19- Introduction to Attention (10.6.25)

Introduction to Attention

10.6.25

If a tree falls in the forest but no one is there to hear it, does it even make a sound?

We are being stimulated all the time.But what do we notice?

Defining terms

Awareness

attention

• Not simply being stimulated… but realizing that you are

• selecting something to focus on out of what you’re aware of
• becoming acutely aware of something

Types of Attention

• divided attention – paying attention to 2+ things at the same time
• focused attention – being acutely aware of only one thing at a time
• selective attention – attending only to some things, not others
• applies to both focused and divided attention

Studying Selective Attention

dichotic listening task

Donald Broadbent

Theories of Attention

Donald Broadbent

• filter theory of attention
• all sensory info -> registered as physical signals
• attention selects only some signals to be interpreted for meaning
• all other physical signals -> filtered out

Theories of Attention

• filter theory of attention

Donald Broadbent

How Attention Affects Perception

• inattentional blindness – failure to perceive a fully visible yet unattended visual stimulus
• missing what’s in plain sight because you’re not paying attention to it

Studying Inattentional Blindness

How Attention Affects Perception

• attentional blink – being unaware of a stimulus in the attended location while processing something else
• how you can miss something while you were still processing

rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP)

Studying Attentional Blink

How Attention Affects Perception

• change blindness – failure to detect the disappearance or change in a single unattended object across two scenes
• may even be a large change once you notice it

Overt & Covert Attention

overt attention

covert attention

• selectively attending to info by moving one’s eyes
• i.e. turning to look at something

• selectively attending to info without moving one’s eyes
• i.e. catching something out of the corner of your eye

Studying Covert Attention

• attentional cuing task

Brain activity in V4 changes when the location of attention changes.

• occurs even without shifting visual gaze
• attention shifts but no eye movement

Brain activity in V4 changes when the location of attention changes.

• occurs even without shifting visual gaze
• attention shifts but no eye movement

Attention to Features

• visual search
• feature search –
• i.e. Which of these things is not like the others?
• conjunction search
• i.e. Which of these things fits these two criteria?

Brain activity in MT changes when attending to still vs. moving stimuli

Attention paid to part of an object spreads to include the entire object.

If a tree falls in the forest but no one is there to hear it, does it even make a sound?