Attention and coordination

Attention

Taking possession by the mind, clearly and vividly, of one out of several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought.

Limited Attention

Attention to one thing at a time.

Selective Attention

Choosing one of several things and the ability to move back and forth between them.

Consciousness

"What we are aware of at any given time."

Research and Attention

fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) and TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) has allowed scientists to measure patterns of brain activity.

Attention Measures

Mental effort - pupil dilation.

Resistance to a weak current

Measures of arousal/excitation between two electrodes on the skin decreases with increased arousal of person.

Finite Capacity

If one activity (A) requires attention, then some (or perhaps all) of the "pool" of limited capacity of attention must be allocated to its performance.

Competing Activities

Some other activity (B) that also requires a certain amount of this capacity will compete with A.

Combined Need Exceeds Capacity

B will interfere with the performance of A, and vice versa.

Fluctuations in Capacity

happen throughout the day.

Peak Rhythm

happens around mid morning and again around mid afternoon.

Increasing Capacity for Focus

Consciously take breaks from those things we are focused on.

Meditate

One method to increase capacity for focus.

Take a Walk

One method to increase capacity for focus.

Contemplate

One method to increase capacity for focus.

Attention Demanding Tasks

Both tasks require partial limited capacity.

Intentional Selection

Purposefully choosing to attend to one source of information - e.g., listening to the radio.

Incidental Selection

Involuntary, occurs as a response to an external stimulus - for example, suddenly paying attention to a loud sound.

Everyday Tasks Performance

Stimulus input and response selection, motor programming, encoding and choice, and movement control.

Single Channel, Filter Theories

Several theories regarding attention fixed capacity.

Bottleneck

Bottleneck location in attention processing.

Flexible Capacity Allocation

Capacity of attention could change as the task requirements change.

Multiple Resource Theories

Multiple pools of resources with individual capacity per resource and specificity of resource.

Attention in Multiple Resource Theories

Attention can be devoted to separate stages of processing at the same time.

Interference

Information-processing activities require some kind of capacity (or 'fuel') in order for behavior (skill) to occur.

Attention Defined by Interference

Attention defined by the degree of interference.

Neumann's View on Interference

Interference between two simultaneous tasks occurs because an action has already been selected, and other processes are completely or partially blocked.

Selection in Attention

the most basic and fundamental process of attention, not resources or capacity.

Structural Interference

Physical (or neurological) structures are the source of the decrement.

Capacity Interference

Decrement in performance due to some limitation in central capacity (i.e., attention).

Interference in Stimulus Processing

Very little interference occurs in stimulus processing.

Interference Between Tasks

Most interference between tasks occurs in stages related to the planning or production of movements.

Interruption

Takes on avg about 25.5 min to get back to the initial task.

Self-Interruption

We are so used to interruptions, if outside world does not interrupt us, we will interrupt ourselves - Gloria Mark.

Attention Switching

When we do attention switching it's difficult to make a clean break.

Interruptions

Interfering stimuli that require attention, (e.g. a secondary task like a phone call)

Distractions

Interfering stimuli that capture attention but have to be ignored (e.g. background noise)

Action-Centered Interference

The nature of the selected action drives attention and determines which potential factors will or will not cause interference.

Cell Phone Use and Driving

The degree to which driving is impacted by cell phone conversation can depend on several factors: driving environment, characteristics of the driver, nature of the conversation the driver is engaged in or listening to.

Mutual interference

this between simultaneous tasks is inevitable while telephoning and driving on the road.

Awareness

Top-down and bottom-up processes: Top-down = intentional; Bottom-up = incidental or automatic.

Controlled Processing

(conscious) processing is slow, attention demanding, and serial in nature.

Automatic Processing

(unconscious) processing is fast, not attention demanding, parallel in nature, and is often unavoidable.

Automatic

If two tasks can be performed as well simultaneously as each can be performed individually, then at least one of them does not require attention.

Skill processing

Skill processing becomes faster and more efficient, with processing loads reduced to concentrate on other aspects of the situation.

Double-Stimulation Situations

Various factors act to change, or modify, the effects seen in double-stimulation situations.

Practice Effects - Double Stimulation

A permanent, structural basis in the information-processing system.

Interresponse interval (IRI)

Affected by bringing the stimuli closer to each other in time.

Diminished delay

Delay still exists despite diminished refractoriness (resistance) in the perceptual-motor system.

Perceptual-motor system

The perceptual-motor system has difficulty responding to closely spaced stimuli; responses must be separated considerably in time.

Response

The system can prepare a 'response' to a given complex stimulus.

Response-Programming Stage

The 'response' that is planned in the response-programming stage is still just one response.

Output Chunking

Many sub-elements are collected into a single unit, controlled by what is called a motor program.

Response Time

Playing a piano results in quicker response time.

Inhibition of Return

A protective mechanism that prevents returning attention to a previous orienting cue that captured attention but did not require a response.

Parallel Processing

Parallel processing can occur during the early stages of information processing.

Single Channel Processing

The response-selection stage represents the bottleneck where single-channel processing occurs.

Stimulus Processing

Processing of a second stimulus in response selection and programming must wait until the first stimulus has cleared.

Secondary Task

is performed together with and throughout the duration of the primary task.

Discrete Secondary Task

is presented at various times or places in the performance of the primary task.

Automaticity

Best to think of with respect to some other simultaneous secondary task(s).

Internal Focus of Attention

A concentration on body movements, such as the hand motion in dart throwing or the foot position when kicking a soccer ball.

External Focus of Attention

Directed at the intended movement effect, e.g., the corner of a soccer goal where a player is aiming.

Effectiveness of External Focus

Adopting an external focus is more effective than adopting an internal focus, regardless of the type of skill, movement ability or disability, age, or skill level.

External Focus Increases Movement Effectiveness

External focus promotes movement efficiency and improves movement form.

Constrained Action Hypothesis

Focus on body movements promotes a conscious type of control, interfering with automatic control processes.

Automatic Control Mode

When performers concentrate on the intended movement effect, their motor system uses

Hypervigilance

A sudden and intense stimulus that may lead to a potentially life-threatening outcome.

Bias Toward Threat

A person's perception might be biased toward a threat rather than informational sources that are more important for task performance.

Self-focused attention

Detrimental to performance.

Self-consciousness

Resulting from factors such as the presence of an audience.

Finding Focus

Strategies to improve concentration.

Notice distraction

Understanding the urge for distraction, such as social media.

Forethought

Imagining how we want to see ourselves at the end of the day.

Concrete goals

The more concrete the goals, the more effective they are.

Pangram-game

A game for anagrams that involves setting a timer.

Email checking frequency

Check email 2-3 times a day.

Stimulus-onset asynchrony (SOA)

Should probably be around 50 ms or longer.

Second move timing

Must not follow more than 250 ms.

Refractoriness

Protective mechanism ensuring responses to important stimuli are appropriate.

Stimulus-Response Compatibility

The relationship between stimuli and responses.

High compatibility effects

Can reduce or eliminate the devastating effects of the first signal and its response.

Hick's law

Increasing complexity of S1 affects its processing time.

RT2 delay

Depends on the duration of processing for S1.

Stroop Effect

The color meaning of the word interferes with naming the ink color.

Congruent response time

Time to respond is very fast when the word and target color are the same.

Incongruent response delay

Delayed response when the word name and ink color are not the same.

Cocktail Party Phenomenon

Auditory stimuli processed in parallel without attention.

Attention mechanism

Prevents attention from being drawn to unwanted sources of sound.

Relevant stimuli

Stimuli like our name or danger alerts can pass through attention filters.

Inattentional Blindness

Failure to see certain visual stimuli.

Sustained attention problems

Individuals may have issues focusing on other stimuli.