1. Chapter 4: Attention and Consciousness

2. Some Questions of Interest
Can we actively process information, even if we are not aware of doing so? If so, what do we do, and how do we do it?
What are some of the functions of attention?

3. Some Questions of Interest
What are some theories cognitive psychologists have developed to explain attentional processes?
What have cognitive psychologists learned about attention by studying the human brain?

4. Attention Is…
The means by which we actively process a limited amount of information
INSERT FIG 4.1

5. Main Functions of Attention
Signal detection and vigilance
Search
Selective attention
Divided attention

6. Signal Detection Theory (SDT)
Measure sensitivity to a target’s presence
Signal
Present
Absent
Hit
False Alarm
Miss
Correct Rejection
Explain this theory using an example: Radar detection, shower and phone ringing, fire truck visibility (color as a property of signal detection), driver vigilance and fatigue, detecting cancer through self-examinations. Also discuss how changing sensitivity criterion can influence number of hits or false alarms.
Decision

7. 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
Using examples discuss how vigilance is important to maintain.

8. Search Actively searching for a target
Number of targets and distracters influence accuracy
Feature search versus conjunctive search
Define basics of searching. Explain the difference between conjunctive search versus feature search, the following slides will provide a demonstration.
Feature search: environment is scanned for one particular feature.
Conjunction search: a combination of features is scanned for.

9. Conjunctive Search Find the letter T Which panel is easier?
INSERT FIG 4.2

10. Feature Search Find the letter O
Easier or harder than the previous one?
INSERT FIG 4.3 (a)

11. Feature-Integration Theory (FIT)
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
Explain parallel processing means all at once. Describe how sequential processing is different.

12. Another Feature Search
Is there a red T in the display? T T T T T T T T
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

13. Another Conjunction Search
Is there a red T in the display? X T X T
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 T T X X T X X T T T

14. Similarity Theory
Similarity between targets and distracters is important, not number of features to be combined
More shared features = more difficult to detect a target
Find the letter R
INSERT FIG 4.5

15. Guided Search Cave & Wolf (1990) All searches have two phases
Parallel phase
Serial stage

16. Selectivity of Attention
Cocktail party phenomenon
How are we able to follow one conversation in the presence of other conversations?

17. Cherry’s Shadowing Technique
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…..
Explain difference between Binaural and Dichotic.
Listen to two different conversations and repeat one of the messages; may be binaural or dichotic

18. Cherry’s Results Noticed in unattended ear
Cherry’s 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

19. Models of Selective Attention
Models of Selective Attention
Do they have a filter?
Where does the filter occur?

20. Broadbent’s Model
We filter information right after we notice it at the sensory level
INSERT FIG 4.9, top half.
Explain how Broadbent’s model explains Cherry’s data.

21. Broadbent’s Model Had trouble explaining
Broadbent’s Model
Had trouble explaining
Why participant’s name gets through
Why participants can shadow meaningful message 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)

22. Treisman’s Attenuation Model
Treisman’s Attenuation Model
Instead of blocking stimuli out, the filter weakens the strength of stimuli other than the target stimulus
INSERT FIG 4.9, top half.
Explain how Treisman can now account for additional findings. Yellow arrow indicates information is being attended and the filter makes this strong, the pumpkin colored arrow is less strong and the orange arrow is made the weakest. The message of the pumpkin colored arrow may still get through due to the lower threshold (closer to the arrow).

23. Late Selection Theory (Deutsch & Deutsch, 1963)
Late Selection Theory (Deutsch & Deutsch, 1963)
All stimuli is processed to the level of meaning
Relevance determines further processing and action
INSERT FIG 4.10
Pertinence = task demands and personal importance.

24. Neisser’s Synthesis Preattentive processes Attentive processes
Parallel
Note physical characteristics
Attentive processes
Controlled processes occur serially
Occur in working memory

25. Divided Attention How many tasks can you do at once?
e.g., driving and talking, radio, phone...

26. 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

27. Capacity Models of Attention
INSERT FIG 4.11
Explain the basic concept of attentional resource theory.
Capacity theories: limited amount of resources available to conduct tasks (Kahneman, 1973), or individual pools for each modality (Navon & Gopher, 1979)
Attentional resources may involve either a single pool or a multiplicity of modality-specific pools. Although the attentional resources theory has been criticized for its imprecision, it seems to complement filter theories in explaining some aspects of attention.

28. 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

29. Gauging Your Distraction During Driving

30. Strayer & Drews (2007)
Naturalistic observation of cell phone use and driver behavior
Failed to stop
Stopped properly
On cell phone 82 28
No cell phone
352
1286
Strayer, D. L. & Drews, F. A. (In Press). Multi-tasking in the automobile. To appear in A. Kramer, D. Wiegmann, & A. Kirlik (Eds.) Applied Attention: From Theory to Practice

31. 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

32. Factors that Influence Our Ability to Pay Attention
Anxiety
Arousal
Task difficulty
Skills

33. Three Subfunctions of Attention
Three Subfunctions of Attention
Alerting
Being prepared to attend to some incoming event and maintaining this attention
Involves right frontal and parietal cortexes as well as the locus coeruleus

34. Three Subfunctions of Attention
Three Subfunctions of Attention
Orienting
The selection of stimuli to attend to
Needed when we perform a visual search
Involves the superior parietal lobe, the temporal parietal junction, the frontal eye fields, and the superior colliculus

35. Three Subfunctions of Attention
Three Subfunctions of Attention
Executive attention
Processes for monitoring and resolving conflicts that arise among internal processes
Involves the anterior cingulate, lateral ventral, and prefrontal cortex as well as the basal ganglia

36. When Attention Fails Us
ADHD
Change blindness and inattentional blindness
Spatial neglect

37. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
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
National Institute of Mental Health
Cited in text as information on ADHD.

38. Change Blindness
An inability to detect changes in objects or scenes that are being viewed

39. Inattentional Blindness
Inattentional Blindness
People are not able to see things that are actually there
See Simons (2010)

40. Spatial Neglect
Lesion on one side of brain causes person to ignore half of their visual field
INSERT FIG 4.14

41. 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

42. Change in familiar stimuli causes one to notice it again
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, owner suddenly notices the clock isn’t chiming

43. 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 changes
If animal or infant dishabituates to a change, they can detect the change
If the animal or infant does not dishabituate to a change in stimuli, they did not detect the change
Powerful paradigm allows us to detect abilities of different species and infants since we can measure their arousal to different stimuli to detect whether they notice.

44. Controlled vs. Automatic Processing
Requires no conscious control
Controlled processing
Requires conscious control

45. 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?
Discuss how skills begin as controlled and may become automatic over time.
Discuss how when you are more likely to make an error when you think about an automatic process.
Have you ever tried to teach someone how to do something you know very well, but have difficulty breaking it down into steps because you do it so automatically?

46. INSERT TABLE 4.4

47. Automatization: Two Explanations
Integrated components theory: Anderson
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

48. Effect of Practice on Automatization
Negative- acceleration curve
INSERT FIG 4.15
Explain how the impact of practice leads to a negatively accelerated curve.
Figure 4.15: The rate of improvement caused by practice effects shows a pattern of negative acceleration. The negative acceleration curve attributed to practice effects is similar to the curve shown here, indicating that the rate of learning slows down as the amount of learning increases, until eventually learning peaks at a stable level.
Rate of learning slows as amount of learning increases

49. 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
Just click the mouse once and the Stroop words will appear at a gradual pace.
What errors do you make? Discuss how it is interference.
What do you think would happen…
If you tried this experiment with a very small child who had not yet learned to read?
If you tried this experiment with someone who was just learning to speak English?
If you used the same order of ink colors but wrote non-color words?

50. Preconscious Processing
Information that is available for cognitive processing but that currently lies outside conscious awareness
Priming
TOT phenomenon
Blindsight

51. Priming How quickly do you process the second word?
BREAD
BUTTER
How quickly do you process the second word?
Faster if you have been primed with a related word
NURSE
CAT
DOCTOR
DOG

52. Marcel (1983) Condition Subliminally Present Prime
Consciously Present Prime
Prime
PALM
Mask
XXXX
Target
PINE OR WRIST
Response
Body part or plant?
Reaction time
How fast?
Distinguish between the two groups in Marcel’s study.
In the subliminally present prime group the word “palm” was presented so briefly that the participants were not able to process the word at a conscious level.
In the conscious present prime Group, participants were aware they had seen the word “palm” before being asked about the question (body part or plant? ) about the target word (“pine”).

53. Marcel’s Procedure with Participants
PALM
PINE
PALM
PINE
XXXX
It’s a plant.
Umm, it’s a plant.
After you click the mouse once on this slide a demonstration of Marcel’s experimental conditions will occur.
Once this slide runs through its demonstration once, you can use the “page up” button to repeat the experience.
Have the students first focus on what the orange participant sees, then hit the “page up” button on the keyboard and have them view what the yellow person would see.
This will enable the students to better understand the difference between the two conditions.
Subliminal Condition
Conscious Condition

54. Marcel (1983) Results Condition Subliminally Present Prime
Consciously Present
Targets:
PINE or WRIST
Found faster RT for both target words
Found faster RT for one of two target words, slower RT for the other target
Interpretation
Both meanings were primed
Only one meaning is primed, the other inhibited
Discuss importance of findings for preconscious processing.
If the participant was consciously aware of seeing the word “PALM”, only one mental pathway was activated: the other pathway was inhibited.

55. 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)

56. Bowers, Regehr, Balthazard, & Parker (1990)
Bowers, Regehr, Balthazard, & Parker (1990)
Triad A
Triad B
Basket
Swan
Room
Army
Foot
Mask
BALL
Answer: Triad A is coherent
4th word is ball
Which of these triads is coherent?
What is the 4th word that ties them together?

57. Bowers et al. (1990) Results
Even if participants could not generate the 4th word, they still selected the coherent triad
Results demonstrate preconscious processing

58. Tip-of-the-Tongue Experiences (TOT)
Tip-of-the-Tongue Experiences (TOT)
You know you know the word, but you cannot fully retrieve the word
Paradigms used to generate TOT
Show pictures of famous people or politicians and have participants name them
Ask general knowledge questions to generate TOTs

59. 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?
Answers: Daisy, Milton, Gurney
In experiments using these types of materials, people who are put in the tip-of-the tongue states can often recall the first letter of the answer even though they cannot retrieve the entire word. They can also tell how many syllables are present and a “sound” of the word.

60. 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

61. INSERT VIDEO #23, Visual Mind Reading
Using fMRI to predict what people are paying attention to
INSERT VIDEO #23, Visual Mind Reading
INSERT VIDEO #23, Visual Mind Reading