Types of Attention in Psychology

Divided Attention

• Attention is a limited resource. Performing multiple tasks simultaneously involves switching between them instead of truly doing them at once.
• Divided attention happens when a person must do two tasks requiring attention at the same time.

Joint Attention

• Joint attention involves two individuals focusing on the same object.

Directed Attention

• Directed attention allows sustained focus on a single task or object, like a Necker cube.
• Attention is the focusing or concentrating on something, ignoring other stimuli.

Selective Attention

• Selective attention involves choosing one task over another (e.g., watching TV or studying).
• Attention can be selectively focused like a flashlight illuminating one area at a time.
• An individual can only focus on one thing at any given moment.

Types of Attention Cues

• Exogenous (External) Cues: These cues automatically capture attention without conscious effort (e.g., bright colors, loud noises, "pop-out" effects). External events drive this type of attention.
• Endogenous (Internal) Cues: These cues require internal knowledge (e.g., arrows, understanding instructions) and intention (e.g., following an arrow) to direct attention. Internal events drive this type of attention.

Cocktail Party Effect

• The ability to focus on one voice in a crowded room or respond to your name is an example of endogenous attention.

Inattentional Blindness (Perceptual Blindness)

• This is failing to notice something in plain sight due to attention being directed elsewhere.
• An example is not noticing a fire extinguisher because attention is elsewhere.

Change Blindness

• Change blindness describes the failure to notice changes in the environment.
• This is a notable difference from inattentional blindness. An example would be not noticing a mother getting a haircut.

Stimuli Types

• Distal stimuli: Objects and events around you that are important.
• Proximal stimuli: The sensory patterns of these objects, like light patterns on your retina.

Orienting Mechanisms

• Covert orienting: Focusing attention without body movement.
• Ove rt orienting: Turning part or all of your body to maximize sensory input.

Attentional Capture

• Attentional capture happens when an object or stimulus's movement attracts attention.

Neglect Syndrome

• Damage to the brain can cause a disruption in the spatial dimension of divided attention.

Vigilance and Signal Detection

• Vigilance is a type of attention involving detecting a signal or target, like noticing a pothole.
• These processes prime quick reactions once a signal is detected.
• Previous practice improves skill performance. Excessive arousal is detrimental, but increased arousal can enhance attention too.
• Expert performance requires less attention.

Attention Networks and Aging

• Alerting attention is affected by regular aging but deficits aren't usually associated with schizophrenia.
• Orienting attention involves changing focus between stimuli (affected by acetylcholine).
• Executive attention plays a role in goal-directed behavior, monitoring conflicts in internal processes, and anticipating the effects of actions (related to dopamine).

Theories of Selective Attention

• Broadbent's Early Selection Theory:
  • Information enters a sensory register and is then passed to a selective filter.
  • The filter lets through info based on characteristics like voice, pitch, etc., filtering out the unheard.
  • Finally, the information is passed to perceptual processes, gaining meaning.
  • One important, critiqued weakness of this theory is that it predicts we should not be able to understand our name in the unattended channel, which clearly we can.