attention Flashcards
processing bottleneck
only a certain amount can get through when there is a lot of input at once
selective attention
focusing attention on certain information, while ignoring other information
sustained attention
maintain focused attention or vigilance
e.g. security card monitoring surveillance camera
divided attention
e.g. multitasking
way of looking at capacity limits
attention to different sensory modalities
e.g. sight, touch, sound, smell
ways of studying attention: eye tracking
- problem: attention can move around without our eyes moving
- problem: we don’t always look at what we intend to (spying/polite) - covert attention
spatial cueing
- assumes attention takes time to move around
- if they’re slower when the cue is invalid this means they were paying attention to the cue
- is the target letter N or X
visual search
- if target pops out (different colour), increasing non-targets doesn’t affect reaction time
- but if the target is in conjunction, reaction time increases with number of non-targets
Distractor effects
- assume attention has been distracted by a stimulus if it slows us down when it is irrelevant
- or speeds up when it is the target
e.g. stroop task or flanker task
stroop task
- harder when the word is also a colour name - we cannot ignore the word meaning
flanker task
central letter - look for X or N but if the out side letters are also target letters - response time is slower
e.g. SXS vs NXN
singleton attentional capture task
task: find green circle amongst green diamonds
added: red diamond > reaction time slowed down
or
circle turned red > reaction time sped up
error rates
e.g. sustained attention to response task
- press a button for every digit except 3
- if it is repeatedly not 3 - lost attention by the time it makes it to 3
attention and error/self-report measures
used to test effects of attention on awareness
- e.g. change blindness and mindwandering
two brain regions known to respond selectively to specific stimulus categories
fusiform face area
FFA - COVERT ATTENTION TO FACES
parahippocampal face area
PFA - COVERT ATTENTOIN TO HOUSES
Early vs late load theory
to what extent do we process the stimuli we ignore
early vs late selection
at what stage is the ignored stimuli filtered out
we process everything to ‘some extent’
early selection
- stuff is filtered out early
- we never get to know the meaning of it
- we know there was a sound but that is all
- maybe we focus on our friends pitch of voice and filter out everything else
late selection
- we process everything to the point of meaning
- the info has gone in but is filtered out at a later stage
cocktail party theory
able to focus on one thing/conversation and block out everything else
early selection
dichotic listening task
- present different messages to each ear
- subjects told to attend to one ear and ignore the other
- repeat attended message out loud - shadowing
dichotic listening task - results
- easily paid attention to what they were supposed to
- could say info about the ignored task e.g. pitch, gender of voice
- but nothing about what was being said
- another trial: did not notice if the language was foreign, reversed or repeated
- supports early selection
broadbent’s filter theory
- filtering occurs before any semantic analysis
- surface features but not meaning analysed
message > sensory store > filter > detector (meaning) > STM
repetitions of dichotic listening task found varying results
Moray: people would notice if the unattended stream said their name
Treisman: bilingual people were influenced by the unattended stream if it was in their 2nd language
Gray and Weddburn: people would say what maid sense - combining the 2 streams - dear aunt jane
Treisman’s attenuation model
- still early selection
- unattended messages are reduced rather than lost completely
coming consciously aware of something need to reach a THRESHOLD of signal strength to be detected - threshold is lowered for certain words e.g your name
late selection models
- you process and get the semantic meaning of everything
- so then you can decide which is important to pay attention to
what late selection models can explain
dichotic listening
dichotic listening theory:
ambiguous word (bank)
- if river said in other ear - would interpret as ‘river-bank’ if money was said - ‘money-bank’
what late selection models can explain
response competition bias
- search line for P or K
- ignore letter present above or below line
- incongruent distractor in irrelevant location - slows RTs
- means distractor identity is processed
negative priming
- task: categorise red stimuli and ignore green
- result: response to word slowed when ignored picture it was preceded by was semantically related
- ignored stimuli is semantically categorised AND Inhibited
Lavie’s load theory
- both early and late selection are possible
- the stage of selection depends on availability of perceptual capacity
- we have a fixed capacity of info that we can take in - no more, no less
- the amount you have ‘spare’ depends on the task you are doing
HIGH PERCEPTUAL LOAD - no spare - early selection
LOW PERCEPTUAL LOAD - spare - other info can come in - late selection
behavioural measures of distraction
- letter search task (like the one we did)
gorilla’s in our midst study: inattentional blindness - focusing on ball don’t see gorilla
neuro imaging evidence
high load and low load tasks with flickering background
told to ignore background
low load responded more to background
same with fearful faces - high load less likely to respond
individuals with higher perceptual capacity
- need higher load to avoid distraction
- autism
- children and the elderly
- people with video game experience
- also less likely to have attentional bias - notice more
summarise
early selection theories
- irrelevant info is filtered, or attenuated at perceptual stage of processing
- semantic info is not processed
summarise
late selection theories
- all stimuli is processed to the point of meaning
- selection takes place at later stage of processing and may involve inhibition
summarise
load theory
- both early and late selection are possible depending on perceptual load of task stimuli
why do we need involuntary information
because we don’t know what is going to happen
reflexive attention
involuntary attention
bottom-up, exogenous, stimulus driven
driven by the stimulus
executive attention
voluntary attention
top-down, goal driven, endogenous
driven by the induvidal
how is it decided whether attentional control or stimulus driven mechanisms get our attention
- both occur at the same time
- compete
- whichever wins gets attention
what kinds of stimuli can capture our attention
- stimuli of high salience
- movement/’abrupt onset’
- relevant things to us/our values
- or nothing? stimulus-driven attentional capture not possible?
Theewes attentional capture task
task: find circle
- all shapes green except 1 irrelevant red diamond
- RT still increased - singleton distracted - therefore salient stimuli can capture attention
stimulus-driven selection
process
- bottom up mechanisms come before top-down
- first stage: initial sweep across visual field (entirely bottom-up)
- second stage: is where my attention is what i am looking for?
- no? location inhibited and process begins again > attention to next salient thing
- yes? output response
attentional window
- stimulus-driven selection only happens within attentional window - only area of space that you are paying attention to
- e.g. looking for taxi? only distracted by items in area where taxi is
Folk and Remmington: contingent capture
- attentional capture is NOT stimulus driven
- it must have some kind of relevance to our goals
- in some cases this relevance is not as obvious
- e.g. looking for taxi so distracted by yellow sign (Same colour) - rather tan bc it stands out
contingent capture - spatial cueing
- 5 squares
- is target X or Y
- dots around one box -> if where target then is = valid cue
- invalid cues = slower RT - attentional capture
but this was dependent on certain thinfs e.g. colour cues capture attention when target was related to colour =CONTINGENT CAPTURE - dependent on something
bacon and egeth - singleton strategy
- said in theeuwes method the fact there was only one circle made it a singleton too ! said people were just adopting a singleton search strategy
- they found that effect was no longer there
- however theeuwes redid with own method but same idea as above and found it does still occur
abrupt onsets
- task: is there an S present?
- target either a colour singleton - or suddenly appears in unexpected place
- onsets/suddenly appeared produced attentional capture
why may it be important to detect abrupt onset
- safety
- evolution - predators
- need to notice and react to new things that appear
Franconeri and Simons
- our brains just do it because it is useful
- moving or looming stimuli capture stimuli but receding do not
Gibon and Kesley: against stimulus driven capture
- attention tasks usually begin with some kind of change to display
- (waiting for something to happen)
- may end up with us having a goal to detect = ‘display wide settings for dynamic changes’
- therefore any change is relevant to your goal
- even onsets
attentional capture: beyond physical salience
- past research couldn’t explains some things e.g. rainbow coloured snake vs wool (Fear)
- spider phobics show more attentional capture to spiders and doctor who fans showed more attentional capture to doctor who
reward and attention
- trained to associate attention with reward - distracted by reward as much as colour
- value is 3rd determinant of attention
effect of cognitive load on attention
-same visual search task as usual PLUS asked to do another task too
- easy version (LOW): remember 1 digit
- harder version (HIGH): remember 6 digits
- higher cognitive load INCREASED distractor interference - more than high perceptual load
same w diamonds and circle colour singleton task - if had to remember digits too = even slower RT
inattentional blindness
paying attention to one thing, so do not see another
perceptual load…(overall effect)
cognitive load…
(overall affect)
perceptual load reduces distractor processing and increases inattentional blindness
cognitive load increases distractor processing
Carmel: cognitive load and awareness
Task: classify names, ignore faces
extra cognitive task: remember digits (either 1 or 6)
- at end: surprise memory test for faces they were asked to ignore:
- low load: 50%
accuracy - high load: 80% accuracy
therefore cognitive load INCREASES distraction
Load Theory
referencing capcity and cognitive control
- availability of perceptual capacity is involved at determining how much info gets through
> whether distractors are filtered out early or get some more processing - cognitive control comes at a later stage - once distractors have been processed - they need to be inhibited
Operation span OPSAN task: Engle et al
- measures working memory capacity
- task: do 2 things at the same time, perform simple maths and read words
- lots of trials
- end: tested on recall of words
results:
- ps with low working memory capacity showed increased interreference on attention tasks
e.g. bad at stroop task and dichotic listening task
SO - yes cognitive control is linked to working memory capacity
individuals and cognitive control
- better = less distracted
- deficits = related to ADHD and Anxiety
Hopfinger et al, 2000: fMRI spatial cueing studies
- cueing - something going to appear in 1 of 2 locations
- cue is either valid or invalid
- looked at brains response during different parts of the task:
visual cortex response to cued location (this is the effect of attention)
frontal-parietal activation at the time of cue - gives info about the mechanisms orienting attention
fMRI response to competition
- incongruent distraction is associated with:
- reaction time interference
- frontal recruitment: certain areas obviously involved in stopping you from being distracted
sustained attention
- series of digits, press key for every digit but 3
- also activated frontal regions
how does attentional control relate to mind wandering
- mind wandering positively relates to external task-irrelevant distraction and to failures of sustained attention
increased working memory capacity effect on mindwandering
So can go either way - when it is less important to focus = more mind wandering and when it is more important = less mind wandering
