PSYC 317 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Saccade, Time Point, Parietal Lobe

• School: George Mason University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 317
• Professor: Wiese

Document Summary

Process of concentrating on specific features of the environment. Focusing on specific features leads to exclusion of others. Has a large effect on what we are aware of. Makes us focus on some things to the exclusion of others. Can be selective for one feature or divided among multiple features. Has effects on other cognitive functions attention and other cognitive functions. Perception: paying attention to something increases chances for perception. Memory: things that are attended to are remembered better. Language: reading cannot occur without paying attention to letters. Problem solving: success is determined by what feature captures attention selective attention-ability to attend to one feature and ignore another; competing features. One message is presented to the left ear and another message to the right ear. Participants are instructed to pay attention to one message, ignore the other, and repeat the attended message. Shadowing is used to ensure that the participants focus attention on attended message.