Attentional blinking is when people miss the second of two targets presented in a rapid stream of information. The brain’s limitations in processing information and recovering from neurotransmitter bursts may cause this. However, faces seem to be an exception to this phenomenon. Studies have explored ways to increase focus and perceptual accuracy.
Attentional blinking is a perceptual phenomenon in which people presented with a rapid stream of information may miss the second of two targets. For example, someone might be asked to identify the letters in a string of numbers presented one by one. The first letter, an important target, would have been captured by the study subject, but a second letter flashed seconds later may not have been observed. There are a number of theories to explain how and why it works, and studies have explored its limitations and parameters to learn more about visual perception.
Since the brain deals with a rapid flow of incoming information, it must allocate processing resources to understand, interpret and store information. The human brain is capable of considerable processing power for complex tasks, but it also has limitations. Eye blinking is one example that has important implications for people who work in environments where they may be inundated with information. An airport baggage handler, for example, might see a knife in one bag, but might lose a second knife in another that moves immediately after, unless the equipment is calibrated to accommodate the pulse beat. eyelash.
One theory concerns the neurological processes involved in perception. People looking for specific targets in a stream of information experience a burst of neurotransmitters when they locate a target. The cells that emit these neurotransmitters need to recover, in what is known as the refractory period. This period may be short, but it may be long enough to miss a second stimulus. The blink lasts about half a second, giving credence to this hypothesis.
Other researchers suggest there may be a problem with perceptiveness. A number of processes are involved in visual perception and processing, and coordinating these across the brain can take a toll. People who deal with complex stimuli may not be able to handle them all. Attentional blink studies have used tools such as meditation to determine whether focus and perceptual accuracy can be increased, and some suggest that this is the case, indicating that the brain could potentially be trained to expand its capabilities perceptive.
An interesting exception to this rule was documented in a Journal of Experimental Psychology article published in 2008, in which researchers found that faces did not appear to be subject to blinking. The face is often an exception to the rules of perception, perhaps because it is of paramount importance for recognizing other humans and interacting successfully with them. People need to be able to read facial cues during a conversation, for example, and would be badly served if they couldn’t pick up on signs of emotion on a conversation partner’s face.
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