Attention and Cognition Functions
Attention and Cognition Functions
How to Define the Concept of Attention
Attention can be defined as one of the cognitive processes through which selective concentration is offered to one aspect within one’s environment, whilst ignoring other aspects. Alternatively, attention as a process can be defined as the allocating process through which processing resources are allocated. Attention is a limited resource which can only be directed to one thing in one particular instance. Attention can be related to a spotlight that focuses on one area at a time. Attention as a process is also considered flexible; in that people are able to change from modes of initial attention to (i.e. the processing of incoming stimuli’s physical characteristics only) to modes of late attention (i.e. the processing of incoming stimuli’s meaning). Every person has control of the manner in which they would wish incoming information to be processed, by selectively choosing the type of information they want processed. This selectivity utilizes the late and early filter mechanisms. In depth studies of the concept of attention reveal that attention can be split to some level.
However, the level to which attention can be split is limited. The first type of attention that is analogized to a single beam is termed as selective attention, whereas the splitting of the beam is analogized to the divided attention-which is limited due to processing capacity. The movement of the spotlight may also be compared to the movement of attention, which is not limited by distance, but however it is able to shift focus from one object to another in different localities (Laureys, 2006). Therefore, attention can be defined as a systematic process via which received stimuli and sensations are selected and continuously put through the cognitive process to create awareness. A bigger part of the processing takes place on characteristics of the physically perceived stimuli, but the process of attention takes sole control of determining meanings or semantics and persistently creates a state of awareness.
Can attention be consciously allocated to tasks? Why or why not?
Allocating attention is one of the tasks that people can explicitly control. A person is able to allocate attention to more than two tasks at one instance. However, this is only possible if the sensory paths do not conflict. This is only possible when the sensory paths used in the multiple tasks utilize different sensory paths for their inputs and outputs. The repetitive act of exposing the process of attention and concentration to single stimuli elicits Automaticity-a self perpetuating tendency. In such cases the occurrence of Automaticity overrides the conscious control of attention, because cognitive control becomes an automated process directing attention involuntarily. The control of attention is also influenced by the inhibition of return principle. This principle states that attention has a tendency to limit re-visitation of any recently examined subjects or objects. This could be the reason behind occurrence of boredom.
Humans are also susceptible to external attention control which is elicited by stimuli that they would wish to ignore. For example a studying student’s attention may be distracted if there is music playing in a nearby place. In these instances his/her attention is drawn to the music as an external stimulus which takes over his/her conscious control of attention. Therefore, the brain operates on the basis of two opposing types of mechanisms. The operating mechanism always seeks the content that a person would wish to focus his/her attention on, whereas the monitoring process seeks content that a person would not wish to focus attention on (Moloche, Laibson & Gabaix, 2003). The mechanisms serve to further and terminate some areas of attention focus, respectively. Conclusively, it can be said that attention allocation can both be consciously done at some instances and it cannot be done at some instances.
The relationship between attention and cognition
Attention can be defined as one of the cognitive processes through which selective concentration is offered to one aspect within one’s environment, whilst ignoring other aspects. On the other hand, cognition is defined as a mental process which knowledge is acquired and it includes aspects such as perception, awareness, judgment and reasoning. In actual sense all neurons within the neurological system experience a period in which they do not respond after they have fired. Therefore, it is sensible to say that cognition comes before attention, and as such they are interrelated. This is a fact, because ones the neurons have been fired by received stimuli, there is a refractory period within which the neurons cannot be fired again. Therefore, a short time has to elapse before they can be fired to initiate the cognition process. This phenomenon can also be highlighted with respect to attention; in that, after a response is selected, it is impossible to choose another alternative response before the first choice is effected (Laureys, 2006). This explains the fact that there are three recognizable cognitive steps (perception of stimuli, selection of response and production of response).
The response selection cognitive step slows the whole cognitive process because actions have to chosen from a list to be considered. As a result, the psychological refractory or slow down period is created (Moloche, Laibson & Gabaix, 2003). A structural explanation based on the functioning of the brain postulates that cognition processes which use common cortical brain structures compete for processing, thereby limiting attention capability. This also explains the reason why two stimuli occurring microseconds apart cannot be easily recognized at one go.
References
Laureys, S. (2006). The Boundaries of Consciousness: Neurobiology and neuropathology, Elsevier Publishers.
Moloche, G., Laibson, I. D., and Gabaix, X. (2003). The Allocation of Attention: Theory and evidence. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Economics.
Is this your assignment or some part of it?
We can do it for you! Click to Order!
