MODULE II TYPES, PROCESSES, AND FUNCTIONS OF PHYSIOLOGICAL STATES OF Lesson 6 Lesson 7 Lesson 8 Lesson 9 Lesson 10 Lesson 11 AWARENESS Attention Consciousness Perception Learning and Memory Language Emotions Modute IlLesson 6 LQ Attention Attention and Consciousness “Millions of items ... are present to my senses which never properly enter into my experience. Why? Because they have no interest for me. My experience is what I agree to attend to ... each of us literally chooses, by his ways of attending to things, what sort of a universe he shall appear to himself to inhabit.” William James, 1890, Principles of Psychology Attention Our conscious awareness is limited in capacity and we are aware of only a small amount of the stimuli around us at any one time. Attention refers to the process by which we focus our awareness. Three functions of attentional processes: a. Orienting function toward the environment b. Control of the content of consciousness c. Maintaining alertness What is Attention’s Goal? 1. Truthful perception of the world is neither required nor necessarily attempted 2. Conscious experiences focus on gathering information quickly 3. Details are filled-in to give a sense of continuity to our perceptions 4, This is the point of attention in general, i.e., to concentrate on what is important Selective attention: voluntary and automatic In the real world, voluntary and automatic attention are generally mixed. For example, we can train ourselves to pay attention to the new ringtone we found for our cell phone. When it rings and we suddenly pay attention to it, is that voluntary or automatic? Divided Attention Divided attention refers to a task in which a person is asked to attend to. two tasks at the same time, Subject may be asked to listen to one Modute Ilconversation (shadowing) delivered via the left ear. Some information on the other channel (right ear) is processed (as shown in priming tasks) Attention and the Brain Michael |. Posner’s two attention systems; two functions: 1. Anterior frontal lobe system - Tasks requiring awareness (planning or writing) 2. Posterior parietal lobe system - Tasks involving visuospatial abilities (playing Tetris, vigilance tasks) A distinction between attention and consciousness A common sense distinction between attention and consciousness: We can ask someone to ‘please pay attention’ but not to ‘please be conscious’. In general, however, when people pay attention to something, they generally become conscious of it. The common sense distinction between attention and consciousness suggests that there are attentional control mechanisms that often determine what will or will not become conscious. >) THINK 1, What is attention? Give an example. 2. What is the goal of attention? 3. What is selective attention? Give an example. 4. What is divided attention? Give an example. 5. What is the difference between attention and consciousness? Modute Il