Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
Chapter 4: Attention and
Consciousness
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
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?
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
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?
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
Attention Is…
• The means by which we actively process a limited amount of information
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
Main Functions of Attention
• Signal detection and vigilance• Search• Selective attention• Divided attention
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
• Measure sensitivity to a target’s presence
Signal Detection Theory (SDT)
Present Absent
Present HitFalse Alarm
Absent MissCorrect
Rejection
Decision
Signal
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
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
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
Search
• Actively searching for a target • Number of targets and distracters
influence accuracy• Feature search versus conjunctive
search
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
Conjunctive Search
• Find the letter T–Which panel is
easier?
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
Feature Search
• Find the letter O–Easier or harder
than the previous one?
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
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
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
Another Feature Search
T
T
T
TT
TT
Is there a red T in the display?
T
T
Target is defined by a single feature
According to featureintegration theory, the target should “pop out”
No attention required
T
T
T
T T
TT
T
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
Another Conjunction Search
X
T
T
X
T T
TIs there a red T in the display?
X
XTarget 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
XT
XTT
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
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
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
Guided Search
• Cave & Wolf (1990)• All searches have two phases
–Parallel phase–Serial stage
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
Selectivity of Attention
• Cocktail party phenomenon–How are we able to follow one
conversation in the presence of other conversations?
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
Cherry’s Shadowing Technique
The lawyer defended his client as the trial began. He was able
The doctor went to the park to find the homeless man. He was
…..The doctor went to the park…..
Listen to two different conversations and repeat one of the messages; may be binaural or dichotic
Attended Ear: Unattended Ear:
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
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
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
Models of Selective Attention
• Do they have a filter?
• Where does the filter occur?
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
Broadbent’s Model
• We filter information right after we notice it at the sensory level
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
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)
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
Treisman’s Attenuation Model
• Instead of blocking stimuli out, the filter weakens the strength of stimuli other than the target stimulus
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
Late Selection Theory(Deutsch & Deutsch, 1963)
• All stimuli is processed to the level of meaning• Relevance determines further processing and action
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
Neisser’s Synthesis
• Preattentive processes–Parallel–Note physical characteristics
• Attentive processes–Controlled processes occur serially–Occur in working memory
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
Divided Attention
• How many tasks can you do at once? – e.g., driving and talking, radio, phone...
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
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
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
Capacity Models of Attention
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
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
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
Gauging Your Distraction During Driving
• http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/07/19/technology/20090719-driving-game.html
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
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
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
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
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
Factors that Influence Our Ability to Pay Attention
• Anxiety• Arousal• Task difficulty• Skills
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
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
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
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
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
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
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
When Attention Fails Us
• ADHD• Change blindness and inattentional
blindness• Spatial neglect
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
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
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
Change Blindness
• An inability to detect changes in objects or scenes that are being viewed
http://viscog.beckman.uiuc.edu/djs_lab/demos.html
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
Inattentional Blindness
• People are not able to see things that are actually there
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20100713/sc_livescience/invisiblegorillatestshowshowlittlewenotice
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
Spatial Neglect
• Lesion on one side of brain causes person to ignore half of their visual field
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
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
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
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
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
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
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
Controlled vs. Automatic Processing
• Automatic processing–Requires no conscious control
• Controlled processing –Requires conscious control
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
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?
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
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
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
Effect of Practice on Automatization
• Rate of learning slows as amount of learning increases
Negative- acceleration curve
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
Stroop Effect
redyellowgreenblueredblueyellowgreenbluered
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
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
Preconscious Processing
• Information that is available for cognitive processing but that currently lies outside conscious awareness–Priming–TOT phenomenon–Blindsight
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
BREAD
BUTTER
• How quickly do you process the second word?
• Faster if you have been primed with a related word
Priming
NURSE
DOCTOR
CAT
DOG
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
Marcel (1983)
Condition Subliminally Present Prime
Consciously Present Prime
Prime PALM PALM
Mask XXXX
Target PINE OR WRIST PINE OR WRIST
ResponseBody part or
plant?Body part or plant?
Reaction time How fast? How fast?
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
Marcel’s Procedure with Participants
PALM PALMXXXXPINE PINE
It’s a plant. Umm, it’s a plant.
Subliminal Condition Conscious Condition
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
Marcel (1983) Results
Condition Subliminally
Present Prime
Consciously Present Prime
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
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
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)
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
Bowers, Regehr, Balthazard, & Parker (1990)
Triad A Triad B
Basket Swan
Room Army
Foot Mask
Which of these triads is coherent?What is the 4th word that ties them together?
BALL
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
Bowers et al. (1990) Results
• Even if participants could not generate the 4th word, they still selected the coherent triad
• Results demonstrate preconscious processing
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
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
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
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?
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
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
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. SternbergChapter 4
Visual Mind Reading
• Using fMRI to predict what people are paying attention to
INSERT VIDEO #23, Visual Mind Reading