Running head: INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES AND THE ATTENTIONAL BLINK An Investigation of Individual Differences in Diffusion of Attention and the Attentional Blink

When identifying two targets in rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP), accuracy on the second target is reduced if presented shortly after the first target-- an attentional blink (AB). Some individuals appear to be immune to the AB, whereas others are variously susceptible to this effect. Recent studies suggest that when a broadened or diffused attentional state is induced, the AB can be attenuated. Therefore, in the current study, individual differences in diffusion of attention and processing speed as assessed by a variety of cognitive tasks (e.g., global/local task) were examined in order to determine whether these differences could predict AB magnitude. Performance on the global/local task predicted AB magnitude in a manner suggesting that dispositional diffusion of attention reduces the AB, however measures of processing speed predicted target accuracy, but not AB magnitude, providing evidence for the dissociability of these measures. Finally, performance on other tasks thought to provide indices of diffusion did not relate to performance on the AB task, as was the case for measures of personality and affect that were expected to relate to diffusion of attention and hence to the AB. Results are discussed in terms of the need for a more finely honed account of the construct of diffusion. i