The attentional blink bottleneck

Evidence bearing on the attentional blink (AB) phenomenon from a variety of dual-task paradigms is reviewed. According to the locus of slack logic, a variable that has additive effects with SOA in Task2 of a PRP (psychological refractory period) experiment must have its effect at a stage of processing that is either in or after the bottleneck that caused the PRP effect. We found manipulations that have additive effects with SOA in Task2 of a PRP experiment and have large modulating effects on the magnitude of the attentional blink effect when manipulated in Task1 of an AB experiment. Similar manipulations in closely related dual-task paradigms have similar effects. We conclude that a stage of processing that is in or after the PRP bottleneck must be either in or before a bottleneck that contributes to the AB phenomenon