Attention as a Limited Capacity Resource Chapter 8 Attention as a Limited Capacity Resource

Attention and Multiple Task Performance Attention refers to engagement in the perceptual, cognitive, and motor activities Associated with motor activities (i.e., performing skills) Activities may be performed consciously or non-consciously Scientists have concluded that attention limits influence performance

Attention Theories Filter Theory, a.k.a. bottle neck theory, proposed a person has difficult doing several things at one time Alternative Theory proposed attention limits were the result of the limited availability of resources Theories emphasizing attentional resource limits: proposed multiple tasks can be performed as long as the resource capacity limits of the system are not exceeded

Attention Theories, cont’d Central Resource Capacity Theories: attention-capacity theories that propose one central source of attention resources for which all activities requiring attention compete Kahneman (1973) stated his model showed capacity limits of the central pool are flexible (Figure 8.3 “Kahneman’s Model of Attention”)

Attention Theories, cont’d Central Resource Capacity Theories (cont’d) Person gives a pool of effort upon activities to carry this out Sufficient attentional resources are necessary

Attention Theories, cont’d Central Resource Capacity Theories (cont’d) Three rules influence how people allocate attention resources: enduring dispositions meaningfulness of the event (a.k.a. cocktail party phenomenon) Momentary intentions

Multiple Resource Theories Provides an alternative to theories proposed a central resource pool of attention resources Contends we have several attention mechanisms with limited resources

Multiple Resource Theories, cont’d Wickens (1980, 1992) proposed three sources for processing information Input and output modalities Stages of information processing Codes of processing information

Procedures for Assessing Attention Demands Dual-task procedure determine the attention demands and characteristics of the simultaneous performance of two different tasks Primary task is the task of interest Secondary task performance is the basis to make inferences about the attention demands of the primary task

Focusing Attention Attentional focus: directing attention to specific characteristics in a performance environment or to action-preparation activity Width indicates focus to be broad or narrow Direction indicates attention of focus to be external or internal Attention switching can occur to achieve successful performance and can have advantages and disadvantages, depending on the activity

Attention and Automaticity Indicates that a person performs a skill or engages in certain information-processing activities without requiring attention resources Practice plays a role with this concept However, attention is given to parts of a routine that is considered difficult

Visual Selective Attention Role of vision in motor skill performance in directing visual attention to environmental information that influences the preparation and/or performance of an action Visual search is the process of directing visual attention to locate relevant information in the environment that will allow the skill to be performed in a specific manner to the situation

Visual Selective Attention, cont’d Three procedures have been used to investigate this: Temporal occlusion of video/film Spatial, or event, occlusion of video/film Eye-movement recordings

How We Select Visual Cues? Visual search and intended actions Feature integration theory: how people visually select and attend to certain cues while ignoring others during the performance Visual search and action preparation Action selection Constraining of the selected action Timing of action initiation

Attention as a Limited Capacity Resource Chapter 8 Attention as a Limited Capacity Resource