Attention

Change Blindness: we as humans are bad at processing changes in a stimulus, even when our attention is directed straight to that stimulus. Example: the “Door” study by Simon’s and Levin

Attention: taking possession by the mind, in a clear and vivid form, of one out of what seem several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thoughts

Selective Attention:

• you are selecting which stimulus to attend to

• It’s called unattended information that we don’t focus on

Attention: is blood flow to relevant areas of the brain

Regional Cortex Blood Flow:

• decreases with age significantly to such areas as the parahippocampal gyri.

• First few years of life we experience a significant increase.

ADHD:

• shows a persistent pattern of in attention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity that interferes with functioning or development.

• Is associated with a weaker function and structure of prefrontal cortex.

• Individuals stuggle with blood flow on the brain.

• Medication for ADHD (guanfacine) often high blood pressure, decreasing heart rate to allow better blood flow

Inattentional Blindness: You’re blind to whatever you are not paying attention to.

Feature Search: search for a single feature and is very fast and requires little attention

Conjunctive Search:

• more complex because you’re looking for a combination of features

• Takes more attention

• Is slower

Spotlight Model3: More our attention to the way we can move our eyes one

Diving Attention: when a particular task demands lots of processing resources

Limitations of attention:

• Tracking Speed: how fast the attended objects are moving and how fast your eyes must move to keep up

• Capacity: number of objects you can process at the same time

• Crowding: the closer objects are to one another, the harder it is to identify them

Reaction time: