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Beyond the Blink: How Task Complexity, Temporal Crowding, and Ensemble Perception Reframe the Debate on Attention and Action

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 November 2025

Marco Mattei Open the ORCID record for Marco Mattei [Opens in a new window]
Marco Mattei*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy “Piero Martinetti”, University of Milan , Milan, Italy Marco.mattei@unimi.it https://sites.google.com/view/marcomattei/
*
*Corresponding author.
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Abstract

Rosenholtz’s framework reconciles contradictory findings in ensemble perception by attributing perceptual failures to task complexity and peripheral summary-statistic limitations rather than attentional lapses. This perspective also reframes the attentional blink (AB) as a manifestation of temporal crowding rather than a failure of selective attention. Philosophically, this challenges the idea that attention is constitutive of action, suggesting instead that task constraints shape both perception and agency.

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Open Peer Commentary
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Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 48 , 2025 , e150
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© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press

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