Attention &

Consciousness
PRESENTED BY
Carlo Sagrado &
Chrislie Cabatbat
 Topics
When Our Attention
Attention Fails us
Selective Attention Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
- Theories of selective attention Change Blindness and Intentional Blindness
Divided Attention The consciousness of mental process
- Theories of Divided attention Preconscious of Processing
Neuroscience and Attention
Intelligence and Attention
“ Does Paying Attention Enable you
to make better decisions?”

[Attention] is the taking possession of the mind, in clear and vivid form, of
one out of what seem several simultaneously possible objects or trains of
thoughts. . . . It implies withdrawal from some things in order to deal
effectively with others. —William James, Principles of Psychology
Introduction

Attention lets us focus on what's relevant and tune out what's not.
We use attention to learn more about our environment, form
memories, and perform tasks.

we actively select and process a limited amount of information from all

of the information captured by our senses, our stored memories, and
our other cognitive processes
 At any point in time, we receive a
lot of sensory information.
Through attentional processes

How Does
(which can be automatic or
controlled), we filter out the
information that is relevant to us
and that we want to attend to.
Attention
Eventually, this filtering leads to Work?
our taking action on the basis of
the information we attended to.
How Does Attention
Work?
Consciousness
consciousness can be understood as a
dynamic state that involves awareness of
thoughts, emotions, and the environment. It
is essential for guiding human behavior and
decision-making.

When we pay attention to an object, we

become conscious of its various attributes;
when we shift attention away, the object
fades from consciousness.
Four Main Functions of Attention
some information is attended to while other
information is intentionally
blocked out.
is the ability to select certain stimuli in the
environment to process, while ignoring
distracting information.
The Cocktail Party Effect
Selective Attention
Colin Cherry (1953) observed that cocktail
parties are often settings in which selective
attention is salient.
He studied selective attention in a more
carefully controlled experimental setting.
He devised a task known as shadowing.
Dichotic Listening
Studies

In shadowing, you listen to two different messages. Cherry

presented a separate message to each ear, known as dichotic
presentation.
Dichotic listening simply refers to the situation when two messages are
presented simultaneously to an individual, with one message in each ear. In
order to control which message the person attends to, the individual is
asked to repeat back or “shadow” one of the messages as he hears it.
 Theories of
Selective Attention
Early Filter Model
According to one of the earliest theories of attention, we filter
information right after we notice it at the sensory level (Broadbent,
1958). His Filter Model was based on the dichotic listening tasks.
Information from all stimuli presented at any time enters an
unlimited-capacity sensory buffer. One of the inputs is then selected
based on its physical characteristics (such as pitch or loudness) for
further processing by being allowed to pass through a filter.
Early Filter Model
Selective Filter Model

According to Moray, the selective filter blocks out most

information at the sensory level. But some personally
important messages are so powerful that they burst
through the filtering mechanism.
 Treisman’s Attenuation
Model

Treisman suggested that selection starts at the physical or perceptual

level, but that the unattended information is not blocked completely,
it is just weakened or attenuated.
Her findings suggested that at least some information about
unattended signals is being analyzed. Treisman proposed a theory of
selective attention that involves an attenuating mechanism.
Treisman’s Attenuation
Model

Instead of blocking out stimuli, the filter (attenuator) merely weakens (attenuates) the strength of all stimuli other than the
target stimulus. So when the stimuli reach us, we analyze them at a low level for target properties such as loudness and pitch.
 Late-Filter Model

Deutsch and Deutsch developed a model in which the location of the

filter is even later in the process. They suggested that stimuli are
filtered out only after they have been analyzed for both their physical
properties and their meaning.
It suggests that all information in the unattended ear is processed on
the basis of meaning, not just the selected or highly pertinent
information.
Later-Filter Model

This later filtering would allow people to recognize information entering the unattended ear.
 Multimode Model

The multimode model suggests that the stage at which selection

occurs can change depending on the task.

This theory believes that attention is a flexible system that allows

selection of a stimulus over others at three stages.
 Multimode Model

Stage one: the sensory representations (e.g., visual images) of stimuli

are constructed
Stage two: the semantic representations (e.g., names of objects) are
constructed.
Stage three: the sensory and semantic representations enter the
consciousness. It is also suggested that more processing requires
more mental effort.
 Multimode Model

Stage one: the sensory representations (e.g., visual images) of stimuli

are constructed
Stage two: the semantic representations (e.g., names of objects) are
constructed.
Stage three: the sensory and semantic representations enter the
consciousness. It is also suggested that more processing requires
more mental effort.
Occurs when we are required to perform two
task at the same time and attention is required
for the performance of all task.

investigators used a dual-task paradigm to

study divided attention during the
simultaneous performance of two
activities: reading short stories and writing
Divided Attention
down dictated words (Spelke, Hirst, &
Neisser, 1976).
The focus of the Spelke et al. (1976) study
was whether individuals could learn to
perform two relatively complex tasks
concurrently, without impairing
performance.
 initial performance was poor for the two tasks
when the tasks had to be performed at the
same time. Spelke, Hirst, and Neisser, however,
had their participants practice to perform
these two tasks five days a week for many
weeks
Divided Attention
To the surprise of many, given enough
practice, the participants’ performance
improved on both tasks.
When a second task begins soon after the first
task has started, speed of performance usually
suffers. This slowing is the psychological
refractory period (PRP) effect, also called
attentional blink.
When they need to engage in more elaborate Attentional Blink
processing such as choosing a response or
retrieving information from memory, their
speed will decline and one or both tasks will
show the PRP effect.
How well people can divide their attention
also has to do with their intelligence (Hunt &
Lansman, 1982). According to Hunt and
Lansman, more intelligent people are better
able to timeshare between two tasks and to
Attention and Intelligence
perform both effectively

People who can switch focus easily tend to

solve problems better and handle complex
tasks
Theories of Divided
Attention
Capacity Theory

Kahneman posits that human attention is limited in capacity, meaning that

individuals can only focus on a certain amount of information at any given time.
This limitation affects how we process information and perform tasks.

Mental effort is used while engaging in performing any mental task, and
the greater the complexity, the greater the effort needed to solve a task.
It emphasises that we don’t have an infinite amount of mental "fuel" to
power through all tasks with equal efficiency. How well we perform
depends on how much cognitive load we're carrying.
Multiple Resource Theory

Navon and Gopher's Multiple Resource Approach Suggests that the ability to
perform two cognitive tasks simultaneously is dependent not just on the
amount of mental resources required to complete each task based on level of
difficulty and desired performance level of each task, but rather on the type of
mental resources needed to process.
multiple sources of attention are available, one for each modality (e.g.,
verbal or visual)
Multiple Resource Theory
People are much better at
dividing their attention
when competing tasks are
in different modalities.
Multitasking Works Better
When Tasks Use Different
Resources.
Tasks that Use the Same
Resource Interfere with
Each Other.
Neuroscience & Attention

Is attention a function of the entire brain, or is it a function of discrete attention-

governing modules in the brain?

A group of researcher teamed up to conduct a review of neuroimaging studies in the

area of attention to investigate whether the many diverse results of studies
conducted pointed to a common direction.
Neuroscience & Attention
ALERTING: brain areas involved in alerting are the right frontal and parietal cortexes
as well as the locus coeruleus.

NOREPINEPHRINE: A neurotransmitter that is involved in the maintenance of

alertness.
If the alerting system does not work properly, people develop symptoms of ADHD;
in the process of regular aging, dysfunctions of the alerting system may develop as
well
Neuroscience & Attention
ORIENTING: selection of stimuli to attend to.
The brain areas involved: superior parietal lobe, temporal parietal junction, frontal
eye fields, superior colliculus.. Dysfunction within this system can be associated
with autism.
ACETYLCHOLINE: Modulating neurotransmitter for orienting.

EXECUTIVE ATTENTION: includes processes for monitoring and resolving conflicts that
arise among internal processes..
The brain areas involved in this final and highest order of attentional process are
the anterior cingulate, lateral ventral, and prefrontal cortex as well as the basal
ganglia
Dysfunction within this system is associated with Alzheimer’s disease, borderline
personality disorder, and schizophrenia.
DOPAMINE: Most involved in attention process.
 Intelligence and
Attention
Attention is a critical cognitive function that interacts
closely with intelligence.
Intelligence aids in the effective use and control of
attention, while strong attention skills can improve
cognitive processing and intelligence-related tasks.
Improving attention skills could help enhance overall
cognitive abilities, including intelligence.
.
 When Our Attention Fails us

Attention can fail us in different ways, leading to mistakes,

missed information, or struggles to focus. Here are some
common examples of when attention
doesn’t work as well as it should:
1. Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder
(ADHD)
ADHD is a condition where
attention is disrupted. Attention
People with ADHD often:
Get easily distracted.
Deficit
Have trouble focusing on
Hyperactivity
one task. Disorder
Struggle to stay organized. (ADHD)
ADHD
Neurobiological Factors:

• Dopamine Dysregulation: Lower

dopamine levels lead to reduced
motivation to focus and sustain
attention.
• Frontal Lobe Dysfunction: The
prefrontal cortex (responsible for
executive functions) is often
underactive in individuals with ADHD,
affecting attention regulation.
Treatment

Medication: Stimulants (e.g., Ritalin, Adderall) and

non-stimulants (e.g., Strattera) that help regulate
dopamine levels.
Behavioral Therapy: Strategies to improve
organization, focus, and self-control.
 Real-Life Impact:

• Educational Settings: ADHD can affect academic

performance and peer relationships.

• Workplace Challenges: Difficulty focusing on tasks or

managing multiple responsibilities.
Change Blindness and
Inattentional Blindness

Failures in attention often stem from the

brain’s limitations in processing all available
stimuli.
 Change blindness
• Occurs when we fail to notice a
change in a familiar environment
because we are not paying attention to
that specific detail

• Example: A friend changes their shirt,

and you don’t notice because your
attention was elsewhere.
Inattentional
Blindness:
• A failure to notice an unexpected
stimulus in plain view when focusing on
another task.

• Famous Experiment: The “Invisible

Gorilla” test by Simons and Chabris,
where participants failed to notice a
person in a gorilla suit walking through a
scene while counting basketball passes.
Implications:

• Demonstrates the limits of visual attention.

• Highlights how selective attention can cause us to
overlook critical or unexpected information.
The Consciousness of
Mental Processes
Not all mental processes are conscious.
Some happen automatically, outside of
our awareness, and we may not notice
when our mind skips over important
details.
• Example:
• When reading, you might skim over a
sentence and realize you didn’t fully
process its meaning because your mind
wandered.
• Preconscious
processing is when
information is not
currently in your
conscious awareness, PRECONSCIOUS
but it’s still stored in PROCESSING
your mind and can
influence your thoughts
or actions without you
realizing it.
Why Attention Fails Us
Failures in attention can happen due to:

Distractions: Competing stimuli

overload our limited attention.
Fatigue: Tiredness reduces our ability to
focus.
Overload: Trying to multitask can make
it harder to focus on any one thing
effectively.
 Conclusion

Failures in attention—such as ADHD,

change blindness, or inattentional
blindness—reveal the limitations of our
cognitive systems. By understanding
these failures, we can learn to manage
distractions, improve focus, and become
more aware of the gaps in our attention.
THANK YOU FOR PAYING
ATTENTION!