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  • Title: The attentional boost effect really is a boost: evidence from a new baseline.
    Author: Swallow KM, Jiang YV.
    Journal: Atten Percept Psychophys; 2014 Jul; 76(5):1298-307. PubMed ID: 24806406.
    Abstract:
    In the attentional boost effect, participants encode images into memory as they perform an unrelated target-detection task. Later memory is better for images that coincided with a target rather than a distractor. This advantage could reflect a broad processing enhancement triggered by target detection, but it could also reflect inhibitory processes triggered by distractor rejection. To test these possibilities, in four experiments we acquired a baseline measure of image memory when neither a target nor a distractor was presented. Participants memorized faces presented in a continuous series (500- or 100-ms duration). At the same time, participants monitored a stream of squares. Some faces appeared on their own, and others coincided with squares in either a target or a nontarget color. Because the processes associated with both target detection and distractor rejection were minimized when faces appeared on their own, this condition served as a baseline measure of face encoding. The data showed that long-term memory for faces coinciding with a target square was enhanced relative to faces in both the baseline and distractor conditions. We concluded that detecting a behaviorally relevant event boosts memory for concurrently presented images in dual-task situations.
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