Notes on Attention and Perception

Introduction

• Challenge presented: Count yellow stars and red X's simultaneously.
• Example of divided attention: difficulty in tracking multiple stimuli at once.

Results of the Challenge

• Participants may have counted: 15 yellow stars and 13 red X's (plus a smiley face).
• Highlights the limitations of attention.

Understanding Attention as a Limited Resource

• Concentration typically occurs on one stimulus at the exclusion of others.
• Engaging in divided attention leads to task switching, not simultaneous processing.
• Selecting between tasks employs selective attention.
• Analogy: Selective attention as a flashlight beam focusing on specific stimuli while others are dimmed.

Types of Attention Cues

• Exogenous Cues

• External stimuli capturing attention without conscious effort.

• Examples: Bright colors, loud noises (causing moments of diversion).

• Pop-out Effect: Salient visuals stand out (e.g., a yellow circle among green circles).

• Endogenous Cues

• Internal learned cues that require intention and understanding.

• Example: An arrow only makes sense if one understands its indication.

Cocktail Party Effect

• Ability to focus on one voice within a noisy environment.
• Example: Hearing one’s name among many conversations draws attention (endogenous cue due to knowledge of the significance of one's name).

Inattentional Blindness

• Defined as missing stimuli in the visual field due to focus elsewhere.
• Example: Missing the smiley face while counting other shapes.

Change Blindness

• Failing to notice changes in the environment.

• Example: Noticing if your mother’s hairstyle has changed or rearranged furniture in a room.

• Important distinction from inattentional blindness:

• Inattentional blindness: Missing something visible.

• Change blindness: Missing differences between two states.

Research Example

• A study where people giving directions failed to notice a change in the researcher due to a large bookcase moving between them.
• Demonstrates our limited attention and tendency to focus on a primary task at the expense of noticing changes in the environment.