Initial stages of visual information processing

1. 注意力的眨眼。注意眨眼（attention blink， AB）揭示了视觉上的注意限制：当两个视觉目标被插入到一组快速顺序显示的干扰物中时，第一个目标的准确性几乎是完美的（T1），而第二个目标的准确性则急剧降低（T2）。关于AB的两个基本事实是：(a)当系统忙于处理T1时，T2的处理是延迟的；(b)在延迟期间，T2容易被尾随刺激掩盖。如果T2不被屏蔽，T2处理的延迟仍然存在，但AB赤字不存在。AB理论解释了(a)，但没有解释(b)。在计划的研究中，我将研究这样一个命题：在延迟期间，T2的表示存储在一个易受屏蔽和衰减影响的不稳定内存缓冲区中。我打算利用AB亏缺作为一种方便的工具来研究不稳定内存缓冲区的特性。最终的计划是描述记忆缓冲的特征，并检查它与其他短期记忆系统的关系，如符号记忆和工作记忆。

1. The Attentional Blink. Attentional limitations in vision are revealed the attentional blink (AB): When two visual targets are inserted in a stream of distractors displayed in rapid sequence, accuracy is nearly perfect for the first target (T1) but is dramatically reduced for the second (T2). Two basic facts about the AB are: (a) the processing of T2 is delayed while the system is busy processing T1, and (b) during the period of delay, T2 is vulnerable to masking by a trailing stimulus. If T2 is not masked, the delay of T2 processing still occurs, but the AB deficit is absent. Theories of the AB have accounted for (a) but not for (b). In the planned research, I will examine the proposition that, during the delay, a representation of T2 is stored in a labile memory buffer where it is vulnerable to masking and decay. I plan to use the AB deficit as a tool of convenience to study the characteristics of the labile memory buffer. The ultimate plan is to describe the characteristics of that memory buffer, and to examine its relationship to other short-term memory systems such as iconic memory and working memory.