PSYCH 1X03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Dazed, Visual Search, Stroop Effect
28 Nov 2016
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Document Summary
Without the ability to focus your limited processings resources you would not be able to carry on a conversation, enjoy music, understand a joke, or learn new things. Operational definitions are necessary for testing cognitive models. Study of attention studies a wide range of concepts. Definition: the act of attending to an object to select it apart from the unattended objects. Attention is an active process, you are actively selecting where to focus your attention. When irrelevant information overwhelms us, we get distracted. Automatic processes: involuntary capture - fast, efficient. Salient information is information that seems to automatically pop out at you. Consciously effortful tasks can become automatic through practice. Controlled processes: conscious attention - slow, effortful. Our attentional resources are limited and must be controlled carefully. E. g. turning the radio down when looking for an address. Conscious visual attention focuses like a spotlight. Objects within your spotlight are more strongly attended to.
