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Lecture: Attention
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Lecture notes Attention for BSc Psychology
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L1- AttentionWhat is attention?
Attention involves selecting information while ignoring others
It relates to state of consciousness
It is impossible for the brain to process everything at the same time- this leads to
selection
Attention represents mechanisms of selection that deal with the brain’s inherent
processing limitations
Key aspects of attention
Capacity limitation
- The cognitive system has limited information processing capacity at any one time
Selectivity
- Behaviourally relevant information needs to be selected among the pool of available
information
Psychology of attention
- Nature of selection- what + how much can be selected?
- Cognitive mechanisms + their limitations
- Neural mechanisms of attention
Varieties of attention
What initiates/ drives attention
- Endogenous vs exogeneous
o Endogenous= internal goals direct attention- endogenous attention is often cued
by instructions
o Exogenous= external stimuli direct attention
Visual search
In the absence of instruction- visual search for an unknown target relies on exogenous
attention shifts
What captures attention automatically?
- Abrupt onset
- Salient feature differences
Covert attention drives eye movements (overt attention)
Saccades= rapid ballistic eye movements toward a new fixation location- 3-4 times per
second
Its purpose is to bring new information to interest into foveal vision
, Saccades are guided by covert attention shifts which help to select the next area of
interest
Attention within + between modalities
Uni-modal vs cross modal
Attending to space + objects
Spatial vs non-spatial
Visual attention- space based vs object based
Object based attention
- Attention directed to locations occupied by objects
- The whole object is the focus of attention
Modern theories of attention
Focus on the relation between attention + perception
Locus of attention
Implications for the role of attention
- Late locus= attention as making processed stimuli available to awareness for
subsequent actions
identification (even if unaware)
- Early locus= attention as enabling high-level perceptual processing
NO identification or awareness
Early selection theory
Broadbent (1958)- selective filter model
The cognitive system can handle only one stimulus/ information channel at a time for
the purpose of identification
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