Matlin, Cognition, 7e, Chapter 3: Perceptual Processes II: Attention

Cognition

Chapter 3

Perceptual Processes II:

Attention and

Consciousness

Cognition 7e, Margaret Matlin Chapter 3

Introduction attention top-down and bottom-up processing attention and visual phenomena


Three Kinds of Attention

Processes

Divided Attention

 trying to pay attention to two or more simultaneous messages

 perform two tasks at the same time

Simulated-driving studies

Levy and coauthors (2006) braking & tone



Processes

Divided Attention

Simulated-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 studies of simulated driving and conversing 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 Videos from APPLIED COGNITION LAB at

Univ. of Utah http://www.psych.utah.edu/lab/appliedcog nition/news.html

Driving + Phone Conversation

Driving + Passenger Conversation

Driving + Text Messaging



Processes

Selective Attention respond selectively to certain kinds of information, while ignoring other information people notice little about the irrelevant tasks

Dichotic Listening one message presented to left ear and a different message presented to right ear shadow one of the messages



Processes

Selective Attention

Dichotic 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 when

1. both messages are presented slowly

2. the task is not challenging

3. the meaning of the unattended message is relevant



Processes


Dichotic 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



Processes


The 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


Congruous


Incongruous



Processes


Visual Search more accurate if the target appears frequently

1. The isolated-feature/combined-feature effect

Treisman and Gelade (1980) —searching for blue Xs

2. The feature-present/feature-absent effect

Treisman and Souther (1985) —searching for "circle with the line" or "circle without the line"

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


Visual Search



Processes

In Depth: Saccadic Eye Movements eye movements during reading saccadic eye movement fovea fixation perceptual span



Processes

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

Attention

Neuroscience Research on Attention

The Orienting Attention Network selecting information from sensory input visual search parietal lobe brain lesions unilateral neglect

PET scans


Cerebral Cortex &

Attention



Attention

Neuroscience Research on Attention

The Executive Attention Network used when task features conflict inhibiting automatic responses to stimuli

Stroop task listening to words and stating use of each word top-down control of attention academic learning

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



Attention

Theories of Attention

Early Theories of Attention

Bottleneck theories information either passes through bottleneck or is lost too simple information not lost at just one phase of the attention process attention as many separable processes



Attention


Feature-Integration Theory (Anne Treisman)

1. The basic elements distributed attention all parts of the scene processed at the same time register features automatically parallel processing low-level processing



Attention




What do we focus on?

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

Curvature

Tilt

Line ends

Movement

Color

Brightness

Direction of illumination


Preattentive Stage: perception of primitives orientation, contours, curvature, color and movement


Preattentive Stage: perception of primitives texture differences produce “ pop-out ” boundaries

Explanations for Attention



2. Research on the theory isolated features vs. combined features distributed attention vs. focused attention feature-present/feature-absent effect illusory conjunction —inappropriate combination of features binding problem



Attention



3. Current status of the theory role of practice distributed attention can occasionally resemble focused attention looking for explanations at the cellular level


Consciousness

• 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

Consciousness About Our Higher Mental

Processes

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


Consciousness

Consciousness About Our Higher Mental

Processes 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


Consciousness

Thought Suppression ironic effects of mental control

Wegner —Tolstoy's "white bear" task rebound effect


Consciousness

Individual Differences: Thought

Suppression and Obsessive-Compulsive

Disorder obsession compulsion obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

"white bear" task


Consciousness

Blindsight vision without awareness damage to visual cortex can still identify some visual attributes of stimulus reported as "not seen" (no conscious awareness of object)


Consciousness

Blindsight

Explanations —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


Matlin, Cognition, 7e, Chapter 3: Perceptual Processes II: Attention

Cognition

Cerebral Cortex &

Attention

Explanations for Attention

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Matlin, Cognition, 7e, Chapter 3: Perceptual Processes II: Attention

Cognition

Cerebral Cortex &

Attention

Explanations for Attention

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