Alpha entrainment is responsible for the attentional blink phenomenon

► Alpha was entrained via 10 Hz stimulation rate with an attentional blink design. ► Attentional blink showed stronger alpha amplitude and alpha phase-locking. ► Besides entrainment, a phase concentration at the negative peak was crucial. ► Processes of P1 generation interfere with encoding processes. ► Early categorization processes are interrupted through alpha phase entrainment.