The Simultaneous Type, Serial Token Model of Temporal Attention and Working Memory

Abstract

A detailed description of the Simultaneous Type Serial Token (STST) model is presented. STST is a model of temporal attention and working memory, which encapsulates five principles: 1) Chun and Potter's (1995) 2-stage model; 2) a stage one Salience Filter; 3) Kanwisher's Types-tokens distinction; 4) a Transient Attentional Enhancement; and 5) a mechanism for associating types with tokens called the Binding Pool. We instantiate this theoretical position in a connectionist implementation, called Neural-STST, which we illustrate by modeling temporal attention results, focused on the Attentional Blink (AB). We demonstrate that the STST model explains a spectrum of AB findings. Furthermore, we highlight a number of new temporal attention predictions arising from the STST theory, which we test in a series of behavioral experiments. Finally, we review major AB models and theories, and compare them to STST