Chapter 3: Attention and Consciousness

Modified: 2006-02-10 (12:32)

I. THE NATURE OF ATTENTION AND CONSCIOUSNESS

A. Introduction

1. Attention: Is the concentration of mental energy that must be used to process incoming information. It is selective, limited, conscious, and preconscious.

a) Monitors our interaction with the environment

b) provides sense of continuity (links past & present)

c) Important for planning future actions

2. Consciousness: feeling of awareness AND the content of awareness

B. Preconscious Processing

1. Priming: previous stimuli elicit similar stimuli later

BREAD	DOG	DOCTOR
BUTTER	CAT	NURSE

How quickly do you process the second word?

Faster if you have been primed with a related word.

Marcel, A. J. (1983). Conscious and unconscious perception: Experiments on visual masking and word recognition. Cognitive Psychology, 15, 197-237.

Results

• Priming Can Speed or Slow Processing
  • Facilitative Priming Effect
    • 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)

Bowers, K. S., Regehr, G., Balthazard, C., & Parker, K. (1990). Intuition in the context of discovery. Cognitive Psychology, 22, 72-110.

Which triad is more coherent?

What 4th word ties a triad together?

Results

• Even if participants could not generate the 4th word, they still selected the coherent triad
• Results demonstrate preconscious processing
  • 2. Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon: You know you know the word but you cannot fully retrieve the word

• TOT Demonstration
  • What is the name of Dagwood Bumstead's dog?
  • Who wrote Paradise lost?
  • What is a wheeled hospital cart called?
  • What is the Israeli parliament called?
  • Who starred in "Windtalkers?"

Tip-of-the-tongue Experiences

Who is this?

3. Blindsight: Some people can perceive things, but are unaware of them.

C. Controlled versus automatic processes

 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?

1. Automatic processes: no conscious control

a) concealed from consciousness

b) unintentional

c) require few attentional resources

2. Controlled Processes: require conscious control

3. Automatization: highly practiced behaviors no longer require conscious control

2 Explanations

Integrated components theory:

Anderson, J. R. (1983). The architecture of cognition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

LaBerge, D., & Samuels, S. J. (1974). Toward a theory of automatic information processing in reading. Cognitive Psychology, 6, 293-323.

Practice leads to integration; less and less attention is needed

Instance Theory:

Logan, G. (1988). Toward an instance theory of automatization. Psychological Review, 95, 492-527.

Retrieve from memory-specific answers, skipping the procedure; thus less attention is needed. Think of counting.

Effect of Practice on Automization

Rate of learning slows as amount of learning increases (negatively accelerated curve)

D. Habituation and Adaptation: Think of living in the country or living in the city.

1. 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.
• Sleeping through the 3:23 train

2. 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
• Waking up when the 3:23 is late.

3. Sensory Adaptation: Stimulus no longer is noticed. Adaptation is not under conscious control.

• Your house stinks!
• Wine tasters (Wedding party at Cana is backwards)
• When to buy cheap beer.
• Dark adaptation

4. Arousal: Physiological responses to habituation can be measured.

How do you tell the difference between habituation and dishabituation?

• 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

• Poker faces
• First sex (not recommended for heart patients)

II. ATTENTION

A. Signal Detection

1. Three functions of conscious attention:

• a) Signal detection--Think of AM radio when station is far away.
• b) Selective attention--Think of ignoring one stimulus while attending to another
• c) Divided attention--Think of paying attention to two or more stimuli simultaneously

B. The Nature of Signal Detection

• 1. Signal-detection theory (SDT)
  • Attention is stronger when signal and noise are farther apart
• 2. Signal
  • a) Hits (true positives)
  • b) False alarms (false positives)
  • c) Misses (false negatives)
  • d) Correct rejections (true negatives)
• 3. 9/11 and airport screeners

• C. Vigilance
  • 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
• D. Search
  • 1. Search
    • Actively searching for a target
    • Number of targets and distracters influence accuracy
  • 2. Distracters
    • Similar items that resemble target item (think of Wal-Mart)
  • 3. Feature Search--Individual Feature processing is done in parallel. Simultaneous processing is done on the whole display and if feature is present-- we detect it.
    • Search for particular characteristics of search item
    • Distracters have less effect on feature search
    • But, see Fig. 3.4 B (d), there is a "T" there, but the dot is a strong distracter
  • 4. Conjunction Search--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.
    • a) Feature-Integration Theory
      • We have built in "feature maps"
      • Hubel and Wiesel's localization of visual function (use password) shows one neural basis for detection of particular features
    • b) Similarity Theory
      • Competitor to feature-integration theory
      • Distracter uniformity makes searching easier
    • c) Guided Search Theory
      • Two stages:
        • parallel stage (fast)
        • serial stage (slow)
      • Some stimuli allow you to skip serial stage
    • d) Movement-Filter Theory
      • Movement can either facilitate or inhibit visual search
      • Surrounding context, prior knowledge, and pre-existing schemas influence illusory conjuctions (yellow banana and purple plum more likely than purple banana and yellow plum)

III. SELECTIVE AND DIVIDED ATTENTION

A. Basic Paradigms for Studying Selective Attention

• 1. Cocktail Party Problem
  • Classic paradigm
• 2. Binaural Presentation
  • Same two messages to each ear (or only to one ear)
• 3. Dichotic Presentation
  • Different message to each ear
• 4. Data
  • Speech characteristics (pitch, pacing, and rhythm)
  • Intensity
  • Location (of sound source)

B. Filter and Bottleneck Theories of Selective Attention

• 1. Broadbent's Model
  • Posits attentional filter that only allows one channel at a time
• 2. Moray's Selective Filter Model
  • Some salient information passes through the attentional filter
• 3. Treisman's Attenuation Model (attentuation means stimuli are weakened not blocked)
  • Three stages
    • a) preattentive analysis of the physical properties of the stimulus
    • b) analyze stimulus for pattern
    • c) evaluate information that made it to this stage
• 4. Deutsch and Deutsch's Late Filter Model
  • Filter exist, but occurs AFTER perceptual processing
• 5. Multimode Theory &endash; a more flexible approach to when one message is selected over another. This theory states that the selection can take place at nay number of places in the process. The three stages are:
  • a) Construction of sensory representation of stimuli
  • b) Construction of semantic representations
  • c) Representations constructed in stage 1 & 2 become available to the conscious level
• 6. Neisser's Synthesis - suggests that two processes govern attention
  • a) preattentive processes &endash; performed in parallel on physical sensory characteristics
  • b) attentative processes &endash; performed serially

C. Attentional-Resource Theories of Selective Attention

• Look at attention instead of filtering--oversimplification

D. Additional Considerations in Selective Attention

• 1. The Role Of Task, Situation, and Person Variables
  • Factors
    • a) arousal
    • b) interest
    • c) nature of task
    • d) practice
    • e) stage of processing
  • Summary
    • a) some attentional processes occur outside of conscious control
    • b) a variety of phenomena studied
      • vigilance
      • search
      • selective attention
      • divided attention
  • Mechanisms
    • a) filtering
    • b) limited modality
• 2. The Stroop Effect
  • Name the color of the word

red yellow green blue red blue yellow green blue red

E. Divided Attention

• How many tasks can you do at once?
  • e.g. driving & talking, radio, phone...
• Dual Task Paradigm
  • Neisser & Becklen (1975) superimposed film study
  • Ability to divide attention improves with practice
  • No built in, fixed limit, to # of tasks a human can perform simultaneously
• Pashler's PRP Effect
• Dual Task Paradigm: Two tasks at once
  • 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
  • Known as the psychological refractory period (PRP) effect

F. Consciousness of 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
  • Thought suppresion

G. Change Blindness

• Inability to detect obvious changes in environment (e.g., a completely different person)
• Simon's demonstrations http://viscog.beckman.uiuc.edu/djs_lab/demos.html

H. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)--Symptoms: Inattention, Hyperactivity, Impulsivity

1. Focus is on the inattentive

• a) easily distracted
• b) fail to pay attention to details
• c) often make careless mistakes in their work
• d) often fail to completely read instructions
• e) often forget or lose items need for task
• f) often switch from one task to another

2. Drug treatments

• Include stimulants (e.g., Ritalin, Adderall) or norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (Strattera)
• Drug warning issued 2006-02-09 for stimulants (heart stoppage)
• Drug warking issued 2004-12-17 for Strattera (liver problems)
• Both drugs have become street drugs for studying and focusing of attention

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. Usually, children are referred by teachers. An objective test for ADHD is the T.O.V.A. or Test of Variables of Attention

The T.O.V.A. is a continuous performance test that lasts 21.8 minutes. The test consists of a vigilance task in which participants:

• First Half--
  • Respond to an infrequent target (1 target : 3.5 nontargets, randomly presented)
  • Task is designed to be boring and fatiguing
  • Task requires close attention
  • Errors of omission (misses target)
  • DV is inattention
• Second Half--
  • Respond to frequent target (3.5 targets : 1 nontarget, randomly presented)
  • Task is to inhibit tendency to respond
  • Errors of comission (overresponds)
  • DV is impulsivity
• Used to--
  • Diagnose ADHD
  • Differentiate from ADD
  • Set drug treatment levels (Pretest--Drug--Posttest)

 IV. COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENTIFIC APPROACHES TO ATTENTION AND CONSCIOUSNESS

A. Attentional Systems

• 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) 

B. Using Event-Related Potentials to Measure Attention

• Study normals vs. people with attentional problems

C. A Psychopharmacological Approach

• Study drug effects on attention

D. Links among Perception, Attention, and Consciousness

• Attention strongly linked to perception

V. PRACTICAL ISSUES IN ATTENTION

• A. Stimulus Factors
  • change
  • novelty
  • complexity
  • repetition
  • intensity
  • contrast
  • movement
• Individual Factors
  • interest
  • motivation
  • expectations
  • experience (or environment)
• Advertising attempts to get people to pay attention by manipulating both types of factors
• iFilm Super Bowl Ads