Perception & Attention

Question 1

Selective attention

Answer 1

Orienting yourself to task relevant information because there is limited capacity for processing

Flashlight metaphor

Question 2

Bottom up attentional control

Answer 2

Physically salient stimulus attracts attention (stimulus that stands out from the rest)

Example: a push notification

Question 3

Top down attentional control

Answer 3

Goals and expectations determine what you attend to

Eg: focus on a specific location before stimulus is there

Question 4

Relevance history

Answer 4

Attend to what worked in the past or what has been relevant to you in the past

Question 5

Smartphone impact on attention: immediate effect

Answer 5

A smartphone visibly present distracts even when not providing any stimulation

Question 6

Sensation

Answer 6

Conversion of physical energy into neural codes recognized by the brain

Thing like sight, hearing, skin sensations, smell, taste etc

Question 7

Perception

Answer 7

• Processes beyond sensation (sensation leads to perception)
• Making sense of sensation
• Processing and organizing the raw information
• Forming a coherent representation of the world
• Using these representations to solve problems in the real world (comprehending, navigating and planning)

Question 8

Bottom up perception

Answer 8

What attentional systems have gates through

Stimulus > Attention > perception > thought process > decision > response or action

Question 9

Top down perception

Answer 9

Context effects - role of pre existing knowledge and ongoing thoughts

Attention > Thought process > perception > decision

Question 10

Top down perception in new media design

Answer 10

We can safely erase a lot of unnecessary info as long as we keep what is minimally required for people to easily get the correct meaning by inferring (minimizing ambiguity