PSYC1020 week 11 Attention_outline

Cognition: Attention PSYC1020

Memory and Attention

  • Memory and attention are closely intertwined.

  • Information must be attended to and encoded before it can be remembered.

  • No memory functions without prior attention.

Selective Attention

  • Questions arise on how we selectively focus on limited information amidst overwhelming stimuli.

  • Early Theories:

    • Cherry's (1950s) Experiments:

      • Differentiated between detection and recognition of stimuli.

      • Utilized shadowing techniques (dichotic listening) to manipulate selective attention.

Filter Theories

  • Broadbent's Filter Theory (1950s):

    • Proposed that an early filter screens out unimportant information based on physical characteristics.

  • Limitations to Broadbent's Theory:

    • Cocktail Party Effect: Ability to detect salient stimuli such as one’s name in an unattended channel.

    • Individuals can detect sexually explicit words regardless of attention.

    • Classically conditioned responses indicate more complex filtering processes.

    • Participants can switch ears to follow stories, contradicting a rigid filtering process.

Importance of Filtering

  • The capability to filter information is crucial for survival.

  • We can still be distracted by unexpected stimuli, highlighting the complexity of attention.

Feature Integration Theory

  • Overview:

    • Proposes that object perception results from two stages:

      1. Feature Detection:

      • Fast, automatic, and processes physical features simultaneously (parallel processing).

      1. Feature Integration:

      • Slow, controlled process that necessitates focused attention (serial processing).

  • Experimental Testing of the Theory:

    • Comparison of Conjunction Search vs. Popout (serial vs. parallel search tasks).

    • Various visual search tasks identified how focus is allocated in identifying features in a stimulus array.

Conjunction Errors

  • Mistakes occur in the feature integration stage when features mix up, leading to the misidentification of an image.

Applications of Attention Theories

  • How can attention theories inform better designs in safety features for vehicles and public signage?

  • Importance of contrast and design in warning signals and for medical imaging interpretations (e.g. x-rays).

  • Implications for advertising in designing attention-capturing packaging.

Attention While Driving

  • Notable Fact:

    • Filtering information is essential for safe driving.

    • Selective attention can lead to significant errors and lapses.

  • Lapses of Attention While Driving:

    • “Looked-but-failed-to-see” incidents account for ~93% of crashes due to inattention.

    • Example:

      • Motorcycles are often missed by drivers during visual scans.

Detection Preference

  • Drivers should ideally notice more threatening hazards, which could challenge existing attention models.

Divided Attention

  • Definition:

    • Refers to the allocation of attentional resources across multiple tasks.

  • Challenges of Divided Attention:

    • Performing dual tasks often results in decreased performance.

    • Influencing factors include age, task complexity, and experience.

  • Experimental Evidence:

    • Dual-Task Paradigms:

      • Tasks involving simultaneous operations (like writing and typing) lead to trade-offs in performance.

Importance in Driving

  • Engaging in secondary tasks while driving results in markedly reduced detection of hazards.

  • Young drivers show a significant percentage of road fatalities associated with mobile device usage while driving.

Automatic Processing

  • Definition:

    • It allows simultaneous execution of tasks without a perceived mental load through practice.

Stroop Effect

  • A classic demonstration of automaticity illustrating the competition between reading and color-naming tasks.

  • Reading, typically automatic for adults, disrupts color identification tasks due to conflicting information.

Skill Acquisition and Automaticity

  • Inquiry into how tasks become automatic involves changes from serial to parallel processing.

  • Understanding automaticity is crucial for skill acquisition in various domains (e.g., reading, music).

Action Slips and Automaticity

  • Schemas:

    • Controlled by mini-schemas that guide behavior in tasks like driving.

  • Types of Action Slips (Norman, 1988):

    • Capture Error:

      • Salient tasks take over intended actions.

    • Associative Activation Error:

      • Wrong responses linked to unrelated stimuli.

    • Loss of Activation Error:

      • Forgetting intended actions midway through a task.

Inattentional Blindness

  • Defined as the failure to perceive clearly visible stimuli.

  • Classically exemplified by the "Gorilla Demonstration" and related to pilot performance under distraction.

Visual Search and Attention

  • Certain stimuli are more likely to be noticed based on their similarity to distractors, proximity to the fovea, and perceptual expectations.

Further Observations on Inattentional Blindness

  • Factors including eye movements, conversation engagement, and developmental considerations influence susceptibility to inattentional blindness.

Visuo-spatial Neglect

  • Damage to the posterior parietal cortex can cause neglect in specific visual fields, particularly the left.

Simultanagnosia

  • A condition where patients cannot perceive more than one object at a time, impacting attention shifting and visual processing.

Dyslexia and Attention

  • Evidence suggests that the visual dorsal pathway, vital for feature integration during reading, is impaired in dyslexic readers, impacting their reading abilities.

Concluding Thoughts on Attention and Driving

  • Ongoing research is being conducted in Australia, building on studies of divided attention and distraction effects within driving contexts.