Introduction to Attention
and Theories of Selective Attention
Psychology 355: Cognitive Psychology
Instructor: John Miyamoto
4/13/2015: Lecture 03-1
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Outline
• Humans are limited capacity information processors
• Capacity limitations shape the mental strategies that humans use.
• Examples of capacity limitations in human information processing
• Selective attention is one of many human adaptations
Lecture probably
to limits in human information processing.
ends here
• Theories of selective attention.
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '15
Example 1: Capacity Limitation in Spatial Attention
2
Example 1: Attention To a Location Enhances
Processing of Information at that Location
• Information processing is inferior when the subject
is unable to focus on just a few locations.
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '15
Display Array of Multiple Locations
3
Searching Multiple Locations for a Target Letter
o indicates
a possible
position
for the
target
letter.
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '15
Same Display with Numbers that Label Positions
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Searching Multiple Locations for a Target Letter
Numbers are
labels for
positions.
+
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '15
Trial 1
5
Trial 1: Target Letter is “F”
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '15
Trial 1 Solution
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Trial 1 Solution: Target Letter is “F”
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '15
Explain Cues for Target Positions
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Cues for Target Position
Just before
the target
array is
displayed,
you will
see 2
circles that
indicate the
potential
location of
the target.
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '15
Trial 2 with Cues for Target Position
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Trial 2: Target Letter is “F”
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '15
Trial 2 Solution
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Trial 2 Solution: Target Letter is “F”
+
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Trial 3: Faster Presentation with NO CUES
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Trial 3 (NO CUES): Target Letter is “F”
+
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Trial 4: Same Array but WITH CUES
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Trial 4 (WITH CUES): Target Letter is “F”
+
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Trial 3 & 4 Solution
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Trial 3 & 4 Solution: Target Letter is “F”
+
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '15
Conclusion from Demonstration 1
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Conclusion from Demonstration 1
• Letter detection is hard when we attend to many locations.
• Letter detection is easier when we attend to only a few locations.
• Rate and quality of perceptual information processing increases
when we know where to focus attention.
• Duh?
• If we couldn’t focus attention, we couldn’t benefit
from the improved perceptual processing when attention is focused.
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '15
Demonstration 2: Basketball in the Hallway
14
Example 2
• Show in browser
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG698U2Mvo>
•
When I switch to the browser, you will see a short video that shows
two groups of people passing basketballs back and forth.
•
One group wears white tee shirts;
the other group wears black tee shirts.
•
Each group has a basketball and the group members pass
the ball back and forth to other group members.
• Note to self: Start at Time = 12 seconds
• Note to self: Pause screen at Time = 41 seconds
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '15
Task Instructions
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Classroom Demonstration – Your Task
YOUR TASK: Count ...
1) .... the number of times someone in a WHITE shirt passes
the ball to another person in a WHITE shirt, PLUS ...
2) .... the number of times someone in a WHITE shirt bounces the ball
on the ground, either to themselves or to a team mate.
The activities of people in BLACK are not relevant to this task.
TASK = Count PASSES + BOUNCES of people in white shirts
NOTE: The video only asks you to count the number of passes;
I want you to count the number of passes plus the number of bounces.
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '15
Correct Answer for PASSES + BOUNCES
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Questions for the Class
• How many times did the people in the white tee shirts
pass the ball or bounce the ball?
15 Passes + 10 Bounces = 25 Passes & Bounces
• Did you notice anything else that was strange?
Raise your hand if you noticed anything strange about the video.
Only people who got the total number of passes and bounces
can answer the question about what was strange!
• Repeat video
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '15
Attention & Capacity Limits Are Complementary Aspects of Cognition
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Attention & Capacity Limits Are
Complementary Aspects of Cognition
• We need attentional functions because we have information
processing limitations.
• Attentional functions enhance information processing despite
our capacity limits.
• (Comment on limitations on working memory)
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '15
Quotation from C. Eastwood
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“A man's got to know his limitations”
Actor:
Role:
Move:
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '15
Clint Eastwood
Harry Callahan
Magnum Force
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Humans Are Limited Capacity Information Processors
• Humans cannot encode and represent ALL of the perceptual
information available to them.
• Selective attention performs two cognitive functions:
♦
Selection of the information for thorough processing
♦
Neglecting or excluding other parts of the information.
• Main Question of Remainder of this Lecture:
Where does selection occur?
♦
Does selection occur near the sensory periphery?
♦
Does selection occur after higher processes like meaning-extraction
and pattern recognition have begun to take place?
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '15
Shadowing & Dichotic Listening
20
Monday, April 13, 2015: The Lecture Ended Here
Psych 355, Miyamoto, Spr '15
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