Attention

Question 1

what is attention?

Answer 1

• “Attention is the taking into possession of the mind, in clear and vivid form, of one out of what seem several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought. Focalisation, concentration, of consciousness are of its essence.”
• William James, 1890
• control
• selection
• limitations

Question 2

what is selective attention?

Answer 2

• attention filters information for later cognitive processing
• efficacy: limited processing = better processing

Question 3

what is the cocktail party problem?

Answer 3

• cherry 1953
• for effective filtering we need clear differences in physical characteristics
• very little info is picked up in the unattended stream

Question 4

how does filtering impact processing?

Answer 4

• first pre-attentive
  - simple physical characteristics extracted in parallel e.g., male/female voice
• second attentive
  
  • more complex psychological properties/semantics
    - processor heavy need to be limited

Question 5

what is the broadbent filter theory?

Answer 5

• parallel stage
  - processing of physical features
• attention acts to filter what is passed beyond this sensory buffer
• serial stage
  - attended stream is processed e.g., for semantic content
• passed to STMM and can result in behaviour. e.g., response, recall
• evidence for processing of the unattended stream is difficult to handle within Broadbent’s theory

Question 6

what did Corteen and Dunn 1974 study?

Answer 6

• electric shock conditioned to certain words
• mug was the electric shock word with the unattended words being chair, mug,, flower & hospital
• the results in a CR (sweating) to the word mug
• the results suggested that unattended words were processed in meaningful way
• synonyms of these words also produced a CR - suggests semantic processing

Question 7

what is a special stimuli?

Answer 7

• people talking in a different conversation and someone mentions their name
• certain words have intrinsic value which interact with the selection process

Question 8

what is the late selection theory?

Answer 8

• Deutsch & Deutsch 1963
• perhaps attention doesn’t act to limit semantic processing but in fact everything is semantically processed
• they suggest selection is made in terms of what is acted upon by executive control or what enters awareness
• this would explain slips in attention processing of special stimuli, activation of conditioned responses

Question 9

what did Deutsch & Deutsch study?

Answer 9

• all streams receive full perceptual processing in parallel
• all streams are also analysed for semantic content in parallel
• the filter is much closer to the response
• attention selects for awareness, response and explicit memory

Question 10

what is the selection in space?

Answer 10

• the role of attention is often to focus processing on some region at the expense of others
• this reduces the flow of info to other cognitive processes (memory, language)

Question 11

what is a serial speech?

Answer 11

• a visual search process that focuses on identifying a previously requested target surrounded by distractors possessing no distinct features from the target itself
• the more distracting objects we have the harder it is to find the target

Question 12

what is parallel search?

Answer 12

• an image that contains a target E in a field of X distractors. Target E pops out from X. (b) Serial search example: an image that contains a target E in a field of F distractors. The E and F can be distinguished from each other only after their features are bound by attention
• more distractors ≠ harder search

Question 13

what is feature searches?

Answer 13

• when the target is defined by a specific feature (e.g., colour) it seems to pop-out
• the set size the number of distractors makes no difference
• this suggests the stimuli are processed for their features in parallel
• this happens for a range of attributes (colour, shape, size, orientation, motion)
• when the target is defined by a specific feature (e.g., colour) it seems to “pop-out”
• the “set-size”, the number of distractors, makes no difference
• this suggests the stimuli are processed for their features in parallel
• this happens for a range of attributes (colour, shape, size, orientation, motion)
• in all cases the target has a single unique feature that allows it to pop out from the background
• hits on a particular analyser map lead to fast detection of the target item

Question 14

what did Triesman 1986 suggest?

Answer 14

• Triesman (1986) suggested that “feature maps” analyse the visual field and extract out these primitive features in parallel

Question 15

what are conjunction searches?

Answer 15

• When the target is a combination of attributes, a slow serial search process is needed.
• We can extract the features (red and blue) in parallel
• But we need to attend to objects to “bind” these.

Question 16

what is feature integration theory?

Answer 16

• Anne Triesman (1988; 1992)
• Early selection of perceptual features.
• If target involves conjunctions of features, attention (i.e. the spotlight) is then needed to integrate the features in to whole items

Question 17

what are the predictions of feature integration theory?

Answer 17

• Tresiman’s theory regarding the separation of parallel and serial processes in visual search leads to an interesting prediction:
• If there is limited opportunity for serial search, then features will not be combined (or will be less accurately combined).

Question 18

what is illusory conjuctions?

Answer 18

• These errors in binding features support Triesman’s Feature Integration Theory.
• Feature extraction occurs automatically and in parallel; object recognition requires feature binding.
• (Accurate) binding of features requires slow serial attentional processing of stimuli.
• If this is not allowed, then errors in binding will occur and will be based on features extracted automatically during early perceptual processing

Question 19

how do you measure divided attention?

Answer 19

• Attention as a limited resource
  
  • Which variables might play an important role?
• 1. Task similarity
     - pat head somewhat similar to rub belly.
• 2. Practice
     - we are experts at that! How about…
     - rotate left index finger clockwise
     - turn right hand 90 degrees
     - rotate right hand anti-clockwise
• The more difficult a task is, the more it will interfere with concurrent tasks.

Question 20

what effect does task similarity have on performance?

Answer 20

• Phase 1: perceptual detection task
• Phase 2
  - Once participants were making 5-25% errors, they were asked to engage in a mental imagery task at the same time.
  - “Think of volcano erupting”
  - “Think of the sound of a typewriter”
• Single central capacity concept is perhaps too simplistic?
• Suggests multiple capacity resources.

Question 21

what is tasked load used for?

Answer 21

• Very common methodology in cognitive psychology:
• increase the load on finite attentional resources
• observe the effect on a secondary task
• Adding “load” through a secondary task should impair reasoning:
  - The “blocking” design / effect (Kamin, 1969)

Question 22

what are secondary tasks?

Answer 22

• The use of secondary tasks to “load” attentional/cognitive capacity is a very effective methodology
• Can provide insights into what processes are operating
• Contrasting primary and secondary task types
• Provides evidence for role of effortful and automatic processes.

Question 23

what is Lavie’s load theory

Answer 23

• Idea: Selective attention is modulated by demands placed on finite capacity perceptual resources.
• That is…we have a limit on how much information we can perceptually process
• Lavie’s tasks involve manipulating “perceptual load” and looking at how it affects selective attention.
• low load (feature) & high load (conjunction)
• Perceptual processes can perform a simple feature identification task (is it red or blue). Minimal demands on attentional resources.
• Perceptual processes need to perform a conjunction identification task (combination of colour and shape). This is an attention demanding task.
• Results showed greater compatibility effect under low load conditions.

Question 24

what are the implications of Lavie’s results on late selection?

Answer 24

• Lavie’s results have important implications for last week’s discussion of the early vs. late selection accounts:
• When attentional demands are low, late selection occurs (more processing).
• When attentional demands are high, early selection occurs (more filtration).

Question 25

what did Rowland & Shanks 2006 study?

Answer 25

• Can we passively learn about unattended information in our environment?
• Experiment 1
• Both the top and bottom circles moved according to two different sequences.
• Participants told to attend only to bottom sequence. Do they show learning of the top sequence?
• Take home message: secondary sequence was learnt
  If demands on attentional resources affects selection, does this affect implicit sequence learning?
• Experiment 2
• Both the top and bottom circles moved according to two different sequences.
• BUT NOW: manipulation of perceptual load.
• Low load: exactly as in Experiment 1
• High load: additional distractors
• Load had a clear effect on learning of the secondary sequence

Question 26

what is divided and selective attention?

Answer 26

• Attention acts to focus our processing
• Guided by task demands and goals
• We can devote “deeper processing” to focus of attention
• Our cognitive resources are limited in capacity
• Task difficulty will affect load of capacity
• Task similarity will affect conflict
• Task load manipulations help us understand cognitive function
• With greater demands on resources, we become more selective