The effect of emotional bias in attentional processes

The attentional blink (AB) is an important paradigm to probe attention, observed when a subject tries to change the focus of their attention as fast as possible from one target input to another, when a rapid stream of targets is presented. The movement of attention to a second target (T2) is most difficult at about 200-500 msecs after detection or recognition of a first target (T1). This period is the blink, when there is little awareness of T2. We present a simulation that probes the control aspect of the movement of attention through the blink. We then show how the simulation can be extended by addition of an emotional bias, and how this can help ameliorate the blink for emotionally affective stimuli.