Blink

The attentional blink (AB) refers to the impairment in consciously perceiving the second of two targets presented in close temporal proximity (200 – 500ms) in a rapid serial visual presentation paradigm. The present paper is a preliminary report describing a conceptual and partially computational model of the AB based on the LIDA (Learning Intelligent Distribution Agent) cognitive architecture. The model aims to provide a biologically plausible explanation of the AB, explaining a wide range of AB-related phenomena, among other mental phenomena accounted for by LIDA. Computational results in a basic visual AB paradigm are presented and compared to human data. The Attentional Blink When subjects are asked to identify two targets separated by a short time (200-500ms) in a stream of distractors, an Attentional Blink (AB) occurs subjects often fail to report the second target (see Fig 1). In this paper we will focus on the AB in rapid serial visual presentations (RSVP) of pictures (however, the AB has been shown to occur across a wide range of stimuli types and modalities – see (Martens &