attention

Attention

Involves focusing on one aspect of the environment while ignoring others

Selective attention

The ability to focus on certain stimuli while ignoring others

Cocktail Party Phenomenon

We hear our name in a noisy room even if we weren't listening consciously

Spotlight of Attention Theory

Attention acts like a spotlight: focuses on specific parts of the environment.

Visual Attention

The process of focusing on specific visual stimuli.

Bottom-Up Attention

Automatic capture by salient or unexpected stimuli.

Top-Down Attention

Voluntary focus based on goals, expectations, or prior knowledge

Saccades

Rapid shifts of gaze occurring 2-3 times per second.

Saccadic Suppression

The brain suppresses visual input during eye movements, maintaining perceptual stability.

Visual Search Tasks

Searching for a target within a field of distractors

Feature Search

Target differs by a single feature (color, shape, orientation

Conjunction Search

Target defined by combination of features (color + shape)

Real-Life Applications of Visual Search

TSA baggage screeners, radiologists, mammogram analysts rely on conjunction search abilities

Feature Integration Theory

Attention binds individual features into a unified perception of objects

Pre-attentive Stage

Basic features (color, shape) processed automatically

Focused Attention Stage

Features are combined ("glued") into coherent objects

Illusory Conjunctions

When attention is divided, features may be incorrectly combined

Overt Attention

Actively moving eyes or body toward an object of interest

Adaptive Function of Attention

Prevents sensory overload

Disorders with Attentional Filtering Deficits

Schizophrenia / ADHD - Individuals attend to all stimuli equally, lacking a selective filter.

Covert Attention

Shifting attention without moving eyes

Posner Cueing Paradigm (1980

Tested covert attention using valid and invalid cues

Inattentional Blindness

Failure to notice visible but unexpected objects when attention is occupied by another task

Change Blindness

Failure to detect changes in a visual scene due to attentional limitations

Divided Attention (Multitasking)

Splitting attention across multiple tasks or sensory modalities

Hemifield Neglect

Inability to attend to one side of visual field, often left

Balint's Syndrome

Bilateral parietal damage leading to deficits in controlling voluntary eye movements and poor object binding

Simultanagnosia

Inability to perceive multiple objects at once.

The Stroop Effect

Measures interference in selective attention by naming the color of the font while ignoring the word.

Spotlight Theory

Attention is likened to a mental beam

Inattentional Blindness Example

The "Invisible Gorilla" video

Stroop Effect Example

Conflict between reading the word 'RED' in blue ink

Neglect & Balint's Example

Damage to attention networks, such as parietal lesions