Ch. 4: External Attention

Attention

A family of cognitive mechanisms that combine to help us select, modulate, and sustain focus on information most relevant for behavior

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A function of the mind, not just the eyes

Capacity Limited

The mind’s ability to handle only limited amounts of information at a time

External Attention

Attention directed outward to the world

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The process of selecting and modulating the processing of sensory information

Internal Attention

How we attend to information originating inside of the body

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The process of selecting and modulating internal information (thoughts, feelings, potential responses, items from memory)

Eye tracking

Cameras record where participants are looking

Saccades

Rapid jerky eye movements that quickly shift focus from one point to another

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• > 900 degrees/second

• Help reposition to fovea to different paths of the FOV

• Can be voluntary or involuntary

Saccadic Suppression

The term for when visual perception is supressed during a saccade

Overt Attention

Observable signs of where people are attending

Eye gazw

Where people look often indicates what they are attending

Covert attention

Directing attention in a way that could not be discerned by someone watching you

Explicit measures

Relies on conscious measures

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Some describe, some object

Implicit Measures

Relies on unconscious measures

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Response time or eye-movements

Selection

The process of prioritizing or singling out certain pieces of information among many

Attention Selection can be…

1. Voluntary

2. Reflexive

Voluntary

Effort to select goal-relevant information

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Choosing where to attend

Reflexive

Attending to a particular stimulus because it has seized your attention

Spatial Attention

The ability to attend to regions in space

Spotlight Attention

Illuminates & raises awareness of info in that region

Posner Cueing Task

Experimental task used to reveal the movement of attention in space; participants respond to targets on a screen as quickly as they can, and attention can be directed toward or away from the target location by exogenous or endogenous cues

Attentional Cueing

Providing info to draw attention to a specific location

Endogenous

A symbolic representation cue indicates where the target will appear (cue not located at target location)

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Engages voluntary attention

Exogenous

A cue, located at target location, that indicates target location

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Engages reflexive attention

Valid or Invalid

Either correctly or incorrectly indicate the target location

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Can apply to endogenous or exogenous cues

Inhibition of Return

Short-lives suppression of info processing at a just-attended location

Freature-Based Attention

The ability to attend to or filter information based on features (ex: color, shape, motion)

Temporal Attention

Our ability to pay attention to points in time

Attentional Blink

Second of two targets presented in rapid succession is more difficult to detect than the first

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Second target harder to detect if presented < 500 ms after first target

Object-Based Attention

Selective attention to an object, rather than a point in space

parse space into objects

Visual attention is influenced by how we…

Spatial Neglect

Following a brain injury, the failure to process stimuli on one side of the visual field

Receptive Field

The visual system (neurons) is associated within region of the visual field (light receptors on the retina)

prioritize which information to attend to

When presented with objects close to each other the brain needs to…

Bottom-Up Selection

Attention driven by the salience of physical features (ex: red draws more attention than blue)

Top-Down Selection

Attention is drawn to goal-relevant features over goal-irrelevant featuresAmb

Ambiguity Resolution Theory of Visual Selective Attention

The theory that because activations within the visual system can support multiple perceptual interpretations, attention helps resolve such ambiguities

Early Selection

We select objects to attention based on physical features AND THEN register their meaning

Late Selection

We process the meaning of everything around us AND THEN select what will gain entry to heightened awareness

Pre-Attentive Processing

Extent to which we process information before attentionally selecting it.

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Two types of Processing:

1. Parallel Processing

2. Serial Processing

Parallel Processing

Take-in all stimuli at once

Serial Processing

Take-in stimuli one bit at a time

Visual Search Task

An experimental task in which participants look for a target embedded in an array of nontargets

Visual Pop-Out

Quick detection of a target characterized by a distinctive feature that can be processed in parallel among other items in visual search

Feature Conjunction

In attention and perception, a combination of features, such as color and shape, that distinguish a target stimulus

Feature Integration Theory

The theory that focused attention is needed to bind (integrate) multiple visual features into a cohesive subject.

Binding Problem

Thwe challenge of figuring out which visual features in the environment combine to form cohesive perceptions of objects

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“How do we combine features (color, shape, motion) that are processed in different regions into a unitary whole?”

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Correctly binding features requires attention

Illusory Conjunction

The incorrect combining of features that are not actually combined in the real world, which occurs when attention is diverted away

Guided Search Model

A model that posits that basic visual features are combined with top-down factors like goals and experience to make search more efficient

Priority Map

A mental representation of a search display that guides attention to likely target locations, incorporating basic visual features, search goals, prior experience, and knowledge about the target and context.

Pre-Attentive Stage

Basic features processed automatically and in parallel

Focused Attention Stage

Features bound into coherent objects and processed serially

Feature Maps

Separate maps for each future dimension

Dichotic Listening

An experimental task in which participants listen to two different messages played simultaneously over headphones.

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Pariticpants could barely report anything about unattended message

Shadowing

An experimental task in which participants repeat a message out loud as it is played to them

Cocktail Party Problem

An analogy referring to people’s ability to attend to one channel of information (name) while ignoring others that impinge on the senses

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A scenario in which you’re talking to your friend at a party and here your name called from across the room in a conversation you were not consciously listening to

Broadbent’s Filter Model of Attention

Attention acts as a filter determining which info gains entry to more complex processing and which info gets excluded, typically based on “early” stimulus features (ex: pitch, color) prior to the processing of semantic meaning

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Information is attended to or ignored based on “early” stimulus features before the meaning of the information is processed

Broadbent’s Filter Model of Attention Steps

1. Sensory Buffer

2. Selective Filter

3. Limited-Capacity Channel

4. Higher-Level Processing

Sensory Buffer

Temporary storage of all sensory information

Selective Filter

Filter that selects information based on physical characteristics

Limited-Capacity Channel

Only selected information is passed for further processing

Higher-Level Processing

Semantic analysis

Treisman’s Attenuator Model of Attention

A model of attentional filtering where different types of information have different thresholds for being selected & reaching awareness

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Meaningful information like your name needs to meet a lower threshold of processing in order to reach awareness

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Multiple streams processed in parallel, but with different strengths

Treisman’s Attenuator Model Steps

1. Attenuator

2. Dictionary Unit

3. Selective Attention

Attenuator

Filter weaknes unattended signals

Dictionary Unit

Filter that selectively attends based on stregnth of some words

Selective Attention

Based on physical and semantic properties

Nilli Lavie’s Perceptual Load Theory

Instructional design theory that states that learning can be facilitated by understanding different types of cognitive load, such as the difference of the material, the learner’s skill level, and the manner in which the material is taught.

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Demanding Task = High Load & Easy Task = Low Load

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Unattended information reaches awareness more easily during low load tasks

Modulation

The process by which attention affects perception of stimulus

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Attention to a stimulus can change how we perceive the stimulus

Vigilance

A state of heightened attentional anticipation that enables people to better respond to stimuli before they appear

Continuous Performance Task

An experimental task in which aprticipatns are required to stay focused for a prolonged period of time.

Inattentional Blindness

The failure for one to notice an unexpected item that is right in plain view when their attention is preoccupied

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Conscious perception relies on attention

Change Blindness

The failure ot notice often large changes form one view to the next

Rapid Serial Visual Presentation Task (RSVP)

A task that involves searching for targets appearing within a very rapid sequence of items

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Result: 2nd target often missed if presented too soon after 1st target

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Conclusion: Attention requires a “resetting period”

Attentional Blink

The failure to see the second of two targets in a rapid succession of items when it appears soon after the first target

Blindsight

The condition in which a patient who has suffered damage to the visual cortex (ex: through stroke) is able to respond to & localize visual stimuli taht they report not being able to see

Neural Correlates of Consciousness

The minimum neural mechanisms that need to be active for a person to be aware of something

Global Neuronal Workspace Theory

The proposal that we become conscious of information when multiple areas and networks across the brain become rhythmically synchronized

Gist

The overall idea or meaning of a visual scene

Attentional Capture

Involuntary (reflexive) grabbing of attention by certain kinds of stimuli

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Shaped by:

• Stimulus properties

• Emotional response

• Experience & learning

Saliency Map

A representational layout of the visual field in which locations are tagged based on their visual salience or distinctiveness; thought to play a role in reflexive shifts of attention

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Topographical representation of the relative different between visual signals

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Attention is drawn to visual features that are very different from surrounding aspects

Value-Modulated Attentional Capture

The reflexive allocation of attention based on learned value

Attentional Bias

Tendency to direct attention to emotionally salient stimuli over the other

Dot Probe Task

An experimental task in which participants respond quickly to a target (ex: dot) that could appear in one of two locations, and where an emotional or personally relevant stimulus may percede the target at the target or nontarget location

Attentional Bias Modification

A therapeutic approach aiming to help people reduce maladaptive biases to attend to clinically relevant stimuli

Emotion-Induced Blindness

The failure to see rapidly presented targets that appear right after a rapidly presented emotional nontarget

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When emotionallly salient stimuli mask, or prevent, the processing of subsequent stimuli

Broaden-and-Build Theory

The theory that positive emotions widen the range of information that people readily consider and attend to

Positivity Efffect

The tendency for older adults to dwell less on negative information and preferentially attend to positive stimuli