Cognition 7e, Margaret MatlinChapter 3 Cognition Chapter 3 Perceptual Processes II: Attention and...

Cognition 7e, Margaret Matlin Chapter 3

CognitionCognition

Chapter 3Chapter 3

Perceptual Processes II: Perceptual Processes II: Attention and Attention and

ConsciousnessConsciousness


IntroductionIntroduction

attention

top-down and bottom-up processing

attention and visual phenomena


Three Kinds of Attention Three Kinds of Attention ProcessesProcesses

Divided AttentionDivided Attention trying to pay attention to two or more

simultaneous messages perform two tasks at the same time

Simulated-driving studiesLevy and coauthors (2006)

braking & tone



Divided AttentionDivided AttentionSimulated-driving studies (continued)

Strayer and colleagues (2003)hands-free cell phones, traffic, braking

inattentional blindness

Wikman and colleagues (1998)experienced drivers vs. novices

Driven to distraction: dual-Task Driven to distraction: dual-Task studies of simulated driving and studies of simulated driving and

conversing on a cellular telephoneconversing on a cellular telephone

Performance was not disrupted by • Listening to radio broadcasts or listening to a book on tape. • A continuous shadowing task using a handheld phone, ruling

out, in this case, dual-task interpretations associated with holding the phone, listening, or speaking,

Significant interference was observed in a word-generation variant of the shadowing task, and this deficit increased with the difficulty of driving.

Unconstrained conversations using either a handheld or a hands-free cell phone resulted in a twofold increase in the failure to detect simulated traffic signals and slower reactions to those signals that were detected.


Driving Simulator VideosDriving Simulator Videosfrom APPLIED COGNITION LAB at from APPLIED COGNITION LAB at

Univ. of UtahUniv. of Utah

http://www.psych.utah.edu/lab/appliedcognition/news.html

Driving + Phone ConversationDriving + Phone Conversation

Driving + Passenger ConversationDriving + Passenger Conversation

Driving + Text MessagingDriving + Text Messaging






Selective AttentionSelective Attentionrespond selectively to certain kinds of information, while ignoring other information

people notice little about the irrelevant tasks

Dichotic Listeningone message presented to left ear and a different message presented to right ear

shadow one of the messages



Selective AttentionSelective AttentionDichotic Listening (continued)

people notice very little about the unattended message

in general, we can process only one message at a time

may process the unattended message when1. both messages are presented slowly

2. the task is not challenging

3. the meaning of the unattended message is relevant



Selective AttentionSelective AttentionDichotic Listening (continued)

cocktail party effect

Specialized cells that scan relatively long stretches of sound, to pick out a particular

vocal feature, despite all the background noise

tell other brain cells in the area to stay quiet, to stop responding to the background noise



Selective AttentionSelective AttentionThe Stroop Effect

naming the colors of words

incongruent words vs. colored patches

practice

emotional Stroop task—naming the ink color of words related to a psychological disorder

explanations in terms of PDP and automatic processing

CongruousCongruous


IncongruousIncongruous




Selective AttentionSelective AttentionVisual Search

more accurate if the target appears frequently

1. The isolated-feature/combined-feature effectTreisman and Gelade (1980)—searching for blue Xs

2. The feature-present/feature-absent effectTreisman and Souther (1985)—searching for "circle with

the line" or "circle without the line"

Royden and colleagues (2001)—moving vs. stationary targets


Visual SearchVisual Search



In Depth: Saccadic Eye MovementsIn Depth: Saccadic Eye Movementseye movements during reading

saccadic eye movement

fovea

fixation

perceptual span



In Depth: Saccadic Eye Movements In Depth: Saccadic Eye Movements (continued)

patterns—blank spaces, short words, highly predictable words, misspellings, unusual words

good readers vs. poor readers—size of saccadic movements, regressions, pauses

meaning of the text—themes, puzzling endings


Explanations for Explanations for AttentionAttention

Neuroscience Research on AttentionNeuroscience Research on AttentionThe Orienting Attention Network

selecting information from sensory input

visual search

parietal lobe

brain lesions

unilateral neglect

PET scans


Cerebral Cortex & Cerebral Cortex & AttentionAttention



Neuroscience Research on AttentionNeuroscience Research on AttentionThe Executive Attention Network

used when task features conflictinhibiting automatic responses to stimuliStroop tasklistening to words and stating use of each wordtop-down control of attentionacademic learning

The Alerting Attention Network—responsible for sensitivity to new stimuli, alertness, vigilance



Theories of AttentionTheories of AttentionEarly Theories of Attention

Bottleneck theoriesinformation either passes through bottleneck or is losttoo simpleinformation not lost at just one phase of the attention processattention as many separable processes



Theories of AttentionTheories of AttentionFeature-Integration Theory (Anne Treisman)

1. The basic elements distributed attention

all parts of the scene processed at the same timeregister features automaticallyparallel processinglow-level processing

What do we focus on?What do we focus on?

Preattentive Stage: perception of Preattentive Stage: perception of primitives - these are perceived before primitives - these are perceived before the object is recognizedthe object is recognized

CurvatureCurvatureTiltTiltLine endsLine endsMovementMovementColorColorBrightnessBrightnessDirection of illuminationDirection of illumination

What do we focus on?What do we focus on?Preattentive Stage: perception of primitives - Preattentive Stage: perception of primitives -

orientation, contours, curvature, color and orientation, contours, curvature, color and movementmovement

What do we focus on?What do we focus on?Preattentive Stage: perception of primitives - texture Preattentive Stage: perception of primitives - texture

differences produce differences produce ““pop-outpop-out”” boundaries boundaries


Explanations for AttentionExplanations for Attention


2. Research on the theoryisolated features vs. combined features

distributed attention vs. focused attention

feature-present/feature-absent effect

illusory conjunction—inappropriate combination of features

binding problem




3. Current status of the theoryrole of practice

distributed attention can occasionally resemble focused attention

looking for explanations at the cellular level



• the awareness people have about the outside world and about their perceptions, images, thoughts, memories, and feelings

• generally associated with controlled, focused attention that is not automatic



Consciousness About Our Higher Mental Consciousness About Our Higher Mental ProcessesProcesses

Nisbett & Wilson (1977)little direct access to our thought processes

products vs. processes



Consciousness About Our Higher Mental Consciousness About Our Higher Mental ProcessesProcesses

we have only limited access to some thought processes such as:

• whether our attention is drifting• how well we understand something we have read• our awareness of step-by-step procedures in a

motor activity that has become automatic



Thought SuppressionThought Suppressionironic effects of mental controlWegner—Tolstoy's "white bear" taskrebound effect



Individual Differences: Thought Individual Differences: Thought Suppression and Obsessive-Compulsive Suppression and Obsessive-Compulsive DisorderDisorder

obsessioncompulsionobsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)"white bear" task



BlindsightBlindsightvision without awarenessdamage to visual cortexcan still identify some visual attributes of stimulus

reported as "not seen" (no conscious awareness of object)



BlindsightBlindsightExplanations—portion of the information from

the retina travels to other locations on the cerebral cortex, outside the visual cortex

primary visual cortex necessary for conscious awareness of visual information

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