Attention
Attention =’experiential highlighting’
- filters out irrelevant information from our environment
- qualitatively shape the kinds of conscious experiences we have
- allows us to track, inspect, and act with respect to another person or object
Spotlight of Attention
Paying attention feels like directing a light on some things and not others
–> attention makes things brighter, more prominent, or more focused
Serial Search vs. Popping out
serial search: looking at each item in turn to identify it
popping out: the difference between items is so obvious to the visual system that the target just pops out
Bottleneck Theory of Attention
–> not valid anymore
Preconscious sensory filters need to decide what should be let through to the deeper stages of processing
Phenomena of Attention
- inattentional blindness
- attentional blink
- change blindness
- cocktail party effect
- lunch line
Types of Attention
- covert attention
- overt attention
- spatial attention
- feature attention
- object attention
- temporal attention
Selective Attention
attentional control systems
= involved in modulating thoughts and actions, as well as sensory processes
–> May mediate cortical excitability in the visual cortex
Perceptual Load Theory
Perceptual processing has limited capacity
- when a task involves dealing with a large amount of information = capacity is fully exhausted by the processing of the attended-to information
–> things can only get into awareness/consciousness if they meet certain attentional criteria
Premotor Theory of Selective Spatial Attention
- a flow of information from visual selection to motor planning
- the system that controls action is the same that controls spatial attention
= Attending to a particular position in space is like preparing to look or reach toward it
Biased/Integrated Competition Theory
Attention = neural competition mechanism
- biased by feedback from a person’s goals, expectations, emotional states, etc.
–> inputs compete for neural representation
–> the winner of the competition is attended to
–> becomes available to higher cognitive processes
Attention Schema Theory of Consciousness
Consciousness is directly connected with attention
-> awareness = internal model of attention
Structuring View of Attention
Attention is contrastive:
it structures our mental life so that some things are a priority to others
(for action selection)
–> attention is the mental activity of structuring the stream of consciousness
Attention as Rational-Access Consciousness
Attention = consciousness that makes information fully accessible to use in the rational control of thought and action
Goal-Directed/Endogenous Attention (Top-Down)
- if the stimulus is given high priority:
= the response in the sensory areas may be enhanced - if the stimulus is not responded to, it is irrelevant to the current goal
Stimulus-Driven/Exogenous Attention (Bottom-Up)
- the stimulus itself captures attention
Dorsal Attention System
- bilateral
- frontal and parietal areas
- PFC, posterior intraparietal sulcus (IPS), frontal eye field (FEF)
- purposeful, voluntary, goal-directed, high-level attention
- concerned with spatial attention
Ventral Attention System
- alerting and vigilance systems (“standing guard”)
- right hemisphere
- temporoparietal junction (TPJ)
- ventral frontal cortex (VFC)
- concerned with nonspatial attention of attention
- engaged by stimuli that are unexpected, or change unexpectedly –> warning stimuli
Dorsal-Ventral Interactions
- the systems interact and cooperate to produce normal behavior
- flexible attentional control relies on both dorsal and ventral mechanisms –> dependent on current task demands
- they direct attention to relevant locations and potential targets, and they interrupt this attentional state when a novel target appears elsewhere, enabling us to reorient the focus of our attention
Frontal Cortex and Attentional Control (FEF)
- the frontal cortex has a modulatory influence on the visual cortex through the frontal eye fields (FEF)
- the FEF coordinate eye movement and gaze shift, which are important for orienting and attention
- stimulating FEF neurons produces topographically mapped saccadic eye movements
Parietal Cortex and Control of Attention
- contains multiple representations of space
- attentional shifts are correlated with changes in the activity of parietal neurons
Intraparetal Sulcus (IPS)
- activity in lateral intraparietal area (LIP) provides a priority map –> the visual system uses this map to determine the locus of attention
- LIP is concerned with the location and saliency of objects
- provides the TPJ with behaviorally relevant information about stimuli –> their salience
Temporoparietal Junction (TPJ)
- engaged in target detection
- the response to stimuli that appear in unexpected locations activates the TPJ
- interrupts the current attentional focus that is established by the goal-directed dorsal network
Superior Colliculi
superior colliculus neurons are sensitive to the saliency of a stimulus and guide eye movements toward them
Pulvinar of the Thalamus
- pulvinar neurons show enhanced activity when a stimulus is the target of a saccadic eye movement or when a stimulus is attended without eye movements of the target
- involved in voluntary and reflexive attention
- central to covert spatial attention and filtering of stimuli
