Attention: Cognitive Influences

In 1880, William James famously defined attention as the mind taking possession of one out of several simultaneously possible objects or train of thoughts. The modern study of attention continues to work within this broad definition. It is generally accepted that an individual is only aware of a small fraction of the information provided to the brain by the sensory systems. Attention is the name given to the process that governs which material enters awareness and which does not. This entry focuses on how cognitive factors—goals and expectations of an observer—influence visual attention.

Whether a given stimulus is attended depends both on its inherent salience and the state of the observer. The interplay between these two factors is exemplified by the following two situations: (1) Imagine searching for a friend in a crowd. As one searches through the crowd, attention may be captured by elements that are inherently salient, for instance, a person in a red coat among people in black coats, or by dynamic cues such as a person running. However, where one looks in the crowd also depends on one's knowledge. So, if the friend is known to be wearing a black coat and a blue hat, attention may be less likely to be captured by an otherwise salient red coat, but perhaps be misdirected to a blue coat as one searches for anything blue in the crowd. (2) Imagine walking by a golf course and worrying about being hit by a golf ball. Although it is likely that a quickly moving white thing in one's visual field will be noticed under most circumstances, the act of walking by a golf course and worrying about being hit by a golf ball may lower the threshold for detecting quickly moving white things. Directing one's attention to blue things because blue is currently relevant and increasing sensitivity to detecting moving white things are instances of cognitive influences on attention. Traditional accounts of attention have placed little emphasis on such influences in comparison with factors that were thought to automatically capture attention (e.g., a red thing among black things). However, it can be argued that the purpose of visual attention is the selection of information most relevant to a present goal. Hence, the effects of goals, expectations, recent history, and even emotions on visual attention have become an area of active research.