MODULE 4.1: ATTENTION

what is attention?

  • William James (1890)

    • “Everyone knows what attention is. It is the taking possession

      by the mind, in clear and vivid form, of one out of what seem

      several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought.

      Focalization, concentration, of consciousness are of its essence.

      It implies withdrawal from some things in order to deal

      effectively with others...”

  • Hal Pashler (1998)

    • “No one knows what attention is.”

  • ATTENTION: the functionality of “restricting cognitive processes so that they operate on a subset of the available information for the purpose of improving the speed or accuracy of the processes”

    • quote from Luck & Vercera (2002)


elements of attention

  1. selection among alternatives

  2. serves to improve the effectiveness of mental processes

  3. restricting-

  • how we decide what to restrict and what to allow?

  • attentional control/executive control/cognitive control


learning check

which of the following is NOT an element of attention that is highlighted by our working definition?

A. selection among alternatives

B. improving effectiveness of mental (cognitive) processing

C. focalization and concentration of consciousness

D. restricting cognitive processes

E. controlling cognitive processes


types of attention/functional-neural components of attention

  • ALERTNESS: achieving and maintaining an alert state

    • ex- as a lifeguard on a beach, watching for unusual patterns of activity in or near the water

  • ORIENTING: shifting attention reflexively based on a cue

    • ex- suddenly becoming aware of a rock thrown towards you

  • VISUAL SEARCH

    • ex- picking out your favorite player on a football field

  • SELECTIVE ATTENTION

    • ex- studying for a test while ignoring sounds from the tv in the next room

  • DIVIDED ATTENTION

    • ex- hitting tennis balls while also chatting with your tennis partner

  • EXECUTIVE CONTROL OF ATTENTION: resolving conflict among choices

alertness, vigilance, orienting

  • ALERTNESS: being prepared to detect some important stimulus

  • VIGILANCE: maintaining over time (difficult to maintain)

  • ORIENTING: reflexive response to stimulus (orientation by social cues)


visual search

  • FEATURE SEARCH: target discriminated from non-target objects by single feature

    • don’t need to “pay attention”

    • attentional capture/”popout”

  • CONJUNCTION SEARCH: target discriminated from non-target objects only be the combination of features (2 or more)

    • need to “pay attention” to find target

    • controlled attention

  • feature search

    • target discriminated from non-target objects by single feature

    • green rectangle?

  • conjunction search

    • target discriminated from non-target objects only be the combination of features (2 or more)

    • green vertical rectangle?


learning check

Search W: Is there a green rectangle in Fig 1

Search X: Is there a green rectangle in Fig 2

Search Y: is there a green vertical rectangle in Fig 1

Search Z: Is there a green vertical rectangle in Fig 2

which of the following is true about the type of search involved?

A. W, X, Y: Feature; Z: Conjunction

B. W: Feature; X, Y, Z: Conjunction

C. W, X: Conjunction; Y, Z: Feature

D. W, X: Feature; Y, Z: Conjunction


feature integration theory

Anne Treisman & Gary Gelade (1980)

  • perceive simple features (colors) without focused (controlled) attention

  • need focused (controlled) attention to perceive objects defined by multiple features

  • need for controlled attention- to integrate the features of an object

  • preattentive and attentive stages