Psych 111 L7/8 (Attention and Consciousness)

Inattentional blindness

We fail to perceive something when our attention is focused elsewhere (ex. dancing bear)

Change Blindness

Observers’ inability to notice changes in their environment.

Moore and Egeth, (1997) Study Inattentional Blindness

Study used visual illusions like the Muller Lyer + Ponzo illusion, they showed them very quickly with the illusion hidden so people wouldn’t have time to fully process it; People who had time to process the stimuli had the same results as those who weren’t given time to process info; Found that people were susceptible to the illusion even if they did NOT consciously process the stimuli that caused the illusion.

The “Flicker” paradigm

Tests change blindness with 4 photos: (1) Photo 1, (2) Blank screen, (3) Photo 2 (which Is photo 1 slightly altered), (4) Blank screen again

Tests to see if you know what changed; Blank screen wipes out visual iconic memory; Difficult unless you know what to look for

“Person swap” paradigm (Simons & Levin, 1998)

Ex set up: Experimenter asks someone for directions, while it is happening an object comes between them and the experimenter switches, then sees if direction-giver notices

50% of people approached in study didn’t notice if experimenter was changed out

Preconscious processing

Freud; The items that currently lie outside our conscious awareness (are not actively aware of), can often move into conscious awareness

Tip of the Tongue Phenomenon (TOT)

We sometimes have difficulty raising items from preconscious to conscious; You know the word but you cannot fully retrieve the word, becomes more frequent when you are older

Blindsight

A condition in which a person can respond to a visual stimulus without consciously experiencing it; Being aware of perceiving something is distinguishable from just perceiving something

Controlled Processing

Stroop; Requires conscious control, Effortful, One step at a time (serial), Consumes our attentional resources, Performed more slowly, Novel tasks

Automatic Processing

Stroop; Requires no conscious control, Little effort required, Subcomponents can be performed in parallel, Doesn’t consume much attentional resources, Performed quickly, Familiar, well-practiced tasks

The Stroop Task

Interference effects between two tasks, one relatively automated and one that’s less automated; Color names in competing colors (Ex. red written in green text), then see if it takes longer to read or to say color names bc competing info (it does)

Parallel Processing

The brain's ability to handle multiple streams of incoming sensory and cognitive information at the same time

Serial (Sequential) Processing

A cognitive model where the brain handles information, tasks, or stimuli one step at a time in a strict chronological sequence rather than all at once

Visual Search – Treisman’s theory

Actively searching for a target in a field of distractors.

Contrast feature search (Find presence of one feature in the array; ex. the red letter in a field of blue letters.) vs. conjunctive search (find the conjunction of 2 or more features together; ex. red Z in a field of red and blue Zs and M’s)

Contrast occurs faster than conjunctive

Individual Feature processing

Treisman; is done in parallel. Simultaneous processing is done on the whole display and if feature is present-- we detect it.

Conjunctive Searching

Treisman; Requires attention to the integration or combination of the features. Attention to particular combination of features must be done sequentially to detect presence of a certain combination

Illusory Conjunctions

Can occur during conjunctive searching; Shown red square and green circle → report saw red circle that wasn’t actually there

Consciousness

The subjective awareness of ourselves and our environment; All the sensations, perceptions, memories, and feelings you are aware of in any instant

Circadian Rhythm

24 hour biological clock – periodic fluctuations in physiological functioning; Levels go up and down throughout the day (body temperature, blood pressure, alertness - wake/sleep, hormone levels, immune system)

Suprachiasmatic Nucleus

SCN is part of hypothalamus and is involved in maintaining circadian rhythms

Beta Waves

Small fast waves associated with alertness and being awake; more focused and active

Alpha Waves

Larger, slower waves associated with relaxation and just before falling asleep (but still awake); more calm and relaxed

Delta Waves

Very large and slow waves associated with a move to deeper sleep and a further loss of consciousness

NREM-1

Small, irregular waves produced in light sleep (people may or may not say they were asleep); 4-5%

Hypnic Jerk

Reflex muscle twitch throughout body that may occur in Stage 1

NREM-2

Deeper sleep; sleep spindles (bursts of distinctive brain-wave activity) appear; 45-55%

NREM-3

Deeper sleep (slow wave sleep); Delta waves appear; very large and slow. 4-6%, Then we get deepest level of normal sleep; almost purely Delta waves.; 4-6%, 12-15%

Takes place earlier in the evening closer to when you fell asleep

REM Sleep

Rapid Eye Movements (REM): Associated with dreaming; sleep is very light.; 20-25%; Body is very still during REM sleep; Takes place later in the evening closer to when you wake up; Brainstem blocks messages from motor cortex - so don't move

Freud’s wish-fulfillment Theory

Dream theory; Dreams preserve sleep and provide a “psychic safety valve”—expressing otherwise unacceptable feelings; contain manifest (remembered) content and a deeper layer of latent content (a hidden meaning).

Information Processing Theory

Dream Theory; Dreams help us sort out the day’s events and consolidate our memories

Physiological Function Theory

Dream Theory; Regular brain stimulation from REM sleep may help develop and preserve neural pathways.

Neural Activation Theory

Dream Theory; REM sleep triggers neural activity that evokes random visual memories, which our sleeping brain weaves into stories.

Cognitive Development Theory

Dream content reflects dreamers’ level of cognitive development—their knowledge and understanding. Dreams simulate our lives, including worst-case scenarios.

Manifest Content

Freud; Remembered story line - not really the point of why we dream

Latent Content

Freud; Underlying meaning of dream - more important

Lucid Dreaming

Perls; Person feels fully awake within the dream and feels capable of normal thought and action

Why we might dream

To satisfy our own wishes

To file away memories

To develop and preserve neural pathways

To make sense of neural static

To reflect cognitive development

Perls Dream Theory

Most dreams are a special message about what is missing in our lives, what we avoid doing, or feelings that we need to re-own

Why We Sleep

Adaptive functions: Sleep may have played a protective role in human evolution by keeping people safe during potentially dangerous periods. Also, save energy/calories