Transcript 2320Lecture19.pptx

Orienting Attention
Control of Attention
• Major Distinctions:
Voluntary
Reflexive
Control of Attention
• Major Distinctions:
Voluntary
Reflexive
Overt
Covert
Voluntary Orienting
•
shifting attention by willfully
selecting a location in space (or
a frequency of sound)
•
e.g. eye movements in a scene
depend on what the observer is
looking for
Eye movements (overt orienting)
Voluntary Orienting
• Attention can be oriented covertly
– a commonly used metaphor is “the spotlight of
attention”
Orienting Attention
• Posner Cue - Target Paradigm:
Subject presses a button as soon as x appears
Orienting Attention
• Posner Cue - Target Paradigm:
Orienting Attention
• Posner Cue - Target Paradigm:
Orienting Attention
• Posner Cue - Target Paradigm:
Orienting Attention
• Posner Cue - Target Paradigm:
X
Orienting Attention
• Posner Cue - Target Paradigm:
Orienting Attention
• Posner Cue - Target Paradigm:
That was a validly cued trial because the x appeared
in the box that flashed
Orienting Attention
• Posner Cue - Target Paradigm:
Orienting Attention
• Posner Cue - Target Paradigm:
Orienting Attention
• Posner Cue - Target Paradigm:
Orienting Attention
• Posner Cue - Target Paradigm:
X
Orienting Attention
• Posner Cue - Target Paradigm:
Orienting Attention
• Posner Cue - Target Paradigm:
That was an invalidly cued trial because the x
appeared in the box that didn’t flash
Paradigms Used To Study Attention
• Posner Cue - Target Paradigm:
Attention Effect = Valid RT - Invalid RT
Voluntary Orienting
• Under what circumstances would a cue lead to
a voluntary shift of attention?
Voluntary Orienting
• Under what circumstances would a cue lead to
a voluntary shift of attention?
– Informative cue
– Validity = greater than 50%
Voluntary Orienting
• Under what circumstances would a cue lead to
a voluntary shift of attention?
– Informative cue
– Validity = greater than 50%
• What is another way to make this paradigm a
voluntary orienting paradigm?
Voluntary Orienting
• What is another way to make this paradigm a
voluntary orienting paradigm?
Symbolic Cue
Symbolic cues may orient attention towards another location.
Stimulus cues orient attention to the stimulated location.
Reflexive Orienting
• Attention can be automatically “summoned”
to a location at which an important event has
occurred:
Reflexive Orienting
• Attention can be automatically “summoned”
to a location at which an important event has
occurred:
– Loud noise
– Motion
– New Object
Transients
• We call this attentional capture
Reflexive Orienting
• The Posner cueing paradigm (with blinking boxes)
confounds reflexive and voluntary orienting
… in what way?
Reflexive Orienting
• The Posner cueing paradigm (with blinking boxes)
confounds reflexive and voluntary orienting
• How could we change the Posner cueing paradigm to
make it asses only reflexive orienting?
Reflexive Orienting
• The Posner cueing paradigm (with blinking boxes)
confounds reflexive and voluntary orienting
• How could we change the Posner cueing paradigm to
make it asses only reflexive orienting?
• Make validity 50% (non-informative cue)
Reflexive Orienting
• The Posner cueing paradigm (with blinking boxes)
confounds reflexive and voluntary orienting
• How could we change the Posner cueing paradigm to
make it asses only reflexive orienting?
• Make validity 50% (non-informative cue)
• Viewers are still faster and more accurate!
Reflexive Orienting
• Can symbolic cues be reflexive?
Almost never but …
Reflexive Orienting
• Can symbolic cues be reflexive?
Reflexive orienting to direction of eye gaze
Reflexive Orienting
• Potential cues for Reflexive Orienting
– Loud noise
– Motion
– New Object
Transients
• New Objects are powerful attention grabbers!
New Objects Capture Attention
IS THERE AN “H”?
Initial scene viewed
for several hundred
ms
Yantis & Jonides (1990): New-Object Paradigm
New Objects Capture Attention
IS THERE AN “H”?
New scene: search
for target letter
H may be
revealed from
an 8 or may
appear as a
new object
Yantis & Jonides (1990): New-Object Paradigm
Reflexive Orienting
• Steven Yantis and colleagues
– Result:
Reflexive Orienting
• Steven Yantis and colleagues
– Result:
Targets are found faster when they are
“new objects” than when they are
revealed from “old” objects
Reflexive Orienting
• Steven Yantis and colleagues
– Interpretation:
The visual system prioritizes in dealing
with visual objects - relatively recent
objects are “flagged” while older objects
are disregarded
Attention and Consciousness
• Sensory information must be attended for it to
be entered into awareness
Attention and Consciousness
• The attention orienting mechanism can be
confused leading to something called “change
blindness”
Attention and Consciousness
• The attention orienting mechanism can be
confused leading to something called “change
blindness”
Attention and Consciousness
• The attention orienting mechanism can be
confused leading to something called “change
blindness”
Attention and Consciousness
• Change blindness
– Change blindness shows us that the feeling of
being in a detailed visual environment is really just
an illusion
– We only have access to the parts of the scene to
which we have attended
Attention and Consciousness
• Change blindness
– Change blindness shows us that the feeling of being in
a detailed visual environment is really just an illusion
– We only have access to the parts of the scene to
which we have attended
– And that is often not very much!