Memory and Cognition
Topic: Attention
Dr. Ellen Campana
Arizona State University
Attention


Selective Attention vs. Divided Attention
Automatic Processes vs. Controlled Processes


High Cognitive Load vs. Low Cognitive Load
Visual Attention
Exogenous vs. Endogenous Direction of Attention
 Overt Attention vs. Covert Attention

Overt: Bottom-up vs. Top-down control
 Covert: Location-based vs. Object-based

Attention Vocabulary


Selective Attention vs. Divided Attention
Automatic Processes vs. Controlled Processes


High Cognitive Load vs. Low Cognitive Load
Visual Attention
Exogenous vs. Endogenous Direction of Attention
 Overt Attention vs. Covert Attention

Overt: Bottom-up vs. Top-down control
 Covert: Location-based vs. Object-based

Selective Attention
Part I
Selective Attention
“Everyone knows what attention is. It is the taking
possession by the mind, in clear and vivid form,
of one out of what seem like several
simultaneously possible objects or trains of
thought… It implies withdrawal from some
things in order to deal effectively with others.”
- William James (1890)
Selective Attention


Selective Attention: The ability to focus in on
one message and ignore all others
Attention is involved in many aspects of
cognition
Perception
 Memory
 Language
 Problem-Solving

Dichotic Listening
Blah blah
blah blah
blah…
Blah blah blah
blah blah…
Dichotic Listening
What does it feel like to shadow something???
Say exactly what the speaker is saying as quickly as
you can. Don’t wait for him to finish – start
doing it while he is still talking.
Did you hear anything that was going on around
you while doing it?
Attention Models / Theories

Early Models of Selective Attention
Early Filter (Broadbent)
 Attenuator Model (Triesman)
 Late Filter


Load Model (Lavie)
Early Filter Model (Broadbent)

Dichotic Listening Studies
Cherry – participants could only report male /
female voice (nothing about meaning)
 Moray – participants failed to notice a word repeated
35 times in the unattended ear


Interpretation: Attention acts as a filter or
bottleneck
Attended information gets through
 Unattended information does not get through

Early Filter Model (Broadbent)
Messages
Sensory
Memory

Filter
Attended
Message
Detector
To Memory
Information processing model from chapter 1
 Not physiological
Attenuator Model (Triesman)

Dichotic Listening Studies
Moray – participants heard their own names in
unattended ear (Cocktail party effect)
 Gray and Wedderburn – Dear Aunt Jane

Dichotic Listening
Dear 7 Jane
Attended Ear or
Attended Channel
(Shadowing)
Dear Aunt Jane
9 Aunt 6
Unattended Ear or
Unattended Channel
(Ignoring)
Attenuator Model (Triesman)

Dichotic Listening Studies
Moray – participants heard their own names in
unattended ear (Cocktail party effect)
 Gray and Wedderburn – Dear Aunt Jane


Interpretation: Attention acts as a “leaky filter”
Attended information is full strength
 Unattended information is attenuated (not blocked)

Attenuator Model (Triesman)
Unattended
Message
Messages
To Memory
Attenuator

Attenuator
Dictionary Unit
Attended
Message
Uses whatever aspects of the messages are necessary in
order to separate them (surface characteristics + meaning)
 Output = all messages, with the attended message being
strongest (unattended messages attenuated)

Attenuator Model (Triesman)
Unattended
Message
Messages
To Memory
Attenuator

Dictionary Unit
Dictionary Unit
Attended
Message
Contains all words, with different activation thresholds
 Common or important words have lower thresholds so it
doesn’t take much to recognize them

START HERE
ELLEN!
Late Filter Models

Dichotic Listening Study

McKay – Bank (River or Money)
Dichotic Listening
He threw
stones at the
bank.
Attended Ear or
Attended Channel
(Shadowing)
He threw stones
at the bank.
RIVER
Unattended Ear or
Unattended Channel
(Ignoring)
Dichotic Listening
He threw
stones at the
bank.
Attended Ear or
Attended Channel
(Shadowing)
He threw stones
at the bank.
MONEY
Unattended Ear or
Unattended Channel
(Ignoring)
Late Filter Models
Unattended ear: RIVER / MONEY
Shadowed: They were throwing stones at the bank.

Memory task (afterward)
They threw stones toward the side of the river
vs.
They threw stones at the savings and loan association
Late Filter Models

Dichotic Listening Study


McKay – Bank (River or Money)
Interpretation: Much more processing (for
meaning) much be happening before the filter
Whole class of models about different mechanisms
 Detail beyond scope of this class
 Soon to end anyway

Attention Models / Theories

Early Models of Selective Attention
Early Filter (Broadbent)
 Attenuator Model (Triesman)
 Late Filter


Load Model (Lavie)
Load-Dependent Processing
(Lavie)


There was a lot of evidence for each type of
model, and no clear “winner”
Lavie made a critical observation
When tasks were difficult or stimuli were complex,
experiments supported the early filter model
 When tasks were easy or stimuli were simple,
experiments supported attenuator / late filter models


Interpretation: Attention is Load-dependent
Attention Vocabulary


Selective Attention vs. Divided Attention
Automatic Processes vs. Controlled Processes


High Cognitive Load vs. Low Cognitive Load
Visual Attention
Exogenous vs. Endogenous Direction of Attention
 Overt Attention vs. Covert Attention

Overt: Bottom-up vs. Top-down control
 Covert: Location-based vs. Object-based

Cognitive Load

Attention has limited capacity
High-load tasks use all resources, leaving nothing
for other tasks
 Low-load tasks use fewer resources, leaving some
available for other things


One way to study attentional load is by using a
flanker compatibility task
Flanker Compatibility Task

Participants have to look for a particular target
item within the circles (say it’s a square)
Push a key whenever you see a square within the
circle areas, as quickly as possible
 Ignore anything outside the circle areas (distractors)
 BUT keep eyes focused on the cross in the center

Flanker Compatibility Task
Flanker Compatibility Task
Flanker Compatibility Task
Flanker Compatibility Task

Participants have to look for a particular target
item within the circles (say it’s a square)
Push a key whenever you see a square within the
circle areas, as quickly as possible
 Ignore anything outside the circle areas (distractors)
 BUT keep eyes focused on the cross in the center



Compatible distractors: same as target
Incompatible distractors: different from target
Flanker Compatibility Task


It took less time for people to correctly
respond when there was a compatible distractor
What does that tell us about model of
attention?
LATE
FILTER
C = Compatible
I = Incompatible
Flanker Compatibility Task


That was the low-load condition, because only
one circle had an object in it that participants
needed to compare against the target
In the high-load condition, there are more
objects that might be targets

Task is harder, therefore consumes more resources
Flanker Compatibility Task
Flanker Compatibility Task


Now people did NOT respond more quickly when
there was a compatible distractor
What does that tell us about model of
attention?
EARLY
FILTER
C = Compatible
I = Incompatible
Lessons from the Flanker Task

Low load = late filter, High load = early filter


When the task is easy, it becomes hard to ignore
irrelevant information


Just like Lavie’s theory predicts
Resources left over, so unattended info leaks in
When the task is hard, it becomes easy to ignore
irrelevant information

No resources left over, so unattended info does not
interfere
Reading and Coglab

Now pause the video and re-read pages 82-91
in the book, from the start of the chapter to
“Divided Attention”

If you haven’t already done it, do the Stroop
Experiment on Coglab
Divided Attention
Part II
Attention Vocabulary


Selective Attention vs. Divided Attention
Automatic Processes vs. Controlled Processes


High Cognitive Load vs. Low Cognitive Load
Visual Attention
Exogenous vs. Endogenous Direction of Attention
 Overt Attention vs. Covert Attention

Overt: Bottom-up vs. Top-down control
 Covert: Location-based vs. Object-based

Divided Attention


Selective attention is the ability (or at least
intention) to attend to just one thing
Divided attention is the ability to pay attention
to multiple things at once
Driving while talking, listening to music, and
thinking about what to do that day
 Walking and chewing gum


Depends on: Practice, Task Difficulty
Automatic Processing

If you practice a task over and over it can
become automatic
Can be done without intention
 Consume few resources



Can be combined with other tasks that do consume
resources
Reading for comprehension and taking dictation
Impossible at first
 Could be done after 85 hours / 17 weeks of practice

The Stroop Effect

Name the colors out loud as fast as you can,
going from left to right
The Stroop Effect
The Stroop Effect
The Stroop Effect



Which case was faster?
Is naming colors automatic?
How about reading?
Automaticity & Intentionality

Schneider and Shiffrin (1977)

Consistent mapping condition
Targets = numbers, distractors = letters
 Nothing both target and distractor

INSERT VIDEO
Consistent Mapping Condition
Automaticity & Intentionality

Schneider and Shiffrin (1977)

Consistent mapping condition
Targets = numbers, distractors = letters
 Nothing both target and distractor
 Became automatic (even with 4 in set)

Automaticity & Intentionality
Automaticity & Intentionality

Schneider and Shiffrin (1977)

Consistent mapping condition
Targets = numbers, distractors = letters
 Nothing both target and distractor
 Became automatic (even with 4 in set)


Varied mapping condition
Targets = letters, distractors = letters
 Target in one trial could be distractor in the next
 Never became automatic

INSERT VIDEO
Varied Mapping Condition
Automaticity & Intentionality

Schneider and Shiffrin (1977)

Consistent mapping condition
Targets = numbers, distractors = letters
 Nothing both target and distractor
 Became automatic (even with 4 in set)


Varied mapping condition
Targets = letters, distractors = letters
 Target in one trial could be distractor in the next
 Never became automatic

Automaticity and Task Difficulty

Schneider and Shiffrin (1977)

Consistent mapping condition


Knew targets ahead of time, targets stayed the same
Varied mapping condition

Targets kept changing for every trial
Automaticity and Task Difficulty

Schneider and Shiffrin (1977)

Consistent mapping condition (from before)


Varied mapping condition


Knew targets ahead of time, targets stayed the same
Targets kept changing for every trial
HARDER
Varied mapping condition was too hard to
become automatic

Opposite of automatic… controlled processing
Inattention and Driving

100-car Naturalistic Driving Study
82 crashes, 771 near-crashes
 Recorded view out front & back, plus what driver
was doing
 For most of the accidents & near-accidents the
driver was inattentive just beforehand


Toronto traffic study
Cell phones increased crash risk by 4x
 No advantage for hands-free cell phone

Inattention and Driving

Simulation Study
Missed more red
lights when talking
 Took longer to apply
brakes when talking


What is happening here?

Having a conversation uses cognitive resources that
could be used for driving
Reading

Now pause the video and re-read pages 91-95
in the book, from “Divided Attention” to
“Attention and Visual Perception”
Visual Attention
Part III
Attention Vocabulary


Selective Attention vs. Divided Attention
Automatic Processes vs. Controlled Processes


High Cognitive Load vs. Low Cognitive Load
Visual Attention
Exogenous vs. Endogenous Direction of Attention
 Overt Attention vs. Covert Attention

Overt: Bottom-up vs. Top-down control
 Covert: Location-based vs. Object-based

Visual Attention

There is a lot of research in the connection
between vision and attention
Usually need vision in order to attend
 Usually need attention in order to see


Can be hard to think of as being separate!
Not aware of everything we don’t see.
 Not aware of everything we don’t attend to


Demos: Missing things that are right in front of
our eyes…
INSERT VIDEO
MACKROCK
INSERT VIDEO
Umbrella
INSERT VIDEO
Change detect
INSERT VIDEO
ChangeBlindDoor
INSERT VIDEO
Scene Continuity
Direction of Attention

Scary to think of how much you might be
missing, isn’t it?
Not really as bad as it seems… these are
experiments, after all.
 Other things going on in the world that keep it from
being a problem


Did were you sometimes “in control” of your
attention while other times you found that it
changed without you wanting it to?
Attention Vocabulary


Selective Attention vs. Divided Attention
Automatic Processes vs. Controlled Processes


High Cognitive Load vs. Low Cognitive Load
Visual Attention
Exogenous vs. Endogenous Direction of Attention
 Overt Attention vs. Covert Attention

Overt: Bottom-up vs. Top-down control
 Covert: Location-based vs. Object-based

Direction of Attention

Endogenous control of attention
You are in control of how your attention flows from
one object to another (may miss unrelated things)
 “Endo” = Latin for “inside”


Exogenous control of attention
Attention can be drawn to things in environment
(surprising things, bright things, important things,
movements accompanied by sounds, etc.)
 “Exo” = Latin for “outside”

Reading

Now pause the video and re-read pages 95-98
in the book, from “Attention and Visual
Perception” to “Overt Attention: Attention by
Moving our Eyes”
Attention Vocabulary


Selective Attention vs. Divided Attention
Automatic Processes vs. Controlled Processes


High Cognitive Load vs. Low Cognitive Load
Visual Attention
Exogenous vs. Endogenous Direction of Attention
 Overt Attention vs. Covert Attention

Overt: Bottom-up vs. Top-down control
 Covert: Location-based vs. Object-based

Eye Movements and Attention

We only see sharply and in color with the fovea
of our eye


Fovea is a really tiny region in the very center
Eyes move all the time in order to see the world,
most of the time “jumping” not “gliding”
Fixation – the eyes stay looking at the same spot for
about 1/3 of a second
 Saccade – rapid movement of the eye from one
place to another

Tracking Eye Movements
Eye Camera
Scene Camera
Fixation Position
Picture of an eyetracker
Eye Movements

What determines where an individual fixations?
Attention Vocabulary


Selective Attention vs. Divided Attention
Automatic Processes vs. Controlled Processes


High Cognitive Load vs. Low Cognitive Load
Visual Attention
Exogenous vs. Endogenous Direction of Attention
 Overt Attention vs. Covert Attention

Overt: Bottom-up vs. Top-down control
 Covert: Location-based vs. Object-based

Where the Eyes Move

Determined by both bottom-up and top-down
effects. Recall from before:
Bottom-up: driven by the data coming into the eye
 Top-down: driven by our knowledge


Bottom-up effects

Stimulus salience – areas “stand out” to our
perceptual system because of how they look…
bright colors, high contrast, etc.
Salience
Salience

There are just a few facts associated with
salience

A picture like we just saw is called a saliency map



Used in experiments to make predictions about where the
eyes will go
If there’s a sudden change in saliency, the eyes (and
attention) can be captured
Salience isn’t the only thing – there are also topdown effects
Top-down Eye Movement Control

Scenes with meaningful elements


Familiar scenes


fixate on those meaningful elements
Fixations influenced by perceiver’s scene schema
(knowledge about what is contained in those scenes)
Task-dependant information

WHY you’re looking determines where you look
Meaningful Elements
and Scene Schemas


Fixate on people because they’re meaningful
Fixate on chair because it helps figure out what
the room is (which Scene Schema)
Task Dependancy (Yarbus, 1967)

Different eye
movement patterns
when people were
asked to do different
tasks
Eye Movements


http://viperlib.york.ac.uk/
(keyword: eye movements or hayhoe)
Attention Vocabulary


Selective Attention vs. Divided Attention
Automatic Processes vs. Controlled Processes


High Cognitive Load vs. Low Cognitive Load
Visual Attention
Exogenous vs. Endogenous Direction of Attention
 Overt Attention vs. Covert Attention

Overt: Bottom-up vs. Top-down control
 Covert: Location-based vs. Object-based

Attention Without Fixation
Posner & Coworkers (1980)
Attention Without Fixation
Posner & Coworkers (1980)
FASTER
Cue Matches
Target Location
(lots of these)
Cue Mismatches
Target Location
(few of these)
Attention Without Fixation
Posner & Coworkers (1980)

People were faster at detecting the lights when
the cueing matched the target


True even though their eyes were always fixated on
the square
People must have been attending to the location
indicated by the cue, even without fixating there
Object-based Visual Attention

We have just seen how attention can be directed
to particular areas in space (with or without
fixation to that area)
Called location-based attention
 Like a spotlight that shines on a particular area


Contrasted with object-based attention
In static scenes attention can be to an object
 In dynamic environments attention locks on to
particular objects and follows them as they move

Attention Vocabulary


Selective Attention vs. Divided Attention
Automatic Processes vs. Controlled Processes


High Cognitive Load vs. Low Cognitive Load
Visual Attention
Exogenous vs. Endogenous Direction of Attention
 Overt Attention vs. Covert Attention

Overt: Bottom-up vs. Top-down control
 Covert: Location-based vs. Object-based

Object-Based Attention
Egly & Coworkers (1994)
FASTER
Object-Based Attention
Egly & Coworkers (1994)
FASTER
Object-Based Attention
Egly & Coworkers (1994)

Flash that occurred on the same object was
faster than the on that occurred on the other
object
True despite the fact that both flashes were the same
distance from the cued location
 True even when an occluder appeared in front of the
objects


Evidence that aspects of attention are objectbased, even for stationary objects.
Object-based Attention
Hemineglect House
vs
Normal House
Object-based Attention
YES
NO
Object-based Attention
YES
Reading

Now pause the video and re-read pages 98-104
in the book, from “Overt Attention: Attention
by Moving our Eyes” to “Feature Integration
Theory”
Feature Integration Theory

Two stages of the visual process

Preattentive Stage
Automatic, effortless, unconscious
 Objects analyzed into independent features


Focused Attention Stage
Requires attention by the perceiver
 Features combine to form perception of whole object


Evidence
Pop-out effect and Illusory Conjunction studies
 Balint’s Syndrome

Evidence for Features: Popout

Yell “me” when you ……
See the TILTED LINE
Evidence for Features: Popout
Evidence for Features: Popout

Yell “me” when you ……
See the VERTICAL LINE
Evidence for Features: Popout
Evidence for Features: Popout

Yell “me” when you ……
See the CLOSED CIRCLE
Evidence for Features: Popout
Evidence for Features: Popout

Yell “me” when you ……
See the CIRCLE WITH A GAP
Evidence for Features: Popout
Popout
Tilted line among horizontal lines
Vs.
Horizontal line among tilted lines
Circle with gap among closed circles
Vs.
Closed circle among circles with gaps
Easier
Easier
Visual Search Times
Time to
Respond
Number of distractors
POP!
Conclusions of Popout Studies


Tilted line is a feature (vertical line is not)
Gap is a feature (closed shape is not)
Illusory Conjuctions
5
2
Illusory Conjunctions


Green Triangle? Red Triangle? Red Circle? Black
Circle?
People misremember
Shapes and color features combined wrong
 Effect goes away when ppl focus on shapes
 Effect goes away when shapes are meaningful

Illusory Conjuctions
9
3
Illusory Conjunctions


Green Triangle? Red Triangle? Red Circle? Black
Circle?
People misremember
Shapes and color features combined wrong
 Effect goes away when ppl focus on shapes
 Effect goes away when shapes are meaningful


Balint’s syndrome (parietal lobe damage)
Inability to focus attention on objects
 See illusory conjunctions even with lots of time

Reading

Now pause the video and re-read pages 104-106
in the book, from “Feature Integration Theory”
to “The Physiology of Attention”
Physiology of Attention
Part IV
Attention Without Fixation
Colby & Coworkers (1995)
Fixation Condition: Fixate on the fixation light, release bar
whenever fixation light dims
IGNORE
Attention Without Fixation
Colby & Coworkers (1995)
Fixation Condition: Fixate on the fixation light, release bar
whenever fixation light dims
Fixation And Attentin Condition: Fixate on the fixation light,
release bar whenever peripheral light dims
Attention Without Fixation
Colby & Coworkers (1995)

Monkeys could learn to do both tasks


That in and of itself shows that attention and vision
are not quite the same thing
Cell in parietal cortex fired in response to the
peripheral light

Fired MORE in the fixation and attention condition,
even though the image on the retina was exactly the
same
Reading

Now pause the video and re-read pages 106-108
in the book, from “The Physiology of
Attention” to “Something to Consider”
Attention and Autism
Part V
Autism and Attention

Autism – developmental disorder that includes
withdrawal of contact from other people
Difficulty understanding social cues, non-verbal
communication, emotions of others
 Often normal (or even above average) IQ, though
language ability is often impaired


Klim & Coworkers (2003) – individuals with
autism can reason about social situations but not
understand them in day-to-day life
Autism and Attention
Klim & Coworkers (2003)

Video – Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Emotional scene, after a character breaks a bottle
Nonautistics focus on eyes to get emotional reaction
(white in book)
 Autistics look off to the side (black in book)


Character pointing across the room
Nonautistics follow the gesture to see target, then face of
another character
 Autistics look at things unrelated to the social event


Ppl with autism don’t attend to social cues
Autism and Attention


Does inattention to social cues “cause” the
social deficits? NO, but they contribute
Feedback loop
Negative emotions influence eye-movements &
attention
 Eye-movement & attention differences influence
how well they understand
 How well they understand influences how well the
perform

Autism and Attention

There might be other things going on, too.

Silverman & Coworkers (including Campana) –
individuals with autism have difficulty putting
together verbal and nonverbal information even
when they see and hear all of it
Reading

Now pause the video and re-read the
remainder of the chapter.
THE END