Module-II

Attention Process
• SELECTIVE AND SUSTAINED ATTENTION NATURE AND DETERMINANTS
• PERCEPTUAL PROCESS NATURE AND DETERMINANTS
• PERCEPTUAL ORGANIZATION
• PERCEPTUAL ILLUSIONS
Introduction
• Human beings understand the world through sensation, attention,
and perception, which together form the core of cognition. Sensation
registers raw information, attention selects it, and perception gives it
meaning.
Knowing the world
• We live in a world filled with objects, people, and events.
Our sense organs allow us to register sizes, shapes, colors, sounds,
smell, taste, touch, and bodily sensations. They collect information
from both the external world and our internal body.
NATURE AND VARIETIES OF STIMULUS
• We receive different types of stimuli:
• Visual (light, color)
• Auditory (sound)
• Olfactory (smell)
• Gustatory (taste)
• Tactile (touch — warm, cold, pressure, pain)
• Kinesthetic (body movement)
• Vestibular (balance / spatial orientation)
• Human beings have seven sensory systems that register ten types of
stimuli.
SENSE MODALITIES
a)Sensation
• The initial experience caused by stimulation of a sensory organ.
• Produces basic qualities like loud, warm, blue, hard.
• b) Functional Limitations
• Sense organs respond only to a limited range of stimuli.
• A stimulus must have a minimum intensity to be detected.
• C) Absolute Threshold: Minimum intensity of a stimulus needed to be
detected 50% of the time. Example: minimum sugar granules needed
to taste sweetness.
• D) Difference Threshold (DL): Minimum difference required to notice
that two stimuli are different 50% of the time.
Example: additional sugar needed to detect a difference in
sweetness.
ATTENTIONAL PROCESSES
• Attention = selecting, concentrating, and allocating mental effort
toward certain stimuli.
It includes:
• Alertness (readiness)
• Concentration (focusing while ignoring irrelevant stimuli)
• Search (looking for specific targets)
Types OF Attention
[Link] Attention
Choosing certain stimuli from many.
Factors Affecting Selective Attention
External Factors
•Size
•Intensity
•Movement
•Novelty & complexity
•Human faces attract attention more easily
•Rhythmic sounds attract more attention than verbal narration
Internal Factors
•Motivation (needs) – hungry person notices food smell quickly
•Interests
•Attitudes
•Preparatory set (readiness to respond in a particular way
Selective Attention
• Selective attention is concerned mainly with the selection of a limited
number of stimuli or objects from a large number of stimuli.
• We have already indicated that our perceptual system has a limited
capacity to receive and process information.
• This means that it can deal only with a few stimuli at a given moment
of time. The question is, which of those stimuli will get selected and
processed? Psychologists have identified a number of factors that
determine the selection of stimuli.
Factors Affecting Selective Attention
• External factors are related to the features of stimuli. Other things held
constant, the size, intensity, and motion of stimuli appear to be important
determinants of attention.
• Large bright, and moving stimuli easily catch our attention.
• Stimuli, which are novel and moderately complex, also easily get into our
focus.
• Studies indicate that human photographs are more likely to be attended
to than the photographs of inanimate objects.
• Similarly, rhythmic auditory stimuli are more readily attended to than
verbal narrations. Sudden and intense stimuli have a wonderful capacity to
draw attention.
• Internal factors lie within the individual.
• These may be divided into two main categories, viz. motivational factors
and cognitive factors.
• Motivational factors relate to our biological or social needs. When we are
hungry, we notice even a faint smell of food. A student taking an
examination is likely to focus on a teacher’s instructions more than other
students.
• Cognitive factors include factors like interest, attitude, and preparatory
set. Objects or events, which appear interesting, are readily attended by
individuals.
• Similarly we pay quick attention to certain objects or events to which we
are favorably disposed. Preparatory set generates a mental state to act in a
certain way and readiness of the individual to respond to one kind of
stimuli and not to others.
Theories of Selective Attention
• 1. Broadbent’s Filter Theory (1956)
• Filter theory was developed by Broadbent (1956). According to this
theory, many stimuli simultaneously enter our receptors creating a
kind of “bottleneck” situation. Moving through the short-term
memory system, they enter the selective filter, which allows only one
stimulus to pass through for higher levels of processing. Other stimuli
are screened out at that moment of time. Thus, we become aware of
only that stimulus, which gets access through the selective filter.
Filter Attenuation Theory ( Triesman’s
(1962)
• Filter-attenuation theory was developed by Triesman (1962) by
modifying Broadbent’s theory. This theory proposes that the stimuli
not getting access to the selective filter at a given moment of time
are not completely blocked. The filter only attenuates (weakens) their
strength. Thus some stimuli manage to escape through the selective
filter to reach higher levels of processing. It is indicated that
personally relevant stimuli (e.g., one’s name in a collective dinner)
can be noticed even at a very low level of sound. Such stimuli, even
though fairly weak, may also generate response occasionally by
slipping through the selective filter.
3. Multimode Theory (Johnston & Heinz, 1978)
• Multimode theory was developed by Johnston and Heinz (1978). This
theory believes that attention is a flexible system that allows selection
of a stimulus over others at three stages.
• At stage one the sensory representations (e.g., visual images) of
stimuli are constructed;
• at stage two the semantic representations (e.g., names of objects) are
constructed;
• and at stage three the sensory and semantic representations enter the
• consciousness. It is also suggested that more processing requires
more mental effort. When the messages are selected on the basis of
stage one processing (early selection), less mental effort is required
than when the selection is based on stage three processing (late
selection).
[Link] Attention
• Ability to perform multiple tasks simultaneously.
Possible only when tasks are:
• Highly practiced
• Automatic
Automatic processes:
(i) No intention
(ii) Unconscious
(iii) Require little mental effort
 Divided Attention
• In day-to-day life we attend to several things at the same time. You
must have seen people driving a car and talking to a friend, or
attending to phone calls on a mobile set, or putting on sunglasses, or
listening to music.
• If we watch them closely, we will notice that they are still allocating
more effort to driving than to other activities, even though some
attention is given to other activities.
• It indicates that on certain occasions attention can be allocated to
more than one thing at the same time.
• However, this becomes possible only with highly practiced activities,
because they become almost automatic and require less attention to
perform than new or slightly practiced activities.
• Automatic processing has three main characteristics;
• (i) It occurs without intention,
• (ii) It takes place unconsciously, and
• (iii) It involves very little (or no) thought processes (e.g., we can read
words or tie our shoelaces without giving any thought to these
activities).
[Link] Attention (Vigilance)
• While selective attention is mainly concerned with the selection of stimuli,
sustained attention is concerned with concentration.
• It refers to our ability to maintain attention on an object or event for
longer durations.
• It is also known as “vigilance”.
• Sometimes people have to concentrate on a particular task for many
hours.
• Air traffic controllers and radar readers provide us with good examples of
this phenomenon.
• They have to constantly watch and monitor signals on screens.
• The occurrence of signals in such situations is usually unpredictable, and
errors in detecting signals may be fatal. Hence, a great deal of vigilance is
required in those situations.
Factor influencing Sustained Attention
• Several factors can facilitate or inhibit an individual’s performance on tasks
of sustained attention.
• Sensory modality is one of them. Performance is found to be superior
when the stimuli (called signals) are auditory than when they are visual.
• Clarity of stimuli is another factor. Intense and long- lasting stimuli
facilitate sustained attention and result in better performance.
• Temporal uncertainty is a third factor. When stimuli appear at regular
intervals of time, they are attended better than when they appear at
irregular intervals.
• Spatial uncertainty is a fourth factor. Stimuli that appear at a fixed place
are readily attended, whereas those that appear at random locations are
difficult to attend.
• Span of Attention
• Amount of information that can be grasped in a single brief
exposure.
• Typical span: 7 ± 2 units (Miller’s magic number)
• Used in designing number plates, etc.
Span of Attention
• Our attention has a limited capacity to receive stimuli. The number of objects one can
attend to at a brief exposure (i.e. a fraction of a second) is called “span of attention” or
“perceptual span”.
• More specifically, the span of attention refers to the amount of information an observer
can grasp from a complex array of stimuli at a single momentary exposure.
• This can be determined by the use of an instrument, called “tachistoscope”.
• On the basis of several experiments, Miller has reported that our span of attention varies
within the limit of seven plus or minus two. This is popularly known as the “magic
number”.
• It means that at a time, people can attend to a set of five to seven numbers, which can be
extended to nine or more under exceptional conditions.
• That is perhaps the reason why motorbikes or cars are given a number plate that contains
only four -digit numbers with some alphabets. In case of violation of driving rules, a
traffic police can easily read and note these numbers along with the alphabets.
PERCEPTUAL PROCESSES
• The process by which we recognize, interpret or give meaning to the
information provided by sense organs is called perception.
• so, we give meaning to stimuli by using our learning, memory,
motivation, emotions, and other psychological processes.
• Thus perception is not merely an interpretation of objects or events
of the external or internal world as they exist, instead it is also a
construction of those objects and events from one’s own point of
view.
Processing Approaches
[Link]-up Processing
• The idea that recognition process begins from the parts, which serve
as the basis for the recognition of the whole is known as bottom-up
processing.
• The bottom-up approach lays emphasis on the features of stimuli in
perception, and considers perception as a process of mental
construction.
• Top- Down Processing
• The notion that recognition process begins from the whole, which
leads to identification of its various components is known as top-
down processing.
• The top down approach lays emphasis on the perceiver, and
considers perception as a process of recognition or identification of
stimuli. Studies show that in perception both the processes interact
with each other to provide us with an understanding of the world
 THE PERCEIVER

1 Motivation
Needs/desires influence perception.
Hungry people interpret ambiguous pictures as food.

2 Cultural Background
Culture shapes:
•Object recognition
•Depth interpretation
•Color categories
Example: Eskimos distinguish many types of snow; Siberian tribes
differentiate reindeer skin colors.
• Different experiences and learning opportunities available to people
in different cultural settings also influence their perception. People
coming from a pictureless environment fail to recognise objects in
pictures. Hudson studied the perception of pictures by African
subjects, and noted several difficulties. Many of them were unable to
identify objects depicted in pictures (e.g., antelope, spear). They also
failed to perceive distance in pictures, and interpreted pictures
incorrectly. Eskimos have been found to make fine distinction among
a variety of snow that we may be unable to notice. Some aboriginal
groups of Siberian region have been found to differentiate among
dozens of skin colours of reindeers, which we would not be able to
do.
[Link] / Perceptual Set
• We tend to perceive what we expect.
• The expectations about what we might perceive in a given situation
also influence our perception. This phenomenon of perceptual
familiarization or perceptual generalization reflects a strong tendency
to see what we expect to see even when the results do not accurately
reflect external reality.
Example: At 5:30 AM a knock is perceived as the milkman.
4. Cognitive Styles
• Field-dependent: Field dependent people perceive the external world
in its totality, i.e. in a global or holistic manner
• Field-independent: field independent people perceive the external
world by breaking it into smaller units, i.e. in an analytic or
differentiated manner.
PRINCIPLES OF PERCEPTUAL ORGANISATION
(Gestalt Laws)

• The process of organizing visual field into meaningful wholes is

known as form perception.
• Gestalt psychologists. Prominent among them are Köhler, Koffka, and
Wertheimer. Gestalt means a regular figure or a form. According to
Gestalt psychologists, we perceive different stimuli not as discrete
elements, but as an organized “whole” that carries a definite form.
They believe that the form of an object lies in its whole, which is
different from the sum of their parts. For example, a flower pot with
a bunch of flowers is a whole.
• The Gestalt psychologists also indicate that our cerebral processes are
always oriented towards the perception of a good figure or pragnanz.
That is the reason why we perceive everything in an organized form.
The most primitive organization takes place in the form of figure-
ground segregation.
• Figure–Ground Segregation
• When we look at a surface, certain aspects of the surface clearly stand
out as separate entities, whereas others do not. For example, when we
see words on a page, or a painting on a wall, or birds flying in the sky,
the words, the painting, and the birds stand out from the background,
and are perceived as figures, while the page, wall, and sky stay behind
the figure and are perceived as background.
• To test this experience, look at the Fig.4.3 given below. You will see either
the white part of the figure, which looks like a vase (flower pot), or the
black part of the figure, which looks like two faces. We distinguish figure
from the ground on the basis of the following characteristics:
• 1. Figure has a definite form, while the background is relatively formless.
• 2. Figure is more organised as compared to its background.
• 3. Figure has a clear contour (outline), while the background is contourless.
4. Figure stands out from the background, while the background stays
behind the figure.
• 5. Figure appears more clear, limited, and relatively nearer, while the
background appears relatively unclear, unlimited, and away from us.
Gestalt Principles
• Proximity – close objects grouped together
• Similarity – similar items seen as a group
• Continuity – smooth, continuous patterns preferred
• Closure – fill gaps to perceive whole
• Smallness – smaller regions seen as figure
• Symmetry – symmetrical shapes seen as figures
• Surroundedness – surrounded area = figure
• The Principle of Proximity
• The Objects that are close together in space or time are perceived as
belonging together or as a group. For example, Fig. does not look like
a square pattern of dots, but as a series of columns of dots. Similarly,
also looks like a group of dots together in rows.
• The Principle of Similarity
• The Objects that are similar to one another and have similar
characteristics are perceived as a group. In Fig.4.5 the little circles and
squares are evenly spaced both horizontally and vertically so that the
proximity does not come into play. Instead, we tend to see
alternating columns of circles and squares.
• The Principle of Continuity
• This principle states that we tend to perceive objects as belonging
together if they appear to form a continuous pattern. For instance, we
are more likely to identify two lines a-b and c d crossing than to
identify four lines meeting at the center p.
• The Principle of Smallness
• According to this principle, smaller areas tend to be seen as figures
against a larger background. In Fig.4.7 we are more likely to see a
black cross rather than a white cross within the circle because of this
principle.
The Principle of Symmetry
• This principle suggests that symmetrical areas tend to be seen as
figures against asymmetrical backgrounds. For example, in Fig.4.8 the
black areas are seen as figures (as they have symmetrical properties)
against their white asymmetrical background.
The Principle of Sur roundedness
• According to this principle, the areas surrounded by others tend to be
perceived as figures. For example, the image in Fig.4.9 looks like five
figures against the white background rather than the word ‘LIFT’.
• The Principle of Closure
• We tend to fill the gaps in stimulation and perceive the objects as
whole rather than their separate parts. For example, in Fig.4.10 the
small angles are seen as a triangle due to our tendency to fill the gaps
in the object provided by our sensory input.
DEPTH, SPACE & DISTANCE PERCEPTION

• The visual field or surface in which things exist, move or can be placed is
called space. The space in which we live is organized in three dimensions.
We perceive not only the spatial attributes (e.g., size, shape, direction) of
various objects, but also the distance between the objects found in this
space.
• While the images of objects projected on to our retina are flat and two
dimensional (left, right, up, down), we still perceive three dimensions in
the space. Why does it happen so? It occurs due to our ability to transfer a
two-dimensional retinal vision into a three-dimensional perception.
• The process of viewing the world in three dimensions is called distance or
depth perception.
• Depth perception is important in our daily life.
• For example, when we drive, we use depth to assess the distance of an
approaching automobile, or when we decide to call a person walking
down the street, we determine the loudness with which to call.
• In perceiving depth, we depend on two main sources of information,
called cues. One is called Binocular cues because they require both
eyes. Another is called monocular cues, because they allow us to
perceive depth with just one eye. A number of such cues are used to
change a two -dimensional image into a three-dimensional perception.
DEPTH, SPACE & DISTANCE PERCEPTION
• Despite 2D retinal image, we see the world in 3D.
Monocular (Psychological / Pictorial) Cues
• Relative size
• Interposition
• Linear perspective
• Aerial perspective
• Light & shade
• Relative height
• Texture gradient
• Accommodation
• Motion parallax (kinetic cue)
Monocular (Psychological / Pictorial) Cues
• Monocular cues of depth perception are effective when the objects
are viewed with only one eye. These cues are often used by artists to
induce depth in two dimensional paintings. Hence, they are also
known as pictorial cues. Some important monocular cues that help us
in judging the distance and depth in two dimensional surfaces are
described below. You will find some of them applied.
• Relative Size : The size of retinal image allows us to judge distance
based on our past and present experience with similar objects. As the
objects get away, the retinal image becomes smaller and smaller. We
tend to perceive an object farther away when it appears small, and
closer when it appears bigger.
• Interposition or Overlapping : These cues occur when some portion of
the object is covered by another object. The overlapped object is
considered farther away, whereas the object that covers it appears
nearer.
• Linear Perspective : This reflects a phenomenon by which distant
objects appear to be closer together than the nearer objects. For
example, parallel lines, such as rail tracks, appear to converge with
increasing distance with a vanishing point at the horizon. The more
the lines converge, the farther away they appear.
• Aerial Perspective : The air contains microscopic particles of dust and
moisture that make distant objects look hazy or blurry. This effect is
called aerial perspective. For example, distant mountains appear blue
due to the scattering of blue light in the atmosphere, whereas the
same mountains are perceived to be closer when the atmosphere is
clear.
• Light and Shade : In the light some parts of the object get highlighted,
whereas some parts become darker. Highlights and shadows provide
us with information about an object’s distance.
• Relative Height : Larger objects are perceived as being closer to the
viewer and smaller objects as being farther away. When we expect
two objects to be the same size and they are not, the larger of the
two will appear closer and the smaller will appear farther away.
• Texture Gradient : It represents a phenomenon by which the visual
field having more density of elements is seen farther away. In the
Fig.4.12 the density of stones increases as we look farther away.
• Motion Parallax : It is a kinetic monocular cue, and hence not
considered as a pictorial cue. It occurs when objects at different
distances move at a different relative speed. The distant objects
appear to move slowly than the objects that are close. The rate of an
object’s movement provides a cue to its distance. For example,
• when we travel in a bus, closer objects move “against” the direction
of the bus, whereas the farther objects move “with” the direction of
the bus
Binocular (Physiological) Cues
• Retinal disparity – difference between images in both eyes
• Convergence – inward turning of eyes for near objects
• Binocular vision allows strong depth perception
• PERCEPTUAL CONSTANCIES
• Perceiving objects as stable despite variations.
• Types
• Size constancy – size remains stable despite distance
• Shape constancy – shape stable despite angle of view
• Brightness constancy – color shades constant despite light difference
• ILLUSIONS
• Misperceptions caused by misinterpretation of sensory data.
• Types
• Geometrical illusions (e.g., Müller-Lyer, vertical-horizontal)
• Apparent movement (phi phenomenon) – basis of movies
Some illusions are universal, others are culture-specific.
• Geometrical Illusions :In Fig.4.13 the Muller-Lyer illusion has been
shown.
• All of us perceive line A as shorter than line B, although both the
lines are equal. This illusion is experienced even by children.
• There are some studies that suggest that even animals experience
this illusion more or less like us.
• Besides Muller-Lyer illusion, several other visual illusions are
experienced by human beings (also birds and animals).
• In Fig.4.14 you can see the illusion of vertical and horizontal lines.
Although both the lines are equal, we perceive the vertical line as
longer than the horizontal line.
Apparent Movement Illusion
• This illusion is experienced when some motionless pictures are
projected one after another at an appropriate rate. This illusion is
referred to as “phi-phenomenon”. When we see moving pictures in a
cinema show, we are influenced by this kind of illusion. The
succession of flickering electrical lights also generate this illusion. This
phenomenon can be experimentally studied with the help of an
instrument by presenting two or more lights in a succession. For the
experience of this illusion, Wertheimer had reported the presence of
appropriate level of brightness, size, spatial gap, and temporal
contiguity of different lights to be important.
• In the absence of these, the light points will not appear as moving.
They will appear either as one point, or as different points appearing
one after another, without any experience of motion.
SOCIO-CULTURAL INFLUENCES

Research shows illusions and pictorial perception vary across cultures.

Examples:
•Africans more susceptible to vertical-horizontal illusion
•Westerners more susceptible to Müller-Lyer illusion
(Segall, Campbell, Herskovits)
•Hudson’s studies: people with no picture exposure struggle with picture interpretation