Chapter 4

ATTENTION AND CONSCIOUSNESS

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

PREPARED BY: KAREN JANN M. AQUINO, RN, RPM, MA IN PSYCHOLOGY (WITH SPECIALIZATION IN
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The Nature of
Attention and
Consciousness

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

PREPARED BY: KAREN JANN M. AQUINO, RN, RPM, MA IN PSYCHOLOGY (WITH SPECIALIZATION IN
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William James
Principles of Psychology

[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.
Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

PREPARED BY: KAREN JANN M. AQUINO, RN, RPM, MA IN PSYCHOLOGY (WITH SPECIALIZATION IN
DEVELOPMENTAL/EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY)
3
ATTENTION
➢the means by which we actively process a limited
amount of information from the enormous amount
of information available through our senses, our
stored memories, and our other cognitive processes
(De Weerd, 2003a; Rao, 2003)

➢Includes both conscious and unconscious process.

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

PREPARED BY: KAREN JANN M. AQUINO, RN, RPM, MA IN PSYCHOLOGY (WITH SPECIALIZATION IN
DEVELOPMENTAL/EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY)
4
How Does Attention Work?

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

PREPARED BY: KAREN JANN M. AQUINO, RN, RPM, MA IN PSYCHOLOGY (WITH SPECIALIZATION IN
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CONSCIOUSNESS
➢includes both the feeling of awareness
and the content of awareness, some of
which may be under the focus of attention
(Bourguignon, 2000;Farthing, 1992, 2000; Taylor, 2002)

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

PREPARED BY: KAREN JANN M. AQUINO, RN, RPM, MA IN PSYCHOLOGY (WITH SPECIALIZATION IN
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Three purposes of conscious
attention
➢It helps in monitoring our interactions with the
environment.

➢It assists us in linking our past (memories) and our

present (sensations) to give us a sense of continuity of
experience.

➢It helps us in controlling and planning for our future

actions.
Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

PREPARED BY: KAREN JANN M. AQUINO, RN, RPM, MA IN PSYCHOLOGY (WITH SPECIALIZATION IN
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Four main functions of
attention
SIGNAL DETECTION AND
VIGILANCE SEARCH
➢We try to detect the appearance of a ➢We often engage in an active search for
particular stimulus. particular stimuli.
➢Example: ➢Example:

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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Four main functions of attention
SELECTIVE ATTENTION DIVIDED ATTENTION
➢We choose to attend to some stimuli and ➢We often manage to engage in more than
ignore others one task at a time, and we shift our attentional
resources to allocate them prudently, as
➢Example: needed.
➢Example

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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Signal detection
and vigilance

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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 Signal Detection, Vigilance, and Search in Everyday Life.

(b) Vigilance. For air traffic

controllers, vigilance is a
matter of life and death.

a) Signal detection. Luggage

screeners learn techniques to (c) Search. These trained police
enable them to maximize “hits” dogs are actively seeking out a
and “correct rejections” and to target, such as bombs or drugs.
minimize “false alarms” and
“misses.”

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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Signal Detection: Finding
Important Stimuli in a Crowd
➢Signal-detection theory
(SDT) is a framework to explain how
people pick out the few important
stimuli when they are embedded in a
wealth of irrelevant, distracting stimuli.
Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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Four possible outcomes to detect a
target stimulus (signal)
(Using the example of a lifeguard)
HITS (ALSO CALLED “TRUE FALSE ALARMS (ALSO
POSITIVES”), CALLED “FALSE POSITIVES”)
➢the lifeguard correctly identifies the ➢he or she incorrectly identifies the presence
presence of a target of a target that is actually absent
➢There is a signal and the signal was detected ➢There is a wrong identification of a presence
of a signal that is actually not there

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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Four possible outcomes to detect a target
stimulus (signal)
(Using the example of a lifeguard)

MISSES (ALSO CALLED CORRECT REJECTIONS (ALSO CALLED

“FALSE NEGATIVES”) “TRUE NEGATIVES”)
➢the lifeguard fails to observe the presence of ➢the lifeguard correctly identifies the absence
a target of a target
➢The signal was not recognized ➢The absence of signal was identified

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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Signal-detection theory in the context of
attention, perception, or memory:
ATTENTION PERCEPTION MEMORY
➢paying enough attention ➢perceiving faint signals that ➢indicating whether you
to perceive objects that may or may not be beyond have/have not been exposed to
are there your perceptual range a stimulus before

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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Vigilance: Waiting to
Detect a Signal

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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VIGILANCE
➢refers to a person’s
ability to attend to a field
of stimulation over a
prolonged period, during
which the person seeks to
detect the appearance of
a particular target
stimulus of interest.

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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Examples: Vigilance is important
during…
SCANS AT AIRPORTS INTERPRETING RESULTS
LIKE MRI SCANS OR X-
RAYS

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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Neuroscience and Vigilance
➢The amygdala plays a pivotal role in
the recognition of emotional stimuli.

➢The thalamus is involved in vigilance

as well.
Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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Search: Actively Looking
➢involves actively and often skillfully seeking out a target (Cisler et al.,
2007; Posner & DiGirolamo, 1998)

➢refers to a scan of the environment for particular features—

actively looking for something when you are not sure where it
will appear.

➢Distracters, nontarget stimuli that divert our attention

away from the target stimulus.
Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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Display Size
➢the number of items in a given visual array.

➢does not refer to the size of the items or even the size of
the field on which the array is displayed

➢The display-size effect is the degree to which the number of

items in a display hinders (slows down) the search process.
Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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Display Size. Compare the relative difficulty in
finding the T in panels (a) and (b). The display size
affects your ease of performing the task.

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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Future search
➢we simply scan the environment for a feature (Treisman, 1993; Weidner &
Mueller, 2009)

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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Three theories that try
to explain the search
processes

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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Feature-Integration Theory
➢For each possible feature of a
stimulus, each of us has a mental
map for representing the given
feature across the visual field.

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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Similarity Theory
➢targets that are highly similar to distracters are
relatively hard to detect.

➢targets that are highly disparate from

distracters are relatively easy to detect.

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

PREPARED BY: KAREN JANN M. AQUINO, RN, RPM, MA IN PSYCHOLOGY (WITH SPECIALIZATION IN
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In panel (e), find the black circle.

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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In panels (f) and (g), find the R.

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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Guided Search Theory
➢all searches, whether feature searches or conjunction searches, involve two
consecutive stages.
➢Parallel stage: the individual simultaneously activates a mental
representation of all the potential targets.
➢Subsequent serial stage: the individual sequentially evaluates each
of the activated elements, according to the degree of activation. Then, the person
chooses the true targets from the activated elements.
➢The activation process of the parallel initial stage helps to guide the evaluation
and selection process of the serial second stage of the search.

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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In panel (h), find the black circle.

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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Neuroscience: Aging and Visual
Search
➢An interesting study investigated the effect of aging on
visual search capabilities (Madden et al., 2002; Madden, 2007).

➢The researchers had two groups of participants—one in

their 20s and one between 60 and 77 years of age—conduct
a variety of visual searches of various difficulties for a black
upright L

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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Here are examples for feature search, guided search, and conjunction
search. In all three cases, participants were instructed to look for the
upright black L.
➢ Feature search: participants had to find the
black upright L between white, partly rotated
Ls

➢ Guided search: the target had to be found in

between white Ls as well as three black Ls of
various rotation

➢ Conjunction search: the black L had to be

found in between a variety of rotated Ls that
were either black or white
Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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Neuroscience: Aging and Visual
Search
➢Younger adults’ searches were more accurate and faster

➢Older participants were slower by approximately 300 milliseconds

when doing guided searches as compared with feature searches.

➢The most difficult search (conjunction search) led to activation in

the dorsal and ventral visual pathways as well as the prefrontal
cortex in both young and older adults.
Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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Neuroscience: Aging and Visual
Search
➢Although there was less activation in the right occipital cortex in older
adults, the activation was about the same in both age groups in the
prefrontal and superior parietal regions.

➢The more difficult a search task was, the more the occipito-temporal
cortex was activated in younger adults but not in older adults.

➢The older adults seem to have this brain region activated at a higher
level even during easier search tasks
Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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Selective Attention

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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Cocktail party problem
(Colin Cherry (1953, see also Bee & Micheyl, 2008)

Suppose you are at a dinner party. It is just your luck that you are
sitting next to a salesman. He sells 110 brands of vacuum cleaners.
He describes to you in excruciating detail the relative merits of each
brand. As you are listening to this talk, who happens to be on your
right, you become aware of the conversation of the two diners sitting
on your left. Their exchange is much more interesting. It contains
juicy information you had not known about one of your
acquaintances. You find yourself trying to keep up the semblance of
a conversation with the blabbermouth on your right, but you are
also tuning in to the dialogue on your left.
Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

PREPARED BY: KAREN JANN M. AQUINO, RN, RPM, MA IN PSYCHOLOGY (WITH SPECIALIZATION IN
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Cocktail party problem
(Colin Cherry (1953, see also Bee & Micheyl, 2008)

➢the process of tracking one conversation in the face

of the distraction of other conversations

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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In shadowing, you listen to two different messages.
Cherry presented a separate message to each ear, known as
dichotic presentation.

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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Three factors to selectively attend only to the
message of the target speaker:
[Link] sensory characteristics
of the target’s speech.
[Link] intensity (loudness)
[Link] of the sound source
Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

PREPARED BY: KAREN JANN M. AQUINO, RN, RPM, MA IN PSYCHOLOGY (WITH SPECIALIZATION IN
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Theories of Selective
Attention

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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Broadbent’s Model
➢sensory information sometimes may be noticed by an
unattended ear if it does not have to be processed
elaborately
➢information requiring higher perceptual processes is not
noticed if not attended to

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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Various mechanisms have been proposed suggesting a means by
which incoming sensory information passes through the attentional
system to reach high-level perceptual processes.

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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Selective Filter Model
➢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
Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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Attenuation Model
➢Instead of blocking stimuli out, the filter merely
weakens (attenuates) the strength of stimuli other
than the target stimulus.

➢When the stimuli reach us, we analyze them at a

low level for target properties like loudness and pitch.

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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Attenuation Model
➢We perceptually analyze the meaning of the stimuli
and their relevance to us, so that even a message
from the unattended ear that is supposedly irrelevant
can come into consciousness and influence our
subsequent actions if it has some meaning for us.

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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Late-Filter Model
➢Stimuli are filtered out only after they have been
analyzed for both their physical properties and their
meaning.

➢This later filtering would allow people to recognize

information entering the unattended ear.

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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According to some cognitive psychologists, the attentional
filtering mechanisms follow, rather than precede,
preliminary perceptual processes.

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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Divided Attention
Anytime you are
engaged in two or
more tasks at the same
time, your attention is
divided between those
tasks.

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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48
Main factors that resulted in accidents, with the
percentage of accidents for which each was
responsible (Warner, 2004)
➢rubbernecking (viewing accidents that have already occurred), 16%
➢driver fatigue, 12%;
➢looking at scenery or landmarks, 10%;
➢distractions caused by passengers or children, 9%;
➢adjusting a radio, tape, or CD player, 7%; and
➢cell phone use, 5%.

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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49
Factors That Influence Our Ability
to Pay Attention
ANXIETY AROUSAL
➢Being anxious, either by Your overall state of arousal affects attention as
nature (trait-based anxiety) or well.
by situation (state-based
anxiety), places constraints on You may be tired, drowsy, or drugged, which
attention (Eysenck & Byrne, may limit attention.
1992; Reinholdt-Dunne et al., Being excited sometimes enhances attention
2009). (MacLean et al., 2009).

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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50
Factors That Influence Our Ability
to Pay Attention
TASK DIFFICULTY SKILLS
➢If you are working on a task that is very ➢The more practiced and skilled you are in
difficult or novel for you, you’ll need more performing a task, the more your attention is
attentional resources than when you work on enhanced (Spelke, Hirst, & Neisser, 1976).
an easy or highly familiar task.

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Neuroscience and
Attention: A
Network Model

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They found that what at first seemed like an unclear pattern of activation could be
effectively organized into areas associated with the three subfunctions of attention:
alerting, orienting, and executive attention.
EXECUTIVE
ALERTING ORIENTING ATTENTION
➢is defined as ➢is defined as ➢includes processes for
monitoring and
being prepared the selection of resolving conflicts that
to attend to stimuli to arise among internal
processes.
some incoming attend to. ➢These processes
event and include thoughts,
maintaining this feelings, and
responses.
attention. Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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Intelligence and
Attention

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54
Planning, Attention, and Simultaneous–Successive
Process Model of Human Cognition (PASS)
(Das, Naglieri, & Kirby, 1994; see also Davidson & Kemp, 2010).

➢There are three distinct processing units and each is

associated with specific areas of the brain:

➢arousal and attention

➢is primarily attributed to the brainstem, diencephalon, and medial cortical regions
of the brain. arousal is an essential antecedent to selective and divided attention.

➢simultaneous and successive processing

➢planning
Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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55
 Inspection Time
➢the amount of time it takes you to
inspect items and make a decision
about them
(Gregory, Nettelbeck & Wilson, 2009; Neubauer & Fink, 2005).

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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Reaction Time
➢a measure of the quickness with
which an organism responds to
some sort of stimulus

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When Our Attention
Fails Us

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Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder (ADHD)
➢have difficulties in ➢children with ADHD
focusing their attention exhibit slower and more
in ways that enable them variable reaction times
to adapt in optimal ways than their siblings who
to their environment (Attention are not affected by the
deficit hyperactivity disorder, 2009; see also Swanson et al., 2003)
disorder (Andreou, 2007).
➢was first described by
Dr. Heinrich Hoffman in
1845
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Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder (ADHD)
The three primary symptoms
✓inattention
✓hyperactivity
✓impulsiveness

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Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder (ADHD)
There are three main types of ADHD, depending on
which symptoms are predominant:
❑hyperactive-impulsive
❑Inattentive
❑a combination of hyperactive-impulsive and
inattentive behavior
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Children with the inattentive type of
ADHD show several distinctive symptoms:
✓They are easily distracted by ✓They often fail to read
irrelevant sights and sounds. instructions completely or
carefully.
✓They often fail to pay attention to
details. ✓They are susceptible to forgetting
or losing things they need for
tasks, such as pencils or books.
✓They are susceptible to making
careless mistakes in their work.
✓They tend to jump from one
incomplete task to another.

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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Change Blindness and
Inattentional Blindness
CHANGE BLINDNESS INATTENTIONAL BLINDNESS
➢an inability to detect a phenomenon in
changes in objects or which people are not
scenes that are being able to see things that
viewed (Galpin et al., 2009; O’Regan, are actually there (Bressan &
2003). Pizzighello, 2008)

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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Spatial Neglect/Hemi-neglect
—One Half of the World Goes Amiss
➢It is an attentional dysfunction Figure 4.14 Drawing by a Person with
Hemispatial Neglect. This drawing is
in which participants ignore the from a patient who is suffering from
half of their visual field that is neglect. As you can see, he ignores part
contralateral to (on the opposite of the clock.
side of) the hemisphere of the
brain that has a lesion.
➢It is a result mainly of unilateral
lesions in the parietal and frontal
lobes, most often in the right
hemisphere.

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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Dealing with an
Overwhelming
World—Habituation
and Adaptation

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Habituation
➢involves our becoming accustomed to a
stimulus so that we gradually pay less and less
attention to it.
➢The counterpart is dishabituation (a change in
a familiar stimulus prompts us to start noticing
the stimulus again. Both processes occur
automatically)
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Sensory Adaptation
➢lessening of attention to a stimulus that is
not subject to conscious control.
➢It occurs directly in the sense organ, not in
the brain.

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Table 4.3 Differences between Sensory
Adaptation and Habituation

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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Automatic and
Controlled Processes
in Attention

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Automatic processes
➢involve no conscious control (Palmeri, 2003).
➢For the most part, they are performed without
conscious awareness.

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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Controlled processes
➢are accessible to conscious control and even require
it.
➢Such processes are performed serially, for example,
when you want to compute the total cost of a trip
you are about to book online.
➢occur sequentially, one step at a time.
➢They take a relatively long time to execute
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Three attributes
characterize
automatic processes
(Posner & Snyder, 1975).
✓ F IR ST, TH EY AR E CON CEALED F R OM CO N SCIO USN ESS.
✓ SECO N D, TH EY AR E UN IN TEN TIO N AL.
✓ TH IR D, TH EY CO N SUM E F EW ATTEN TIO N AL R ESO UR CES.

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Table 4.4
Controlled
versus
Automatic
Processes

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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How Does
Automatization
Occur?

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Instance theory
➢has been proposed by Logan (1988)
➢Logan suggested that automatization
occurs because we gradually accumulate
knowledge about specific responses to
specific stimuli.

Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K. & Mio, J. (2012). Cognitive Psychology. 6th edition. USA: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

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Consciousness

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How conscious are we of our
complex mental processes?
➢people have quite good access to their
complex mental processes

➢people may think they know how they solve

complex problems, but their thoughts are
frequently erroneous
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Preconscious
Processing
INFORMATION THAT CURRENTLY IS OUTSIDE OUR CONSCIOUS
AWARENESS STILL MAY BE AVAILABLE TO CONSCIOUSNESS OR AT
LEAST TO COGNITIVE PROCESSES

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Priming
Participants are presented with a first stimulus (the prime),
followed by a break that can range from milliseconds to
weeks or months. Then, the participants are presented with
a second stimulus and make a judgment (e.g., are both the
first and the second stimulus the same?) to see whether the
presentation of the first stimulus affected the perception of
the second (Neely, 2003).

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The Tip-of-the-Tongue
Phenomenon
➢you try to remember
something that is stored in
memory but that cannot readily
be retrieved.
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