Attention
Attention refers to the cognitive process of selectively concentrating on a particular aspect of the environment while ignoring other stimuli. It involves the ability to focus on relevant information and filter out distractions. Attention is crucial for perception, learning, memory, and problem-solving, and it plays a significant role in various psychological processes.
7 Key excerpts on "Attention"
eBook - ePubAttention
A Neuropsychological Approach
- Antony Ward(Author)
- 2004(Publication Date)
- Psychology Press(Publisher)
...The study of these key mental processes has become the concern of a major strand of modern psychology, the study of cognition. This area of psychology has been a major part of the discipline for over 40 years and, from the outset, the study of Attention has been an important element, for example with the publication of a highly influential work by Broadbent in 1958. Since that time, psychologists have sought to take real-world problems, such as how we deal with several sounds simultaneously, and study them in the laboratory under carefully controlled conditions. Over the last few decades many hundreds if not thousands of such studies have focused upon the topic of Attention, looking at the phenomenon from many different angles. The observations and data gathered have led to a number of theories explaining how humans attend to their environment. More recently, clinical psychologists have come to realize that these cognitive theories can provide a very useful framework for understanding the problems of their patients. At the same time, cognitive psychologists have come to see that observing the difficulties experienced by patients with certain conditions can be a useful source of additional data. This evidence can serve to confirm or discredit those theories, often provoking revision and reconsideration. This synergy between basic laboratory-based research and clinical work with patients has in recent times led to additional interest in the area of cognitive science. The joint efforts of neuroscientists and cognitive psychologists are now seen as indispensable to a fuller understanding of the human brain. The aim of this book is to illustrate for the reader how this process has enhanced our understanding of Attention and its disorders. Twenty years ago a book on cognitive neuropsychology (the application of cognitive theories to neurological disorders) would have been difficult to write, since the approach was in its infancy...
- Bruce B. Frey(Author)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- SAGE Publications, Inc(Publisher)
...The foundation of Attention in cognitive psychology is the capacity model, which argues that the total amount of cognitive resources for Attention is limited. In the information processing model, Attention is a process of information selection and filtering between the humans’ sensory registers and working memory. Selective Attention can explain how students catch the main ideas in school lectures. Effort or mental effort is a term that is often used to indicate how much Attention an individual puts into a task. Mental involvement and mental engagement are terms that are sometimes used to reveal different degrees of Attention paid to processing specific learning materials. From the neuroscientific perspective, Attention has been regarded as an arousal that is spontaneously activated by environmental stimulations or intentionally controlled for achieving specific goals. The manifestations of arousal include eye blink, pupil dilation, skin conduction, and brain wave. Sustained Attention indicates how individuals keep focused on a task. It is an important indicator for discriminating Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in clinics and special education. Divided Attention refers to the divided allocations of Attentional resources when an individual performs multiple tasks simultaneously. It is associated with the control and management of limited resources and plays an important role in the performance of multitasking. These Attentional models serve as the theoretical foundations of the development of the multimedia learning theory and the cognitive load theory, the two primary guides for the contemporary design of instructional technology and digital learning. Measurement of Attention Generally, three primary approaches have been used for the assessment of Attention: reported scales, performance-based tests, and physiological measures. Reported scales are the questionnaires or checklists to be checked by learners themselves or by others, such as teachers or parents...
- Jim Gould(Author)
- 2012(Publication Date)
- Learning Matters(Publisher)
...Avoid clutter Focus Attention Use colours and images to good advantage in projection systems. Reveal only one item of information at a time Focus Attention Clean whiteboards and close down projection systems when not directly using them Avoid divided Attention In summary, Attention is either an involuntary or voluntary process of focusing upon some signal or stimulus at the expense of others. It is the ability to actively and selectively attend to some stimuli and ignore others. Assuming learners are sufficiently motivated and interested in what is to be learned, Attention is the first stage in processing that learning and so teachers need to be able to call upon a variety of strategies to both attract Attention in the first place and then maintain it throughout a learning period. Attention is directly related to and overlaps with perception, which is the process of interpreting the stimuli that have been selected so they take on some kind of personal meaning. Perception The process of perception has already been discussed to some extent in the general view of cognitive approaches to learning presented in Chapter 4. There it was noted that rather than merely acting as passive receptors of external stimuli, we need to extract personal meaning from them. Previous experience plays an important role in achieving this as new learning builds upon existing experience and ultimately becomes part of it. The strategies which Gestalt psychology suggests we use in order to interpret incoming stimuli in a manner which imposes order and meaning, were also explored. In this chapter, the factors which influence perception and the ways in which they affect learning are considered...
eBook - ePubAccess and Mediation
Transdisciplinary Perspectives on Attention
- Maren Wehrle, Diego D'Angelo, Elizaveta Solomonova, Maren Wehrle, Diego D'Angelo, Elizaveta Solomonova(Authors)
- 2022(Publication Date)
- De Gruyter Saur(Publisher)
...Attention thus, in principle, represents a subjective differentiation or structuring of that which is objectively perceivable or noticeable – or, in the language of cognitive psychology, processable or computable. This specific engagement thereby goes beyond the scope of mere perception, it is more and less than just perception. Attention is more specific than perception in that it refers only to the singled-out feature(s), space, events, task(s) and divides the general perceptional field into a foreground and background, theme and thematic field (Gurwitsch 1964), focus and horizon. It goes beyond the scope of mere perception because its objects are present in a more thematic, vivid or detailed way, but also because Attention cannot be reduced to the level of sensory perception, but is characteristic of all kinds of cognition as well as action. One could say, Attention as engagement is an action, that is, we turn our Attention towards something either mentally or literally when moving our eyes and body, and perspective (Wehrle 2013 ; Wehrle and Breyer 2015). In this latter sense, Attention is not merely a static possession of a selected item, the result of a differentiation of a given visual field into parts or stimuli we focus on and those we merely vaguely notice in the periphery. Approached dynamically, Attention is a turning towards or away from something: a change of perspective; a striving and aiming for something. In this sense, Attention determines what we come to see, that is to say, it opens up future horizons of perception and action. While static Attention is the function of (selective) structuring of the given (cf...
eBook - ePub- L.S. Vygotsky(Author)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
...Chapter 7 PSYCHOLOGY AND PEDAGOGICS OF Attention Psychological Nature of Attention T raditional psychology defined Attention as the form of activity wherein we are able to divide up the complex composition of impressions that reach us from outside. We then identify in this flux the most important variable, focus on this variable with the full force of activity and, thereby hasten its penetration into consciousness. Thus the particular distinctiveness and clarity with which this segment of our impressions is experienced. However, the old psychology also knew that, in acts of Attention, we encounter phenomena that are not all of the same “psychic” order. Attention begins most often and, in its very development, originates out of a whole series of manifestations that are purely motor in nature. One need only take a look at the simplest acts of Attention to see that these acts begin every time with particular set reactions that involve movements of different perceiving organs. Thus, if our intention is to attentively scrutinize something, we assume the appropriate stance, place our head in a certain position, and adjust and focus our eyes as required. The adaptive and directional movements of the ears, neck, and head are of no lesser importance in the act of attentive listening. The meaning and function of all these movements inevitably reduces to the placement of the perceiving organs, which are responsible for the most important tasks here, in the most convenient and appropriate position. However, these motor reactions of Attention involve more than the above reactions of external organs of perception. The entire organism turns out to be permeated with these motor adaptations to the perception of external impressions...
eBook - ePub- Enrico Campo(Author)
- 2022(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...1 Does Attention Exist? DOI: 10.4324/9781003225522-2 1.1 In Search of a Definition A first, almost obligatory step for anyone wanting to study Attention consists in trying to define it in order to delimit the field of investigation. The preliminary question to ask has a vague metaphysical flavor: what is Attention ? Philosophers and, above all, psychologists have tried to provide an answer to this question but, as we will see in the following pages, finding a clear and unanimous definition of “Attention” is anything but simple. In fact, the debate on Attention during the long history of psychology has also been a debate on what is meant by “Attention” and on what its main functions and mechanisms are. The metaphors used to tackle these problems are numerous and, due to the difficulty of finding a common solution, the existence of Attention as an autonomous process has been questioned several times (Johnston and Dark 1986 ; Allport 1993 ; Pashler 1998 ; Fernandez-Duque and Johnson 1999 ; Anderson 2011 ; Wu 2014). In this chapter, we will outline some salient features and then discuss the semantic autonomy of the concept, particularly in relation to that of consciousness. Very often, studies dedicated to Attention begin their investigation with its definition by William James [1842–1910] found in his Principles of Psychology : Everyone knows what Attention is. It is the taking possession by the mind, in clear and vivid form, of one out of what seem several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought. Focalization, concentration, of consciousness are of its essence. It implies withdrawal from some things in order to deal effectively with others. (James 1890, 403–4) This definition is particularly useful for several reasons. First, it provides an initial delimitation of the field of study as focus and concentration on certain stimuli, which also implies the exclusion of others present...
eBook - ePubAnxiety
The Cognitive Perspective
- Michael W. Eysenck(Author)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Psychology Press(Publisher)
...Chapter Four Attentional Processes Introduction The issue of the biological significance of anxiety was considered in Chapter 1. In essence, it was argued there that anxiety possesses considerable survival value. It serves to facilitate the rapid detection of signs of threat or impending danger, and is especially valuable in potentially threatening environments. While anxiety does thus fulfil a useful function, it is clear that the processes involved in threat detection are used excessively by generalized anxiety disorder patients. They are so hypervigilant to threat that even ambiguous and non-threatening situations are often interpreted as threatening. In other words, many of the cognitive symptoms which characterize patients with generalized anxiety disorder represent the over-development of processes having genuine survival value. It is presumably a combination of pre-attentive and Attentional processes which make anxious individuals more sensitive to threat-related stimuli than are non-anxious individuals. Indeed, it is one of the central contentions of this book that many of the most important differences in cognitive functioning between anxious and non-anxious individuals lie within the pre-attentive and Attentional systems. If the cognitive system of anxious individuals is geared to the rapid detection of threat, then this has several implications for Attentional functioning; some of these implications are discussed below. Hypervigilance theory was discussed in Chapter 3. It was proposed within that theory that anxiety might lead initially to the extraction of information from a broad area of the visual environment, followed by narrowly focused processing of any apparently salient (e.g., task-relevant; threatening) stimuli. It might also lead to constant scanning of the environment for the detection of threat-related stimuli...
