WEEK 3 BRAIN AND COGNITION- attention
Attention – ability to focus on something, a cognitive process… ‘Everyone knows what attention is’-
WILLIAM JAMES… ‘the taking possession of the mind, in clear and vivid form of one out of what
seem several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought. Focalisation, concentration of
consciousness are of its essence’. IT ENABLES US TO FOCUS ON ONE PARTICULAR STIMULUS
WITHOUT HAVING TO WASTE PRESCIOUS BRAIN RESOURCES ON IRRELEVANT STIMULI
Research on attention started in the 1950s (late)- it is strictly related with perception. Most research
focuses on visual attention and emphasis is given to external attention. This topic is very subjective
and is difficult to assess in a laboratory.
FORMS OF ATTENTION-
ACTIVE vs. PASSIVE
Active: Attention is controlled actively by the individual’s intentions, goals or
expectations (top-down)
Passive: Attention is controlled by external stimuli (bottom-up)
FOCUSED vs. DIVIDED
Focused (or selective attention): Attention is directed to one specific stimulus or task
among many other distracting (irrelevant) stimuli
Divided: Attention is directed to more than one stimulus or task at time
EXTERNAL vs. INTERNAL
External: Attention directed to the selection of sensory information (outside from
the mind)
Internal: Attention is directed to internally generated information (thoughts,
responses, memory)
OVERT vs. COVERT (only for visual attention)
Overt: eyes are directed to the object/space that is under focus of attention
Covert: eyes are directed elsewhere to the focus of attention
THE LINK BETWEEN PERCEPTION AND ATTENTION-
Attention plays a key role in determining which aspects of the environment are consciously
detected- however some information may cause other info to go completely unnoticed, even if it is
right in front of our eyes.
Change blindness- inability to perceive change between 2 scenes that are presented in succession
for a short time- RENSINK (1997)- spot a difference between 2 screens with a brief blank screen in
between.
Inattentional blindness- inability to spot obvious events happening whilst we are focusing
attentional resources on a given test- CHABRIS (1999)- following the ball then gorilla comes
Magic- magic tricks are a good illustration of how limited and selective our attention is- they exploit
change blindness and inattentional blindness- they deceive and misdirect our attention. E.g.
KUHN+TATLER (2005) cigarette and lighter trick (in the book) only 2 out of 10 noticed and still only 4
when repeated.
Attention – ability to focus on something, a cognitive process… ‘Everyone knows what attention is’-
WILLIAM JAMES… ‘the taking possession of the mind, in clear and vivid form of one out of what
seem several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought. Focalisation, concentration of
consciousness are of its essence’. IT ENABLES US TO FOCUS ON ONE PARTICULAR STIMULUS
WITHOUT HAVING TO WASTE PRESCIOUS BRAIN RESOURCES ON IRRELEVANT STIMULI
Research on attention started in the 1950s (late)- it is strictly related with perception. Most research
focuses on visual attention and emphasis is given to external attention. This topic is very subjective
and is difficult to assess in a laboratory.
FORMS OF ATTENTION-
ACTIVE vs. PASSIVE
Active: Attention is controlled actively by the individual’s intentions, goals or
expectations (top-down)
Passive: Attention is controlled by external stimuli (bottom-up)
FOCUSED vs. DIVIDED
Focused (or selective attention): Attention is directed to one specific stimulus or task
among many other distracting (irrelevant) stimuli
Divided: Attention is directed to more than one stimulus or task at time
EXTERNAL vs. INTERNAL
External: Attention directed to the selection of sensory information (outside from
the mind)
Internal: Attention is directed to internally generated information (thoughts,
responses, memory)
OVERT vs. COVERT (only for visual attention)
Overt: eyes are directed to the object/space that is under focus of attention
Covert: eyes are directed elsewhere to the focus of attention
THE LINK BETWEEN PERCEPTION AND ATTENTION-
Attention plays a key role in determining which aspects of the environment are consciously
detected- however some information may cause other info to go completely unnoticed, even if it is
right in front of our eyes.
Change blindness- inability to perceive change between 2 scenes that are presented in succession
for a short time- RENSINK (1997)- spot a difference between 2 screens with a brief blank screen in
between.
Inattentional blindness- inability to spot obvious events happening whilst we are focusing
attentional resources on a given test- CHABRIS (1999)- following the ball then gorilla comes
Magic- magic tricks are a good illustration of how limited and selective our attention is- they exploit
change blindness and inattentional blindness- they deceive and misdirect our attention. E.g.
KUHN+TATLER (2005) cigarette and lighter trick (in the book) only 2 out of 10 noticed and still only 4
when repeated.
