Cognitive Psychology: Attention

Attention

• Attention helps focus on some information while ignoring the rest.
• Attention can be thought of as a spotlight, shining on what is important while everything else remains dark.

Characterizing Attention

• Attention is selective when focused on one thing.
• Attention is divided when multitasking.
• It filters out distractions and processes what's important.
• The cocktail party effect is the phenomenon of suddenly paying attention when your name is mentioned in a noisy environment.

When Attention Occurs

• Attention occurs at different stages of processing.
• Researchers study when attention kicks in.

Dichotic Listening

• In dichotic listening experiments, people hear two different audio streams in each ear.
• Experiment participants are asked to focus on just one audio stream.
• The brain can filter out the ignored stream while still picking up important information, such as your name.

Event-Related Potentials (ERP) Method

• Scientists use EEG brain wave recordings to see when attention happens in the brain.
• ERP shows brain reactions to different sounds/images to measure focus.

The Attentional Stream Paradigm

• A study where people hear a constant stream of sounds.
• Participants must focus on only some of those sounds, studying how the brain filters and processes attention over time.

What Attention Does

• Attention helps because the brain has limited capacity, so it cannot process everything at once.
• Attention helps us pick what's important, adjust focus, and sustain focus for as long as needed in order to behave effectively and make smart decisions.

Focus vs. Flexibility

• People need to stay focused but shift when new situations happen.
• Too much focus can lead to missing important new information.
• Too much flexibility can result in getting distracted easily. Racecar driving is an example of needing focus while also being able to react.

Ways to Characterize Attention

Source of Attention

• Endogenous (internal) attention: Voluntarily choosing to focus.
• Exogenous (external) attention: Involuntary attention, something grabs attention.

Target of Attention

• External target: Focusing on things in the environment such as sounds, sights, or objects.
• Internal target: Focusing on thoughts, memories, or mental focus, such as remembering a phone number.

Type of Attention

• Overt Attention: Physically shifting focus, such as eye movements or turning your head.
• Covert Attention: Mentally focusing without moving.

Source of Attention

Exogenous (External, Bottom-Up)

• Involuntary reflexes grabs attention from the environment. A loud clap, bright flash, sharp pain, or sudden movement can cause this.

Endogenous (Internal, Top-Down)

• Voluntarily choosing to focus comes from your mind and goals, desires, or instructions. "What are they talking about?" could cause focus on the conversation.

Target of Attention

External (Outside World)

• Sensory information in your environment is the focus, you are focused on something physical in the real world. Examples include the sounds of the forest, the back of the classroom, and the orange shirts of the opposing team.

Internal (Inside Your Mind)

• Attention is on thoughts, memories, or mental images. You're not focusing on the real world, but on something in your head. For example, thinking about the next step in a recipe while cooking.

Characterizing Attention: Type

Overt vs. Covert

• Overt attention is a physical movement like moving your eyes to look at someone. Covert attention is mental focus without moving, like side-eyeing someone without turning your head.

Transient vs. Sustained

• Transient attention is brief, like glancing at a stranger's face. Sustained attention is long-term focus, like watching a movie.

Selective vs. Divided

• Selective attention is focusing on one thing to ignore everything else. Divided attention is multitasking like talking on the phone while driving.

The Cocktail Party Effect

• It is your brain's ability to focus on one conversation in a noisy environment while still filtering out other sounds. But if someone says your name across the room, your brain automatically shifts attention to that conversation.

Why This Happens

• Your brain selectively focuses on what's important, selectively monitoring background noise for relevant information.
• This shows that even when you ignore sounds, your brain is still processing them subconsciously.

Attentional Selection Occurring During Stages of Processing & Attention's Role

1.Sensory Inputs

• All sensory information enters the brain (sounds, sights, touches), without yet filtering.

2.Low-Level Perceptual Analysis

• The brain starts organizing sensory data, for example recognizing basic shapes.

3.High-Level Semantic Analysis

• You attach meaning to what you perceive. For example, recognizing a friend's face in a crowd or understanding words in a conversation.

4.Decision-Making & Memory Storage

• You decide what to focus on and store important information in memory. For example, remembering a phone number you just heard.

5.Motor Response (Action)

• You react based on processed information.

Early Selection

• Attention filters information at the perceptual stage before meaning is assigned. You block out background noise at a party before even processing what people are saying.

Late Selection

• Attention filters after meaning is assigned meaning that your brain processes everything but only acts on what's important. For example, you're ignoring background conversations, but suddenly you hear your name, so you shift focus.

How Dichotic Listening Works

Source

• Endogenous (internal control). You choose to focus because of instructions, such as "Pay attention to the left ear!"

Target

• External (sound). The stimuli are external (actual sound waves entering your ears).

Type

• Covert (no physical movement, just mental focus), sustained (maintained over time), and selective (focusing on one ear, ignoring the other).

Dichotic Listening & the Unattended Message

• A study by Cherry (1953) used "shadowing", where participants repeated words from one ear while ignoring the other.

What We Notice About the Ignored Message

• People could notice if a message was playing and the gender of the speaker.
• People could not notice the actual content of the message.
• Attention is selective, filtering out unimportant information early.

Dichotic Listening - Gray & Wedderburn (1960) Experiment

• Challenged early selection theory.
• Showed that people sometimes process meaning from the unattended ear.

Experiment

• Participants were told to focus on (shadow) the left ear. Participants heard “Dear 7 Jane” and “9 Aunt 6”
• Actual response: “Dear Aunt Jane”
• Meaning of ear processed even thought told to ignore.

Treisman's Attenuation Theory

• Attention acts like Volume-Control. Attenuates Ignored instead of completely blocking sounds out.

McKay (1973) Experiment

Method

• One Attended Ear and one for Unattended
• Gave ambiguous sentence in attended year, related word in unattended
• Forced choice test on Attended Ear choice but impacted.
• Tested was the Late-Selection more

Results

• The meaning of the unattended word influences their choice!
• Not aware.
• It supports late selection theory therefore ignored information is processed for meaning before filtering.
• Contradicts Early Selection therefore , the information is processes then filter.

Visual Attentional Stream Paradigm

• Method Similar to Posner Cueing but instead of shifting on trial side maintain attention extended for a Longer period.
• Pay attention to either Left or Right but while keeping eyes on Fixation pt
• Then use ERPS event related potentials to analyze attentional affect.

Findings

• Process Stridently in Attentional Field
• Even before consciously the brain process
• Modifies Perception at early state.

Timing of Visual Attentional Effects

E1 Early effect: PL (first boast (100ms)

• Attention Enhances initial sensory processing for early visuals

EL Late effect : N1(150-200

• HigherLevel Area sends signals return Refine Perception

How Visual Attention is affecting Neurons

• Neurons Respond Stimuli then the brain enhancer.

Key Effect

• Attention can modulate VA activity and supresses
• Even when stimuli is the same the attention will actively shape the way attention is changed

V4 Neurons

• Respond and change when attention.

Early Sensory Area Attention Modulations.

Higher level and Visual atention

• Brain area respond with active mind process, active area better responds passively

• Activity in Relevant Bain areas . And the activity area reduces or even suppress that information of not atended. Attenstion boost it, if I focus the mind will enhance.

Neuronal Firing synchronized and Attention

• Neuronal synezation – when Neurons first together. Essential To Integrate The Brains and Create scenes . This is Linked and Coordination.

Important Function

• So Linking Activity, Improving communiations ,boosting perception & Responion

Summary off Atention

1. Improves Attention Time and Accurate
2. Works Extreamly Fast: influence perception and this not decision makering
3. Modulate neural activity, The is specific part to it and based where to process, A. Attention Incresd B. Signals and reduce. -The Signal to make the Brain more easy and what is relevant .

• In create Synoniziation Newonal – improving

Unilateral Neglect

• When A Condition a persons Ignores, where there Ignores on the site. -After Damage to one side of the Hemisphere. most Likely affect left side/or Damage to right paterial . Not
• the issue is with the damage.

Contateral damage

• The Right partial it will then the effect left area side will be Affected. or if left then Right side is RARE do damage that why this happens.

3 way to remer this important details

• the Most is right paterical and is Negeltect side and there or Motor promblem

Different References for Neglect