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Attention and Consciousness

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Attention and Consciousness
Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4

Chapter 4:
Attention and
Consciousness

Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4

Some Questions of Interest
• What are some of the functions of attention?
• What are some theories to explain attentional processes? • Can we actively process information, even if we are not aware of doing so?

Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4

Main Functions of Attention
1.
2.
3.
4.

Signal detection and vigilance
Search
Selective attention
Divided attention

Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4

Signal Detection Theory (SDT)
• Measure sensitivity to a target’s presence Signal

Decision

Present

Present

Hit

Absent

Miss

Absent
False
Alarm
Correct
Rejection

Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4

cogLab: Signal Detection

Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4

Vigilance and SDT
• Vigilance is attending to stimuli over time to detect a target
• Vigilance decreases rapidly over time (fatigue)
– misses and false alarms increase

Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4

Search
• Actively searching for a target
• Number of targets and distracters influence accuracy
• Feature search versus conjunctive search Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4

cogLab: Visual Search

Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4

Conjunctive Search

• Find the letter T
– Which panel is easier? Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4

Feature Search

• Find the letter O
– Easier or harder than the previous one? Cognitive Psychology, Sixth Edition, Robert J. Sternberg
Chapter 4

Feature-Integration Theory (FIT)
• Feature processing is done in parallel
• Conjunctive searching requires attention to the integration or combination of the features – must be done sequentially
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