Attention
The process which results in certain sensory information being selectively processed over other information
Overt Attention
When you move your eyes from one place to another, to focus on a particular object or location
Covert Attention
When you shift attention without moving your eyes
Dichotic Listening
Different messages in each ear.
Cannot recall both sides at the same time
Broadbent’s Model of Attention
Sensory memory - filter - Detector
Spatial Attention
Attention to a specific location.
Posner: Precueing Procedure
Showed that by giving a cue to a location (covert attention) it improves a person’s ability to respond to stimuli presented there.
Treisman Feature Integration Theory
Able to recall numbers but end up combining features/colours of the shapes
Illusory Conjunction
Combination of features from different stimuli
Visual Search Procedure
Task is to find a target item that is surrounded by other, distractor items.
Feature Search
Could solve by looking for a single feature
Conjunction Search
Just combine features to solve.
Corollary Discharge
The brain makes the scan look smooth by combining individual points.
When corollary signal or Image signal received, movement is received.
When both signals are received, no movement is received
Motor Signal
Occurs when a signal to move the eyes is sent from the brain to the eye muscles
Corollary Discharge Signal
Is a copy of the motor signal sent to the Comparator
Image Displacement Signal
Occurs when an image moves across the retina, as happens when movement of the eye cause the image of a stationary scene to sweep across the retina.
Predictive Remapping Theory
Attention begins shifting toward a target just before the eye begins moving toward it
Visual Salience
Scene regions that are markedly different from their surroundings, whether in colour, contrast, movement, orientation, etc.
Attentional Capture
When properties of a stimulus grab attention automatically
Saliency Map
Combination of characteristics such as colour, orientation, etc. at each location in a scene
Task Demands
Tasks that require shifting attention to different places as the task unfolds
Egly Study of Cueing
Showed that not only did the faster responding also occur with shapes, but also increased when it was on the same object.
Inattentional Blindness
Stimuli you don’t focus on still register in the nervous system, but do not enter into your consciousness
Change Blindness
Difficulty in detecting changes in scenes
