Figure 4.

Simulation of a dual-task interference experiment. (A) Sketch of the “speeded attentional blink” paradigm used by Jolicoeur (1999): letters are presented in rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP), each letter presented for 100 ms with no blank ISI. Subject must report both T₁ and T₂. T₁ must be reported as soon as possible, while T₂ is reported at the end of the trial, without time pressure. SOA is systematically varied in order to study its effect on T₂ accuracy. (B) A schematic model of interference based on sequential top-down allocation. Top-down allocation to T₂ can only occur once it has been released from T₁ and thus the duration of the sensory buffer is determined by RT₁ − SOA − P. (C) Mean accuracy in task 2 for different SOA, as obtained by (Jolicoeur, 1999). The proportion of trials where T₂ was correctly identified (given T₁ correct) is plotted against SOA (in milliseconds). Results are grouped in four categories according to the response time to the first task (RT₁). Mean RT₁ is indicated. (D) Result of the simulations of the model after averaging 1,000 trials for each condition.