Achtung! Pay attention to me! To me! Even after perceptual processes have operated, there is still way more information available to us than we can consciously process.

Conscious vs. unconscious processing Brains are lazy. They want to think as little as possible. Some of what goes on happens at an unconscious level –Blindsight –Change blindness Some is designed to reduce cognitive load –Automatic processes But makes it worse - interference (the Stroop Effect)

Hemispatial Neglect Patients with damage to the parietal lobe are unable to attend to some part of the visual field.

Automatic vs. Controlled processes Automatic processes –do not require conscious intervention in their operation. –Difficult to interrupt Controlled processes –Require conscious oversight, planning, and monitoring –Resource intensive

Reducing Cognitive Load The primary purpose of attention seems to be to limit the amount of work the brain must do. –Automatic processing –Attentional Priming –Visual Search