week 3 Flashcards
attention
implies withdrawal from some things to deal effectively with others
idea of processing some information at the cost of other information
- William James `
Neisser: Attention is psychology’s most elusive target
* thought of as first person to write a textbook on cognition
* attention is a finite resource = not unlimited
what is attention - 2 definitions
attention as a mental process
* the mental process of concentrating effort on a stimulus or mental event
* selective attention
attention as a limited mental resource
* the limited mental energy
* controlled attention
* attentional capacity
selective attention
the application of cognitive resources to a task
must select relevant information to attend to and combine
* massive information + Limited Capacity = Selective attention
attention - main question
how do we select what we pay attention to?
selective attention - why do we select certain things to pay attention to
Information processing model: representation and process
information processing model
sensation –> perception –> mental representation –> memory
- stored info can be retrieved
cocktail party effect
we can attend to only one conversation among many but will notice critical information
dichotic listening experiments
have been used to systematically examine the cocktail party effect
participants listen to different messages presented to each ear through headphones, but they have to only follow one
showed some processing of non-attended messages
– otherwise little meaningful information from the other ear will be processed
– suggests that some info is processed to some extent, but is filtered – not reaching point of interpretation
for non shadow ear – people could give physical properties of voice and speed but nothing about meaningful information
* not reaching point of interpretation
early filter models
attention proposed to be an early filter
* Broadbent proposes filter follows detection but before recognition
- only info that is important will be processed
model doesn’t explain the cocktail party affect
* you should not be able to respond to your name if this is true
Problem with the early filter
some information still gets through
people would continue a sentence but continuation would be switching between two ears
one ear received “dox six fleas”
other got “eight scratch two”
person says “dog scratch fleas”
late filter
Deutsch proposed late filter, after recognition
- filter may be attenuated for some info
- people were following the meaning of the message even when interchanging between ears
early filter: based on physical characteristics
late filter: based on meaning
problem: a lot of info to process before you filter
switching experiment
Treisman had subjects shadow message in one ear but then meaningful message switched to other ear
people miss words when listening to two different things in different ears
dichotic listening in real world
airforce cadets dichotic listening test where they shifted attention from one ear to another
people who weren’t aware that they were shifting attention from one ear to the other were less likely to successfully complete air force training
used as a marker for how much control over your attention you had
link between awareness of control and likelihood of completing training
Treisman Attenuation Theory
Intermediate-selection model
aka leaky filter model
- attended messages can be separated from unattended message early in the information-processing system
- filtering can be based on physical properties or meaning
signals are not either there, its about signal strength
early filter = too light
late filter = too much info
Treisman’s Attenuation theory Attenuator
attenuator
* attended to message is let through the attenuator at full strength
* unattended message is let through a much weaker strength (leaky filter)
stuff that matters to you signal boost
stuff you don’t attent to is tempered down
* not an all or none filter, you are just accentuating the things you are about
Treisman’s Attenuation theory Dictionary unit
Contains words, each of which have thresholds for being activated
* words that are common or important have low thresholds
* uncommon words have high thresholds
the interpretation part
strengthening and lowering of a signal
attentional capacity
can’t distinguish filter models
* can’t distinguish between filter models because stuff happens after filter
- emphasis has shifted to capacity theories of attention
capacity: the total of our mental resources that can be allocated toward different tasks
* ability and resources to process information
attentional capacity is limited
automacity = task performance with no mental effort
* highly practiced but disadvantage = hard to override
stroop effect - you have little control over automatic processing
* when the target “pops out” it means the search is an automatic task
attentional capacity
whether capacity is exceeded depends on the task and also the state of the person
- alertness
- automatic vs effortful tasks (controlled)
capacity varies based on
* your state
* how awake you are
* how much practive you’ve had
* certain tasks that can’t be automatized because you can’t shrink the number of resources required
alertness
older adults - better at cognitive tasks in the morning, younger adults better at night
time of day - optimal time of day for alertness changes throughout life
most resources available to you start getting earlier as you age
automaticity vs controlled
automaticity: practice leads to storing relevant information for a task in memory - no mental effort needed
task is automatic if
* occurs without intention
* unconscious
* does not interfere with other mental activities
controlled attention: deliberate, voluntary allocation of mental effort or concentration
* more creativeness and synthesis
* situation is different enough each time that it could never be automacized
searching among dissimilar distractor
- target letter seems to “pop-out”
- seach time little affected by search set
- this is an automatic task
search among similar distractors
- each location must be focused on
- search time varies with size and search set
- this task requires attentional control
- need controlled attention when adding similar surrounding factorsl
langugae become automatic
reading is an automatic process
people are more likely to miss a letter the more common the word is
if asked to look for t would miss seeing the letter in the word “it” vs “time”
stroop effect
automatically read the words but hard time saying the color is blue when the word says red – cheat by bluring eyes
disadvantage of automaticity
difficult to “undo” practice and override automaticity
when you have an automatic process outside of your control and you try to impose control on it – its hard to move something from the automatic column, to a place where you want to apply resources on it
proofreading study
* mutliplication questions
* looking at equations in the same order again and again, less able to spot mistakes
* started filling in right answers even for ones that were incorrect
–> even when trying to do a controlled task, if its set up in such a way, your brain will skip steps
attention
- distraction
- attentional capture
- visual scanning
ability to focus on specific stimuli or locations
distraction: one stimulus interferring with the processing of another
attentional capture: a rapid shifting in attention usually created by a stimulus such as a loud noise, bright light, or sudden movement
visual scanning: movement of the eyes from one location to another
attention as information processing
Broadbent’s filter model of attention
to explain dichotic listening
shadowing = repeating words
- sensory memory hold incoming info
- transfers to filer
- filter identified messaged based on Phys. characteristics
- transfers to detector
- detector processes information from attended message to determine meaning – processes everything that enters bc already past filter
early selection model bc filter eliminates the unattended information right away at the beginning of the flow of information
problem: we are conscious of what we hear in one ear - so the unattended side still gets past the filter
treisman
proposed modification to Broadbent’s model of early filter
replaced filter with attenuator which analyses the incoming message in terms of
* physical characterisitcs
* language
* meaning
if words sound the same, then have to use meaning to distinguish
leaky filter model
model has dictionary units which determine the final output of the system
late selection models of attention
Mackay found that the meaning of the biasing word affected the participants choice
model proposes that most of the incoming information is processed to the level of meaning before the message to be further processed is selected
processing capacity and perceptual load
how do people ignore distracting stimuli when they are trying to focus their attention on a task?
processing capacity: refers to the amount of information people can handle and sets a limit on their ability to process incoming information
perceptual load: related to the difficulty of a task
low load tasks: ones tht are well-practiced and have perceptual loads, leaves capacity to handle other tasks
lavie’s load theory of attention: proposal that the ability to ignore the task-irrelevant stimuli depends on the load of the task the person is doing
* high load tasks result in less distraction
stroop effect: refers to the fact that people who find this task difficult when the word red is printed in blue
directing attention by scanning a scene
how does directing our attention affect our experience
- scanning a scene with eye movements
- scanning based on stimulus salience
- scanning based on cognitive factors
- scanning based on task demands
scanning a scene with eye movements
good vision comes from scanning
objects in central vision fall on the fovea (good detail vision)
* peripheral retina is not as good
saccadic eye movement - rapid jerky movement from one fixation to the next
overt attention: shifthing of attention by moving eyes, contrasts covert the attention
scanning based on stimulus salience
attention can be influenced by salience
* color, contrast, movement
* bottom-up process
saliency map
* map of scenes that indicates the stimulus salience of areas and objects in the scene
* first few fixations will be on high salient areas (areas with alot of contrast or pattern)
scanning based on cognitive factors
limitations about saliency is that different people interpret things differently
variation in how people scan scenes
top down process
* scanning influenced by knowledge and preferences
scene schemas
* need top down processing
* knowledge about what is contained in typical scenes
* people look loger at things that seem out of place in a scene means that attention is being affected by their knowledge of what is usually found in the scene
scanning based on task demands
the timing of looking at things determined by the sequence of actions involved in the task
eye movement depends on task
just in time strategy: eye movement occur just before we need the information they will provide
scanning influenced by predictions about what might happen
scanning anticipates what a person will do
pausing scanning: to look longer at something when someone’s expectations are violated
* when there’s a printer unexpectedly in a kitchen
outcomes of attention
improves ability to respond to a location
* precueing - to determine if presenting a cue indicating where a test stimulus will appear enhances the processing of the target stimulus
* to measure covert attention
conclusion: information processing is more effective at the place where attention is directed
improves our ability to respond to objects
* can also covertly attend to specific objects
* when attention is directed to one place on an object, the enhancing effect that attention spread to other places on the object
* same-object advantage: when the enhancing effect of attention spread thoughout an object so that attention to one place on an object results in a facilitation of processing at other places on the object
attention affects perception
affects physiological responding
* attention increases activity in areas of the brain that represent the attended location
* activation of brain occurred when participants attended to specific areas
changes the representation of objects across the cortex
* attention to a specific location results in enhanced activity at one place in the cortex
*Datta and DeYoe
Tolga Cukur - brain maps
Determined how attention affects the way different types of obejcts are represented across the brain as a whole
Huth brain map: can see that activity is distributed across a large area of the brain
Cukur created brain maps by analyzing data from tens of thousands of voxels across brain
attentional warping: important feature of brain maps
* occurs when the map of categories on the brain changes to make more space for categories that are being searched for as a person attends to a scene
divided attention: can we attend to more than one thing at a time?
stroop task shows that even when we are trying to ignore irrelevant stimuli, we take information from task-irrelevant stimulus
ability to divide attention depends on practice and the difficulty of the task
divided attention becomes more difficult when tasks are harder
Shneider and Shiffrin showed that divided attention is possible for some well-practiced tasks
found that if tasks difficulty is increased than automatic processing is not possible with practice
found that practice made it possible for participants to divide their attention to deal with all the target and test items simultaneously
distractions
cell phone distractions while driving
* drivers who crash are inattentive
* more crashes due to cell-phone use regardless if its hands free or not
distractions by the internet
operant conditioning could explain why you use your phone constantly
continuous parital attention: distraction from a task impairs performance – solution is to develop strategies of self control
distraction caused by mind wandering
thoughts coming from within
Killingsworth: people are mind wandering half the time they’re awake
mind wandering is distracting enough to disrupt a task
what happens when we don’t attend
divided attention is possible but difficult
limits exist in our ability to attend
inattentional blindness = how we can miss things even when they are clearly visible
inattentional blindness
unaware of visible stimuli if aren’t directing attention to it
when observers are attending to a sequence of events, they can fail to see another event right in front of them
inattentional deafness: when inattention causes a perso to miss au auditory stimulus
* Lavie’s load theory of attention
* being involved in a high load task increases chances of missing other stimuli
change detection
detecting differences between picture or displays that are presented one after another
change blindness: difficulty in detecting changes in scenes
continuity errors: when scenes don’t match up - change blindness = we don’t notice
attention and experience in a coherent world
attention = important determinant of what we perceive
binding = process by which features and locations are combined to create our perception fo a coherent object
the binding problem = how an objects individual features bound together
feature integration theory (2 stage process)
steps in object processing
preattentive stage
- attention could be automatic so not involved in this stage
features of objects are analyzed in separate areas of the brain and are not yet associatated with a specific object
focused attention stage: attention is focused on an object and the independent features are combined so that we can become aware of the ball
evidence for future integration theory
illusory conjunctions: happens because in the preattentive stage, each feature exists independently of the others
- people report seeing shapes that were a combo of two different shapes shown
Balint’s Syndrome
* condition caused by brain damage
* person has difficulty focusing attention on individual objects
* result of parietal lobe damage
feature analyses theory = bottom-up processing
visual search
another way to study the role of attention in binding = conjunction search
feature search: searching for the target item that involves detecting one feature (ex: horizontal lines)
conjunction search: find the green horizontal line bc you have two features to detect so you look for conjunction of horizontal and green
executive attention network
responsible for two executive functions
- controlling attention
- dealing with conflicting responses
example: stroop test where u have to focus on color and ignore word
- involved in conflict (willpower, cognitive control)
- should I stay or should I go
effective connectivity changes
schizophrenia
ventral and dorsal attention networks
attention in terms of capacity
some tasks need more effort than others
feature integration theory (slides)
most influential theory - how people think about combination of perception and attention, and computers.
Treisman
* said that the way you interpret objects is having different spatial maps, each corresponding to different features (one linked to color, one linked to shape)
- preattentive stage (get the physical features)
- spatial maps are distinct
- automatically through senses
- attention is gathering information and binding the different features from the maps
- attention is helping perception bc it acts as the glue for the early processes
- only get a true representation in the world when you are paying attention to it
parallel search = preattentive stage
* as soon as you add a conjunction search, you have to go to next stage (attentional level) which is cereal and you have to look at each item to know if its the target you’re looking for
conjunction search: serial process
conjunction error: usually made when someone is presented with info, its taken away and then they have to remember it
* confirmation of feature integration theory
vigilance
- some jobs require that automaticity be avoided
- jobs where you have to be paying attention to complete the jobs
- have to be under controlled attention
air traffic controllers, pilots, drivers
feature integration theory ties attention to how perception works
* attention as a resource for capacity
inattention blindness
Neisser
- when controlled attention takes away from noticing other things happening in your environment
not the same as change blindness (that representations are complete)
said that in order to process info, you need to purposefully ignore the irrelevant information
examples:
* car accidents, medical error, airplane crashes
* magic
Change blindness is the failure to notice an obvious change. Inattentional blindness is the failure to notice the existence of an unexpected item
divided attention
we are not strictly limited to one thing at a time
but do these tasks interfere with each other? - depends on the tasks and how practiced they are
dual task procedure: have someone do two tasks and use performance on the secondary task to measure the influence of primary task
* if both tasks have an increased capacity then you have, there’ll be a decrease in performance
dual task study
Johnston and Heinz
shadow message at same time as responding to light (secondary task)
- dichotic listening experiment
- task of ignoring to one voice and listening to the other is hampering ability to respond to light - takes about of capacity
divided attention while driving
Strayer and Johnston
- pursuit tracking task: participants used a joystick to keep a cursor positioned over a moving target
- talking on phone worse than drinking and driving bc of planning process of what to respond (same with texting)
psychological refractory period
period of time where a new process cannot be initiated due to the continued processing of choosing a response to another stimulus
- task is taking up all resources and you can’t do something else at the same time
if something else happens while you’re responding to something else, you can ony make one selection at a time
have to make a decision about one selection before starting selection for the decision about another
response selection bottleneck
* if second stimulus comes late enough, there will be no decrement in performance
many performers ue this period to their advantage by presenting successive cues such as fakes or baulks to slow the respone of their opponents
attention and the brain
damage to the right parietal lobe causes attentional neglect
* neglect - people fail to attend to the contralesional side of things
attentional neglect: right parietal damage = inability to attend to left side of visual field
these people will only shave half of face
- not a problem at the sensory level
Posner’s attentional cueing paradigm
investigated attention by cuing participants either correctly or not and seeing response time
react faster to an object when already looking in the direction where it appears
cueing task analysis
* difference in time is bc of disengaging and reorienting (invalid trials)
moving attention around
how to do it
disengage attention
move attention to location of the new to be attended stimulus
enhance (once attention has been redirected, neural processing of the new location is enhanced)
moving attention around
attention can move independent of eye movements
* but day to day, they are usually tightly linked
attention and moving eyes is linked
