Rapid Serial Visual Presentation Task

HED Task ID: hedtsk_rapid_serial_visual_presentation

Also known as: RSVP Task, Attentional Blink Task, AB Task, RSVP Attentional Blink, RSVP Target Detection, RSVP Stream Task, Dual-Target RSVP

A rapid stream of visual items is presented at a single location (typically 6-20 items/second); participants detect one or more targets among distractors. Target detection accuracy, especially for a second target shortly after a first (attentional blink), indexes temporal attention allocation.

Description

Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP) is a paradigm for studying the temporal dynamics of visual attention. A stream of visual items (letters, digits, words, images, or complex scenes) is presented sequentially at a single spatial location at rates of 6-20 items per second. Participants must detect, identify, or categorize one or more targets embedded among distractors. The signature finding is the attentional blink (Raymond, Shapiro, & Arnell, 1992): when two targets appear in the stream, detection of the second target (T2) is severely impaired when it follows the first target (T1) by approximately 200-500 ms (lag 2-5), recovering at longer lags. Lag-1 sparing (intact T2 detection when T2 immediately follows T1) is a robust exception. The attentional blink reveals fundamental bottlenecks in temporal attention and has generated competing theoretical accounts: the two-stage model (Chun & Potter, 1995), the episodic simultaneous type/serial token model (Bowman & Wyble, 2007), and the boost-and-bounce model (Olivers & Meeter, 2008). Beyond the attentional blink, RSVP is used to study categorical perception (rapid scene gist extraction), emotion-attention interactions (emotion-induced blindness), and rapid image triage. Applications include brain-computer interfaces (RSVP-based P300 spellers and image triage systems, including satellite imagery analysis), clinical assessment of temporal attention in ADHD and dyslexia, and speed-reading technologies.

Inclusion test

Procedure

A rapid serial stream of visual items is presented at a single location; participants detect, identify, or categorize one or more targets embedded among distractors. Presentation rate is typically 6-20 items per second.

Manipulation

Number of targets (single vs. dual); T1-T2 lag (temporal separation between targets); target-distractor similarity; stream rate (items per second); target category (letter among digits, face among objects, scene category); distractor set composition; emotional content of targets or distractors.

Measurement

Target detection accuracy (T1 and T2); attentional blink magnitude (T2 accuracy deficit at short lags, conditional on correct T1 detection); lag-1 sparing; T1-T2 intrusion errors (order reversals); P300 ERP amplitude for detected targets; d-prime for target discrimination.

Variations

Variation

Description

Justification

Dual-Target Attentional Blink

Two targets in a single stream; T2 accuracy at varying lags from T1. The canonical paradigm for studying the attentional blink. Raymond et al. (1992).

Canonical AB: T2 missed when presented shortly after T1

Single-Target RSVP

One target in the stream; measures basic temporal attention and target detection at rapid rates. Baseline for attentional blink studies.

Detect or identify one target in stream; no AB protocol

Emotion-Induced Blindness

Emotionally arousing distractor (e.g., threat image) impairs detection of a subsequent neutral target. Emotional analogue of the attentional blink. Most et al. (2005).

Emotional T1 causes blindness to T2; retained per §5.1 (EMOT retired)

Rapid Scene Categorization

Natural scene images presented at high rates (20 ms per image); participants detect a target category (animal, vehicle). Demonstrates rapid perceptual gist extraction. Potter (1976).

Categorize natural scenes at rapid presentation rates; different stimulus class

RSVP Image Triage (BCI)

Participants view rapid streams of images (e.g., satellite imagery, surveillance footage) while EEG detects P300 responses to target-category images. Used in brain-computer interface applications for rapid image screening.

Brain-computer interface using RSVP for rapid image tagging; different application and response structure

Triple-RSVP (Multiple Streams)

Three concurrent RSVP streams; target can appear in any stream. Increases target detection rate for BCI applications; adds spatial competition to temporal attention demands.

Three simultaneous streams; different attentional load structure

Whole-Report RSVP

Report all items from a short RSVP stream (4-8 items). Measures visual short-term memory capacity under rapid presentation conditions.

Report all items seen; different response requirement

RSVP with Task Switch

T1 and T2 require different judgments (e.g., identify T1 letter, detect T2 presence). Task switch between targets amplifies the attentional blink.

Task changes within or between streams; adds switching demand

Detection vs. Identification

T2 requiring simple presence detection vs. full identity report; manipulates the depth of processing needed to reveal the blink.

Detect presence vs. identify identity; different judgment type

Three-Target Variant

Third target added to probe extended temporal limits of attention beyond the standard T1-T2 paradigm.

Three targets in stream; extends AB to three-target scenario

Cross-Modal Attentional Blink

Targets in different modalities (e.g., auditory T1, visual T2); tests whether the attentional bottleneck is supramodal.

T1 and T2 in different modalities; tests cross-modal attentional resources

Emotional Attentional Blink

Emotional stimuli (faces, words) as T1 or T2; emotional targets modulate blink magnitude. Distinct from emotion-induced blindness (which uses emotional distractors).

Emotional T2; retained per §5.1 (EMOT retired)

Spatial Two-Stream RSVP

Two concurrent RSVP streams at different locations; targets may appear in either stream, separating spatial and temporal attention limits.

Two streams at different spatial locations; tests spatial attention in RSVP

Cognitive processes

This task engages the following cognitive processes:

Key references

  • {‘authors’: ‘Raymond, J. E., Shapiro, K. L., & Arnell, K. M.’, ‘year’: 1992, ‘title’: ‘Temporary suppression of visual processing in an RSVP task: An attentional blink?’, ‘venue’: ‘Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance’, ‘venue_type’: ‘journal’, ‘journal’: ‘Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance’, ‘volume’: ‘18’, ‘issue’: ‘3’, ‘pages’: ‘849-860’, ‘doi’: ‘10.1037/0096-1523.18.3.849’, ‘openalex_id’: None, ‘pmid’: None, ‘citation_string’: ‘Raymond, J. E., Shapiro, K. L., & Arnell, K. M. (1992). Temporary suppression of visual processing in an RSVP task: An attentional blink? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 18(3), 849-860.’, ‘url’: ‘https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-1523.18.3.849’, ‘source’: ‘crossref’, ‘confidence’: ‘high’, ‘verified_on’: ‘2026-04-20’}

  • {‘authors’: ‘Chun, M. M., & Potter, M. C.’, ‘year’: 1995, ‘title’: ‘A two-stage model for multiple target detection in rapid serial visual presentation.’, ‘venue’: ‘Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance’, ‘venue_type’: ‘journal’, ‘journal’: ‘Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance’, ‘volume’: ‘21’, ‘issue’: ‘1’, ‘pages’: ‘109-127’, ‘doi’: ‘10.1037/0096-1523.21.1.109’, ‘openalex_id’: None, ‘pmid’: None, ‘citation_string’: ‘Chun, M. M., & Potter, M. C. (1995). A two-stage model for multiple target detection in rapid serial visual presentation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 21(1), 109-127.’, ‘url’: ‘https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-1523.21.1.109’, ‘source’: ‘crossref’, ‘confidence’: ‘high’, ‘verified_on’: ‘2026-04-20’}

  • {‘authors’: ‘Potter, M. C.’, ‘year’: 1976, ‘title’: ‘Short-term conceptual memory for pictures.’, ‘venue’: ‘Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory’, ‘venue_type’: ‘journal’, ‘journal’: ‘Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory’, ‘volume’: ‘2’, ‘issue’: ‘5’, ‘pages’: ‘509-522’, ‘doi’: ‘10.1037/0278-7393.2.5.509’, ‘openalex_id’: None, ‘pmid’: None, ‘citation_string’: ‘Potter, M. C. (1976). Short-term conceptual memory for pictures. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory, 2(5), 509-522.’, ‘url’: ‘https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.2.5.509’, ‘source’: ‘crossref’, ‘confidence’: ‘high’, ‘verified_on’: ‘2026-04-20’}

Recent references

  • {‘authors’: ‘Dux, P. E., & Marois, R.’, ‘year’: 2009, ‘title’: ‘The attentional blink: A review of data and theory’, ‘venue’: ‘Attention, Perception & Psychophysics’, ‘venue_type’: ‘journal’, ‘journal’: ‘Attention, Perception & Psychophysics’, ‘volume’: ‘71’, ‘issue’: ‘8’, ‘pages’: ‘1683-1700’, ‘doi’: ‘10.3758/app.71.8.1683’, ‘openalex_id’: None, ‘pmid’: None, ‘citation_string’: ‘Dux, P. E., & Marois, R. (2009). The attentional blink: A review of data and theory. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 71(8), 1683-1700.’, ‘url’: ‘https://doi.org/10.3758/app.71.8.1683’, ‘source’: ‘crossref’, ‘confidence’: ‘high’, ‘verified_on’: ‘2026-04-20’}

  • {‘authors’: ‘Olivers, C. N. L., & Meeter, M.’, ‘year’: 2008, ‘title’: ‘A boost and bounce theory of temporal attention.’, ‘venue’: ‘Psychological Review’, ‘venue_type’: ‘journal’, ‘journal’: ‘Psychological Review’, ‘volume’: ‘115’, ‘issue’: ‘4’, ‘pages’: ‘836-863’, ‘doi’: ‘10.1037/a0013395’, ‘openalex_id’: None, ‘pmid’: None, ‘citation_string’: ‘Olivers, C. N. L., & Meeter, M. (2008). A boost and bounce theory of temporal attention. Psychological Review, 115(4), 836-863.’, ‘url’: ‘https://doi.org/10.1037/a0013395’, ‘source’: ‘crossref’, ‘confidence’: ‘high’, ‘verified_on’: ‘2026-04-20’}

  • {‘authors’: ‘Most, S. B., Chun, M. M., Widders, D. M., & Zald, D. H.’, ‘year’: 2005, ‘title’: ‘Attentional rubbernecking: Cognitive control and personality in emotion-induced blindness’, ‘venue’: ‘Psychonomic Bulletin & Review’, ‘venue_type’: ‘journal’, ‘journal’: ‘Psychonomic Bulletin & Review’, ‘volume’: ‘12’, ‘issue’: ‘4’, ‘pages’: ‘654-661’, ‘doi’: ‘10.3758/bf03196754’, ‘openalex_id’: None, ‘pmid’: None, ‘citation_string’: ‘Most, S. B., Chun, M. M., Widders, D. M., & Zald, D. H. (2005). Attentional rubbernecking: Cognitive control and personality in emotion-induced blindness. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 12(4), 654-661.’, ‘url’: ‘https://doi.org/10.3758/bf03196754’, ‘source’: ‘crossref’, ‘confidence’: ‘high’, ‘verified_on’: ‘2026-04-20’}

  • {‘authors’: ‘Marois, R., & Ivanoff, J.’, ‘year’: 2005, ‘title’: ‘Capacity limits of information processing in the brain’, ‘venue’: ‘Trends in Cognitive Sciences’, ‘venue_type’: ‘journal’, ‘journal’: ‘Trends in Cognitive Sciences’, ‘volume’: ‘9’, ‘issue’: ‘6’, ‘pages’: ‘296-305’, ‘doi’: ‘10.1016/j.tics.2005.04.010’, ‘openalex_id’: None, ‘pmid’: None, ‘citation_string’: ‘Marois, R., & Ivanoff, J. (2005). Capacity limits of information processing in the brain. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 9(6), 296-305.’, ‘url’: ‘https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2005.04.010’, ‘source’: ‘crossref’, ‘confidence’: ‘high’, ‘verified_on’: ‘2026-04-20’}

  • {‘authors’: ‘Asplund, C. L., Fougnie, D., Zughni, S., Martin, J. W., & Marois, R.’, ‘year’: 2014, ‘title’: ‘The Attentional Blink Reveals the Probabilistic Nature of Discrete Conscious Perception’, ‘venue’: ‘Psychological Science’, ‘venue_type’: ‘journal’, ‘journal’: ‘Psychological Science’, ‘volume’: ‘25’, ‘issue’: ‘3’, ‘pages’: ‘824-831’, ‘doi’: ‘10.1177/0956797613513810’, ‘openalex_id’: None, ‘pmid’: None, ‘citation_string’: ‘Asplund, C. L., Fougnie, D., Zughni, S., Martin, J. W., & Marois, R. (2014). The attentional blink reveals the probabilistic nature of discrete conscious perception. Psychological Science, 25(3), 824-831.’, ‘url’: ‘https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797613513810’, ‘source’: ‘crossref’, ‘confidence’: ‘high’, ‘verified_on’: ‘2026-04-20’}