Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Chapter 4: Attention and
Consciousness
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Attention Is…
• The concentration of mental energy
that must be used to process incoming
information
– Selective
– Limited
– Both conscious and preconscious
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Preconscious Attention
• Items that lie outside our conscious
awareness, some may be made
conscious, some not
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Priming
BREAD
NURSE
CAT
BUTTER
DOCTOR
DOG
• How quickly do you process the
second word?
• Faster if you have been primed with a
related word.
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Marcel (1983)
Condition
Subliminally
Present Prime
Consciously
Present Prime
Prime
PALM
PALM
Mask
XXXX
Target
PINE OR WRIST
Response
Reaction time
PINE OR WRIST
Body part or Plant? Body Part or Plant?
How fast?
How fast?
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Marcel’s Procedure with Participants
PALM
XXXX
PINE
It’s a Plant.
Subliminal Condition
PALM
PINE
Umm, It’s a Plant.
Conscious Condition
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Marcel (1983) Results
Condition
Targets:
PINE or
WRIST
Subliminally
Present
Prime
Found faster RT
for both target
words
Interpretation Both meanings
were primed
Consciously Present
Prime
Found faster RT for
one of two target
words, slower RT
for the other target
Only one meaning is
primed, the other
inhibited
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Priming Can Speed or Slow Processing
• Facilitative Priming
– Target stimuli (e.g., BUTTER) are
processed faster if preceded by a related
word (e.g., BREAD)
• Negative Priming Effect
– Target stimuli (e.g., PINE) is processed
slower if preceded by a word related to
target’s alternate meaning (PALM
relating to hand)
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Bowers, Regehr, Balthazard &
Parker (1990)
Triad A
Triad B
Basket
Swan
Room
Army
Foot
Mask
Which of these triads is coherent?
What is the 4th word that ties them together?
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Bowers (et.al.) Results
• Even if participants could not generate
the 4th word, they still selected the
coherent triad
• Results demonstrate preconscious
processing
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Tip-of-the-Tongue Experiences (TOT)
• You know you know the word but you
cannot fully retrieve the word
• Paradigms used to generate TOT states
– Show pictures of famous people or
politicians and have participants name
them
– Ask general knowledge questions to
generate TOTs
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
TOT Demonstration
• What is the name of Dagwood Bumstead’s
dog?
• Who wrote Paradise Lost?
• What is a wheeled hospital cart called?
• Do any of these questions put the answer on
the tip of your tongue?
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Blindsight
• Person cannot consciously see a certain
portion of their visual field but still
behave in some instances as if they can
see it
• Being aware of doing something is
distinguishable from doing something
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Controlled vs. Automatic Processing
• Automatic processing
– Requires no conscious control
• Controlled processing
– Requires conscious control
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Is Typing Automatic or
Controlled for You?
• Do you type without thinking where your
fingers are? Are you a search-and-peck
typer?
• If you do type without using attention, what
happens when you think about the letters as
you are typing them?
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Automatization - Two Explanations
• Integrated components theoryAnderson
– Practice leads to integration; less and less
attention is needed
• Instance Theory - Logan
– Retrieve from memory specific answers,
skipping the procedure; thus less
attention is needed
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Effect of Practice on Automatization
NegativeAcceleration
Curve
• Rate of learning slows as amount of
learning increases
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Habituation
• Decrease in responsiveness when
exposed to a repeated stimulus
– People who smoke do not notice the
smell of cigarettes on their clothes, but
nonsmokers do
– People get used to hearing the chiming of
their clocks
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Dishabituation
• Change in familiar stimuli causes
one to notice it again
– Smokers who quit, suddenly notice how
much their clothes smell of smoke
– If clock breaks, suddenly owner notices
the clock isn’t chiming
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Habituation/Dishabituation Paradigm
• Allows psychologists to test abilities of
•
Infants and animals
Measure subject’s arousal to see if a change
occurs when pattern or sound is changed
– If animal or infant dishabituates to a change,
then they can detect the change
– If the animal or infant does not dishabituate to a
change in stimuli, they did not detect the
change
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Functions of Conscious Attention
•
•
•
•
Signal Detection
Searching
Selective Attention
Divided Attention
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Signal Detection Theory (SDT)
Signal
Present
Decision
Present
Hit
Absent
Miss
Absent
False
Alarm
Correct
Rejection
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Vigilance and SDT
• Vigilance is attending to a set of
stimuli over a length of time in order to
detect a target signal
• Vigilance decreases rapidly over time
(fatigue), thus misses and false alarms
increase
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Search
• Actively searching for a target
• Number of targets and distracters
influence accuracy
• Feature search versus conjunctive
search
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Conjunctive vs. Feature Search
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
O
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
Which box is it easier
to detect a letter that is
different?
The box on top is a feature
L L L L L L L search
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
T
L
L
The box on the bottom is a
L L L L L L L
conjunction search
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Treisman’s Feature-Integration Theory
• Individual Feature processing is done in
•
parallel. Simultaneous processing is done on the
whole display and if feature is present-- we
detect it.
Conjunctive searching requires attention to the
integration or combination of the features.
Attention to particular combination of features
must be done sequentially to detect presence of
a certain combination.
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Another Feature Search
Is there a red T in the
Display?
Target is defined by a
single feature
According to feature
integration theory the
Target should “pop out”
No attention required
T
T
T
T
T T T
T
T
T T
T T
T
T
T
T
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Another Conjunction Search
Is there a red T in the
Display?
Target is defined by two
Features: shape and color
According to FIT, the
features must be combined
and so attention is required
Need to examine one by one
X X T
T X T
T X T X
X X T
T T
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Similarity Theory
• Disagrees with Treisman’s FIT theory
• Similarity between targets and distracters
is important; not number of features to be
combined
– The more shared features among items in
display, the more difficult to detect a
particular target
• Some findings cannot be explained by FIT
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Guided Search
• Cave and Wolf (1990)
• All searches have 2 phases
– Parallel phase
– Serial stage
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Selectivity of Attention
• Cocktail Party Problem
– How are we able to follow one
conversation in the presence of other
conversations?
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Cherry’s Shadowing Technique
Attended Ear
Unattended Ear
The doctor went to
the park to find the
homeless man. He
was
The lawyer
defended his client
as the trial began.
He was able
…..The
doctor went to
the park…..
Listen to two different conversations and repeat
one of the messages, may be binaural or dichotic
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Cherry’s Study Results
• Noticed in unattended ear:
– Change in gender
– Change to a tone
• Did not notice in unattended ear:
– Changed language
– Changed topic, same speaker
– If speech was played backwards
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Models of Selective Attention
• Do they have
a filter?
• Where does the filter occur?
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Broadbent’s Model
Sensory
Stores
Sensory
Filter
• Only one sensory channel is allowed
to proceed
• Stimuli filtered at sensory level
Working
Memory
Long
Term
Memory
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Broadbent’s Model Could Not Explain
• Participant’s name gets through
• Participants can shadow meaningful
messages that switches from one ear to
another
• Effects of practice on detecting
information in unattended ear (e.g.,
detect digit in unattended ear for naïve
and practiced participants)
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Treisman Attenuation Model
Attenuation of
Unattended
Sensory
Stores
Filter weakens the strength of unattended information.
Arrow colors represent different levels of strength
If arrow reaches circle, info will be activated in
working memory
Note some circles are closer due to different thresholds
of information
Working
Memory
Long
Term
Memory
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Late Selection Theory
Sensory
Stores
All stimuli is processed to the level of
meaning; relevance determines further
Processing and action
Deutsch & Deutsch (1963)
Working
Memory
Long
Term
Memory
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Multimode Theory
• Johnston & Heinz (1978)
• Difficulty of a task is determined by
when the selection takes place
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Neisser’s Synthesis
• Preattentive Processes
– Parallel
– Note physical characteristics
• Attentive Processes
– Controlled processes occur serially
– Occur in working memory
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Attentional-Resource Theories
• Model A represents Kahneman (1973) model
• Model B represents individual pools for each
modality
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Stroop Effect
Say the color the words
are printed in as quickly
as you can
What errors do you make?
Reading interferes with your
ability to state the color and
your reaction time is slower
red
yellow
green
blue
red
blue
yellow
green
blue
red
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Divided Attention
• How many tasks can you do at once?
– e.g. driving & talking, radio, phone...
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Dual Task Paradigm
• Task 1 may require a verbal response
to an auditory stimulus
• Task 2 may require a participant to
push a button in response to a visual
stimulus.
• Results indicate that responses to the
second task are delayed
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Real Life Dual Task
• Driving and
– Cell phones
– Adjusting music
– Watching the scenery
• Almost 80 % of crashes and 65 % of
near-crashes involved some form of
driver inattention within three seconds
of the event
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Strayer & Drews (2007)
• Naturalistic Observation of cell phone
use and driver behavior
Failed to Stopped
stop
properly
On Cell Phone
82
28
No Cell Phone
352
1286
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Strayer & Drews (2007) Results
• Impact of hands free cell phone
conversations on simulated driving:
– Cell-phone conversation led to
inattentional-blindness
– Even if they looked at an object,
participant did not remember the object
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Complex Mental Processes
• Access to conscious Mental Processes
– Some say we do (Ericsson & Simon)
– Some say we do not (Nisbett & Wilson)
• Evidence on both sides:
– Protocol analysis
– Change Blindness
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
(ADHD)
• Symptoms
–
–
–
–
Inattention
Hyperactivity
Impulsivity
Not everyone who is overly hyperactive,
inattentive, or impulsive has ADHD
– Behavior must be demonstrated to a degree that
is inappropriate for the person's age
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Spatial Neglect
• Lesion on one side of brain causes
person to ignore half of their visual
field
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
Posner & Attention
• Two attention systems; two functions
– Anterior frontal lobe system
• Tasks requiring awareness (planning or
writing)
– Posterior parietal lobe system
• Tasks involving visuospatial abilities
(playing Tetris, vigilance tasks)
Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4
ERP and Attention
• Changes in electrical activity noted
• Method enables localization of
attentional processes in the brain