PSYC10006 Chap.5 Attention, Saccades and the Binding Problem
Attention, Saccades and the Binding Problem
A visual scene contains far more than can be processed at once, and attention is how that mismatch is resolved: some of the input is processed preferentially and the rest is processed less. The definition is symmetrical on purpose, because the failures later in the module are cases where the unattended part is simply not seen.
Along the way the module separates where the eyes are from where attention is, describes inspection as a series of stops rather than a sweep, and shows that attention does more than speed responses: it changes how things look, and it determines whether they are seen at all. The chapter closes on a structural problem.
Different attributes of an object are computed in different places, so something has to make them attributes of the same object, and attending to one location at a time is the answer the module gives.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Attention defined symmetrically: some input processed better because other input is not
- 02
Overt against covert attention, and why eye position only indexes one of them
- 03
Fixations and saccades, and why the visual world does not lurch during a movement
- 04
Eye tracking as a proxy, and the assumption it carries
- 05
Three effects of attention, in order of how strong a claim each one is
- 06
The cueing design: one trial, one manipulation, one measurement
- 07
Why the three trial types are deliberately unequal in frequency
- 08
Inattentional blindness against change blindness, separated by what the experimenter did
- 09
Why hiding a change behind a disruption converts detection into comparison
- 10
Separate processing of attributes, and the binding problem it creates
- 11
Feature integration by attending one location, and illusory conjunctions as its prediction
- 12
Feature against conjunction search, and the slope that separates them
Classify a search task and predict its signature
- 1List the target's attributes and check each against the distractors. In line A a single attribute is unique to the target; in line B neither attribute is unique and only the combination is.
- 1Classify. Line A is a feature search and line B is a conjunction search. Note that the trays can look equally cluttered: what decides the classification is the relationship between target and distractors, not the number of items.
- 1Predict line A. Search time stays roughly flat as items are added, because a unique feature is detected without attention having to be moved.
- 1Predict line B. Search time rises with the number of items, because attention must be directed to objects in turn for their features to be bound. The slope estimates the cost per additional item, which is more informative than an average time.
- 1Name the disconfirming result. A conjunction search whose time stayed flat as items were added would mean the combination was available without attention being moved, which is the one thing the account rules out.
Key terms
- Covert attention
- Attending to something without directing the eyes at it. Its existence is why eye position indexes attention only under an assumption, and why an absent fixation does not establish that something was unattended.
- Saccadic suppression
- The brief switching off of vision during a rapid eye movement, which is why the world does not appear to lurch several times a second. The module gives its function and not its mechanism.
- Change blindness
- Failing to notice a change to an object because the change was hidden behind a disruption such as a cut or a flicker. Noticing depends on the object having been attended beforehand, so that a representation exists to compare against.
- Illusory conjunction
- Perceiving a feature of one object as belonging to another. It is evidence rather than ordinary error because the features themselves are reported accurately and only their pairing is wrong.
- Conjunction search
- A search in which the target shares each of its attributes with some distractor and differs only in how they combine. Its time rises with display size, because attention must move from object to object.
Attention, Saccades and the Binding Problem FAQ
How do I tell inattentional blindness from change blindness?
Ask what the experimenter hid. If a change was concealed behind a cut, a flicker or an occlusion, it is change blindness. If nothing was hidden and you were simply given a demanding task while something else was present, it is inattentional blindness. That test works on unfamiliar demonstrations.
Why does the cueing task use unequal numbers of valid and invalid trials?
Because a cue that is right most of the time gives participants a reason to use it. With equal valid and invalid trials the cue carries no information, nobody would shift attention, and the task would measure nothing. The imbalance is part of the design rather than a flaw in it.
Can I quote reaction times from the cueing study?
No. The subject gives the ordering of the three conditions and nothing else: no reaction times, no participant numbers, no difference scores appear anywhere. Describe valid trials as fastest, invalid as slowest and neutral in between, and do not attach milliseconds to any of them.
What makes illusory conjunctions evidence rather than just mistakes?
The control. Observers report the colours and the letters accurately and get only the pairing wrong, so the errors are specifically recombinations. Without that detail the result is indistinguishable from ordinary error under a brief display, which is why any answer citing it should include it.
Assessment move
Separate gaze from attention on the first pass and keep them separate, because several items in this area are built on treating an eye-tracking record as a direct measure of what was processed. Learn the three effects of attention in the module's order and notice that each is a larger claim than the last, since a question may ask which effect a described finding demonstrates.
For the two failures, drill the identification rule rather than the demonstrations: ask what was hidden. In the search material, practise classifying displays you have not seen by checking whether any single attribute is unique to the target, and be able to state the flat and rising predictions with the reason attached.
Finally, rehearse the control in the illusory conjunction result, because that one clause is the difference between describing an error and reporting evidence.
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