Chapter 3: Attention and Consciousness

Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Attention and Consciousness

Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 4

Attention Is…

• The concentration of mental energy that must be used to process incoming information – Selective – Limited – Both conscious and preconscious

Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 4

Preconscious Attention

• Items that lie outside our conscious awareness, some may be made conscious, some not

Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 4

Priming BREAD

NURSE

CAT

BUTTER

DOCTOR

DOG

• How quickly do you process the second word? • Faster if you have been primed with a related word.

Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 4

Marcel (1983) Condition

Subliminally Present Prime

Consciously Present Prime

Prime

PALM

PALM

Mask

XXXX

Target

PINE OR WRIST

Response Reaction time

PINE OR WRIST

Body part or Plant? Body Part or Plant? How fast?

How fast?

Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 4

Marcel’s Procedure with Participants

PALM XXXX PINE It’s a Plant.

Subliminal Condition

PALM PINE Umm, It’s a Plant.

Conscious Condition

Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 4

Marcel (1983) Results Condition

Targets: PINE or WRIST

Subliminally Present Prime Found faster RT for both target words

Interpretation Both meanings were primed

Consciously Present Prime Found faster RT for one of two target words, slower RT for the other target Only one meaning is primed, the other inhibited

Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 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, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 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?

Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 4

Bowers (et.al.) Results

• Even if participants could not generate the 4th word, they still selected the coherent triad

• Results demonstrate preconscious processing

Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 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 states – Show pictures of famous people or politicians and have participants name them – Ask general knowledge questions to generate TOTs

Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 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, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 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, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 4

Controlled vs. Automatic Processing

• Automatic processing – Requires no conscious control

• Controlled processing – Requires conscious control

Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 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, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 4

Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 4

Automatization - Two Explanations

• Integrated components theoryAnderson – 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, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 4

Effect of Practice on Automatization NegativeAcceleration Curve

• Rate of learning slows as amount of learning increases

Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 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, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 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, suddenly owner notices the clock isn’t chiming

Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 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 is changed – If animal or infant dishabituates to a change, then 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, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 4

Functions of Conscious Attention

• • • •

Signal Detection Searching Selective Attention Divided Attention

Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 4

Signal Detection Theory (SDT) Signal Present Decision

Present

Hit

Absent

Miss

Absent False Alarm Correct Rejection

Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 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, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 4

Search

• Actively searching for a target • Number of targets and distracters influence accuracy • Feature search versus conjunctive search

Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 4

Conjunctive vs. Feature Search L

L

L

L

L

L

L

L

L

L

L

L

L

L

L L

O L

L L

L L

L L

L L

L L

Which box is it easier to detect a letter that is different?

The box on top is a feature L L L L L L L search L

L

L

L

L

L

L

L

L

L

L

T

L

L

The box on the bottom is a L L L L L L L conjunction search

Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 4

Treisman’s Feature-Integration Theory

• 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, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 4

Another Feature Search Is there a red T in the Display? 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 T T T T T T T T

Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 4

Another Conjunction Search Is there a red T in the Display? 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 X T T X T T X T X X X T T T

Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 4

Similarity Theory

• Disagrees with Treisman’s FIT theory • Similarity between targets and distracters is important; not number of features to be combined – The more shared features among items in display, the more difficult to detect a particular target

• Some findings cannot be explained by FIT

Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 4

Guided Search

• Cave and Wolf (1990) • All searches have 2 phases – Parallel phase – Serial stage

Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 4

Selectivity of Attention

• Cocktail Party Problem – How are we able to follow one conversation in the presence of other conversations?

Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 4

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…..

Listen to two different conversations and repeat one of the messages, may be binaural or dichotic

Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 4

Cherry’s Study 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, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 4

Models of Selective Attention

• Do they have

a filter?

• Where does the filter occur?

Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 4

Broadbent’s Model Sensory Stores

Sensory Filter

• Only one sensory channel is allowed to proceed • Stimuli filtered at sensory level

Working Memory

Long Term Memory

Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 4

Broadbent’s Model Could Not Explain

• Participant’s name gets through • Participants can shadow meaningful messages 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, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 4

Treisman Attenuation Model Attenuation of Unattended Sensory Stores

Filter weakens the strength of unattended information. Arrow colors represent different levels of strength If arrow reaches circle, info will be activated in working memory Note some circles are closer due to different thresholds of information

Working Memory

Long Term Memory

Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 4

Late Selection Theory Sensory Stores

All stimuli is processed to the level of meaning; relevance determines further Processing and action Deutsch & Deutsch (1963)

Working Memory

Long Term Memory

Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 4

Multimode Theory

• Johnston & Heinz (1978) • Difficulty of a task is determined by when the selection takes place

Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 4

Neisser’s Synthesis

• Preattentive Processes – Parallel – Note physical characteristics

• Attentive Processes

– Controlled processes occur serially – Occur in working memory

Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 4

Attentional-Resource Theories

• Model A represents Kahneman (1973) model • Model B represents individual pools for each modality

Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 4

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

Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 4

Divided Attention

• How many tasks can you do at once? – e.g. driving & talking, radio, phone...

Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 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, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 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, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 4

Strayer & Drews (2007)

• Naturalistic Observation of cell phone use and driver behavior Failed to Stopped stop properly On Cell Phone

82

28

No Cell Phone

352

1286

Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 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, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 4

Complex Mental Processes

• Access to conscious Mental Processes – Some say we do (Ericsson & Simon) – Some say we do not (Nisbett & Wilson)

• Evidence on both sides: – Protocol analysis – Change Blindness

Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 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, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 4

Spatial Neglect

• Lesion on one side of brain causes person to ignore half of their visual field

Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 4

Posner & Attention

• Two attention systems; two functions – Anterior frontal lobe system

• Tasks requiring awareness (planning or writing)

– Posterior parietal lobe system

• Tasks involving visuospatial abilities (playing Tetris, vigilance tasks)

Cognitive Psychology, Fifth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg Chapter 4

ERP and Attention

• Changes in electrical activity noted • Method enables localization of attentional processes in the brain