The attentional blink as an indicator of sexual interest

Using implicit measures in psychological assessment is new in research. The Attentional Blink is a widely supported phenomenon in the cognitive literature. It has been reported that emotionally salient stimuli, particularly those of a sexual nature, can produce it, leading to lower recall of a neutral target presented after the stimulus item. This study looked at the Attentional Blink as a measure of sexual interest. It also looked at the use of computer-generated (CG) images as an alternative to real images. Findings showed that nude images produced the largest Attentional Blink, real images are most effective, and CG images produced some effect. These finding are promising for the development of CG images of children for use in paedophile assessment.