Chapter – 4 Attention

Test yourself 4.1

1. How was the dichotic listening procedure used to determine how well people
can focus on the attended message and how much information can be taken in
from the unattended message? What is the cocktail party effect, and what does it
demonstrate?

Step 1 of 1
Selective attention occurs when a person focuses attention on one specific thing,
event, location or message overlooking all other things. It has been explained with
the help of dichotic listening procedure.

In this experiment, two different types of information are imparted to the two
ears simultaneously and the participants are asked to attend to the message of
one ear, ignoring the other by repeating aloud the message that is attended to as
they are hearing. This process of repeating a message aloud is called shadowing.
Shadowing shows that the participants are concentrating on the attended
message. Research evidence suggests that participants are generally able to
shadow the attended message quite easily, indicating their ability to selectively
attend to a particular message while ignoring the other.

In a classic dichotic listening experiment by Colin Cherry (1953), participants who

shadowed the attended message were asked to report the information that they
had received in the other ear. It was found that they could only report that a
message was present and could recognize its voice as masculine or feminine but
were not able to report the matter of the message, indicating their incapability to
focus attention to two different messages simultaneously. Thus Cherry’s
experiment demonstrated that a person can attend to just one message at a time,
leading to the conception of the early selection model of attention.

Cocktail party effect is an observable fact that a person who chooses to listen to a
particular message among a multitude of other messages inadvertently pays
attention to some distinguishing message that was not being paid attention to.
For example, cocktail party effect occurs, when one is talking to somebody in a
noisy room suddenly hears his name taken by somebody else in the room.
Cocktail party effect demonstrates that even though selective attention filters out
the unattended messages, they are not completely filtered out and can become
the focus of attention, if it contains any relevant distinct message. Thus cocktail
party effect disconfirms the idea that the content of the message that was not
being attended to should not be available to awareness rather, it is processed
enough to endow the listener with some understanding of its meaning.

2. Describe Broadbent's model of selective attention. Why is it called an early

selection model?

Answer:

Step 1 of 3
Many theories have been put forward to describe the process of selective
attention. Selective attention occurs when a limited number of stimuli or objects
are chosen from a large number of stimuli to receive adequate attention,
considering the limited capacity of a person’s perceptual system to receive and
process information.

Step 2 of 3
The theory proposed by Broadbent (1956) is called the filter model of selective
attention. This model suggests that several stimuli enter ones receptors
simultaneously, making a kind of “bottleneck” situation. Progressing through the
sensory memory system, where the incoming information is held for a fraction of
a second, they enter the selective filter, which allows only the attended message
based on its physical features like pitch, voice, and color to get through, for
advanced levels of processing.
All additional unattended messages or irrelevant stimuli are weeded out at that
time. The selected stimulus or the attended message then passes through the
detector for advanced level of processing of the message, such as understanding
its meaning. The detector then sends the attended information to the short term
memory, which holds it for ten to fifteen seconds, which is then transferred to the
long term memory, where it remains for an indefinite period.
Step 3 of 3
This model is called an early selection model because the filter restricts the flow
of large amount of information to the detector by selecting the attended message
very early on the basis of certain specific physical features of the information,
such as the speaker’s pitch, voice, tone or rate of speaking. Thus according to
Broadbent’s filter model, only that stimulus or message gets conscious
awareness, which manages to get through the selective filter.
3. What were the results ofexperiments by Moray (words in the unattended ear)
and Gray and Wedderburn ("Dear Aunt Jane")? Why are the results of these
experiments difficult to explain based on Broadbent's filter model of attention?

Answer:

Step 1 of 4
Following Broadbent’s filter model of attention, many experiments were
conducted to test its predictions about selective attention. It was found that some
of the predictions about selective attention were proved to be incorrect.

Step 2 of 4
Moray’s (1959) experiment revealed that in the dichotic listening experiment,
when listener’s name was presented to the unattended ear, it was detected
almost always by the participants, leading to the conception of the cocktail party
effect. The results of this study disconfirmed the idea that a person can attend to
just one message at a time revealing that it is possible to switch attention to the
unattended message when any distinct message, such as ones name is heard.
Thus, selective attention does not completely filters out the unattended messages
but becomes available to awareness when any distinguishing message is detected
in the unattended ear.

Step 3 of 4
Gray and Wedderburn’s experiment (1960) “Dear Aunt Jane” too revealed that
information presented to the unattended ear is not completely filtered out of the
consciousness, rather it is processed enough to present the person with some
understanding of its meaning.
In this experiment, participants were asked to shadow the message “Dear 7 Jane”
presented to left ear and ignore the message “9 Aunt 6” that is presented to right
ear. However, they explained hearing the message “Dear Aunt Jane”, switching to
unattended ear to take account of their meaning.
Thus, results of these experiments showed that contrary to Broadbent’ filter
model of attention, wherein the information presented to the unattended ear is
filtered out of consciousness very early in the process of selective attention, it is
shown that information can be processed at a later stage based mainly on their
meaning.

Step 4 of 4
Therefore, unattended messages do not completely get filtered out of awareness
at an early stage but can become the focus of attention based on its relevance
and meaning, disconfirming the idea of early selection model of selective
attention, wherein information in the unattended ear gets eliminated on the basis
of certain physical characteristics of the message.
That is why results of these experiments wherein unattended messages are
processed for their meaning are difficult to explain on the basis of Broadbent’s
filter model of attention.
4. Describe Treisman's attenuation model. First indicate why she proposed the
theory, then how she modified Broadbent's model to explain some results that
Broadbent's model couldn't explain.

Answer:

Step 1 of 2
The limitations of Broadbent’s model to explain certain phenomena, such as the
cocktail party effect gave rise to a new theory called the Filter attenuation theory
by Triesman (1962).
Filter-attenuation theory suggests that the information that is not gaining
entrance in to the selective filter at a certain point of time is not entirely blocked.
Only its strength gets weakened by the filter. Broadbent’s filter has been replaced
with an attenuator, which analyzes the incoming information with respect to its
physical characteristics as well as meaning, whichever is important to identify the
attended message. Thus, some incoming information manages to get through the
attenuator to attain advanced levels of processing.

Step 2 of 2
The dictionary unit analyzes the message in terms of the threshold of words for
being activated. For example, name of a person has a low threshold, so it will be
noticed without much difficulty than other unusual words or words that are
insignificant to the person and are not easily detected. It is revealed that
information that is personally significant, such as one’s own name can be
detected even at an extremely low intensity of sound. Such messages, although
quite feeble, may also produce response intermittently by getting through the
selective filter.
Thus, according to the filter attenuation theory, in addition to the attended
message, some parts of the weaker unattended message also get through higher
levels of processing depending on their threshold for being activated.
5. Describe MacKay’s “bank” experiment. Why does his result provide evidence
for late selection?

Answer:

Step 1 of 3
Unlike the early selection theories, results of Donald MacKay’s (1973) experiment
suggests that in selective attention, the selection of messages or information does
not happen till the time messages are processed enough so that their meaning is
ascertained.

Step 2 of 3
In the experiment, participants were presented with vague sentences which can
have more than one interpretation to the attended ear. For example, “Stones
were being thrown at the bank.” Here the word ‘bank’ can have two meanings,
either river bank or a financial organization. At the same time, biasing words such
as ‘river’ or ‘money’ were presented to the unattended ear. Later, they were
presented with pairs of statements involving the meaning of the biasing words
and were asked to determine which one was the closest in meaning to the one
they had heard. It was found that those who heard the biasing word ‘river’ were
more likely to choose the statement implying the meaning of the word ‘river’ in it.
For example, “Stones were being thrown at the river side yesterday.” Similarly it
was found that those who heard the ‘money’ were likely to choose the statement
implying the meaning of the word ‘money’ in it. For example, “Stones were being
thrown at the loan and savings association yesterday”.

Step 3 of 3
Thus, results revealed that the meaning of the words that are biased presented to
the unattended ear actually affected the participants’ choice indicating that the
unattended messages are not completely screened out rather they slip through
the filter and is processed to the level of meaning.
Results provided evidence for late selection as the unattended message or words
such as ‘river’ or ‘money’ were not separated early enough from the signal that
was incoming in the analysis of the signal, rather it was processed enough to
determine its meaning as was evident from the participants’ choice or judgment.
6. What is the fl anker compatibility task? How have experiments using this task
shown how attention is affected by load and by the nature of task-irrelevant 
stimuli? Be sure you understand the explanation for the relation between load,
cognitive capacity, and whether task-irrelevant stimuli are processed.

Answer:

Step 1 of 3
There are many factors that affect attention. Cognitive resources and cognitive
load are two of them that determine how much attention can be paid to the
primary task and other task irrelevant stimuli.

Step 2 of 3
The cognitive capacity that a person has for undertaking various tasks is referred
to as cognitive resources. Some tasks need high amount of cognitive resources
and therefore the cognitive load is high for such tasks. For example, the task of
solving a tough mathematics problem requires high amount of cognitive
resources. In that case, it is difficult to pay attention to task irrelevant stimuli and
the person usually avoids or hardly notices the task irrelevant stimuli.
Other tasks, particularly well-practiced and simple ones, do not require high
amount of cognitive resources and therefore the cognitive load is low for such
tasks. For example, the task of listening to music requires low amount of cognitive
resources. In that case, task irrelevant stimuli can be processed easily, even if an
individual does not plan on processing them.

Step 3 of 3
The flanker compatibility task has been utilized to understand how cognitive load
impacts attention. In flanker compatibility task, there are three conditions; one
is compatible flankers’ condition in which the flankers or irrelevant stimuli are
associated with response for target stimulus or the primary task. Second is
the incompatible flankers’ condition in which the flankers are associated with the
response for a different target stimulus. Third is the neutral condition in which
the flankers are not related to the response for any target stimulus.
Results revealed that the response time was the fastest for the compatible
flankers’ condition, followed by neutral condition and slowest for the
incompatible flankers’ condition indicating the effect of incompatible flankers’ on
processing of information, even when the participant tries to ignore it, causing
response competition. Thus, it results in a delayed response as compared to the
other conditions.
7. What is the Stroop effect? What does this demonstrate about how the nature
of a task-irrelevant stimulus can affect attention?

Answer:

Step 1 of 2
THE STROOP EFFECT SHOWS HOW POWERFUL TASK IRRELEVANT STIMULI CAN
CAPTURE ATTENTION. STROOP EFFECT OCCURS WHEN IT BECOMES DIFFICULT TO
IGNORE TASK IRRELEVANT STIMULI.
J.R. Stroop (1935) first described stroop effect, when he noticed that it was
tougher to name the words’ colors than colors of the shapes. The task of naming
the color of the words is an incompatible task since the color in which the word is
written contradicts with the meaning of the word.
For example, when the word ‘RED’ is written with green ink, there is a tendency
to name the color of the ink as red instead of green. The incompatible flanker,
that is, the reading of the word or its meaning and the task of naming the color of
the ink with which the word is written leads to a response competition, causing a
slow response to the target.

Step 2 of 2
The nature of the task irrelevant stimuli plays an important role in stroop effect.
Since reading a word and comprehending its meaning is a highly practiced
automatic task, it becomes impossible to ignore it while naming the ink’s color of
word.
Thus, in stroop effect, task irrelevant stimuli are so strong that it becomes difficult
to ignore them. It captures attention and interferes with the task relevant
stimulus.
Test yourself 4.2
1. Describe the Schneider and Shiffrin divided attention experiments. Compare
the stimulus conditions for consistent and varied mapping conditions, and how
these different conditions result in automatic or controlled processing.

Step 1 of 3
Divided attention refers to division of attention for carrying out two or more tasks
simultaneously. Division of attention depends on the nature of tasks to be
accomplished. There is a possibility of divided attention only for relatively simple
tasks and for tough tasks that are extensively practiced in which automatic
processing is required whereas it becomes tough for extremely challenging tasks
which require controlled processing.

Step 2 of 3
Schneider and Shiffrin’s (1977) experiment on divided attention intended to
compare the ability to divide attention between tasks that required automatic
processing and tasks that required controlled processing. In this experiment, two
conditions were there, one was the condition of consistent mapping and other
was varied mapping condition.
In case of consistent mapping condition, participants were presented with a
memory set called target stimuli comprising 1-4 characters (numbers),
immediately followed by the quick presentations of twenty ‘test frames’ called
distracters (all letters). Their task was to ascertain if the target stimuli was present
among the distracter stimuli.
It was found that after six hundred trials, the task became automatic for the
participants and resulted in improved performance as they got to know that
targets would always be numbers and distracters would always be letters. Thus,
practice made the processing faster and it became easier to divide attention
between the test and the target stimuli simultaneously.

Step 3 of 3
However, in case of varied mapping condition, the distracters and targets were
both letters and in addition to it a target on one of the trial became a distracter
on the next trial. Therefore, it became relatively difficult to divide attention
between the target and the distracter resulting in controlled processing.
Furthermore, the duration of presentation of the test frames was longer for the
condition of varied mapping than the condition of consistent mapping. Since
automatic processing was never attained for varied mapping condition, more time
was required to focus and analyze the target and distracter stimuli in the
condition of varied mapping than the condition of consistent mapping.
Thus, divided attention is achievable only if the tasks are simple or well rehearsed
resulting in automatic processing. However, it becomes tough and requires
controlled processing if the tasks are extremely challenging.

2. What conclusions can be reached from the results of experiments testing the
ability to drive while talking on a cell phone? What are some of the differences
between a driver talking to a passenger and a driver talking on a cell phone?

Answer:

Step 1 of 2
One of the major reasons behind automobile accidents is driver inattentiveness.
Evidence suggests that using cell phones during driving is linked to rise in
accidents due to traffic and decline in the performance of tasks that are driving
related.

Step 2 of 2
Results of the experiments in the laboratory that test the ability to drive while
one talks on the cellphone revealed that participants missed applying the brakes
on seeing a red light more when they were talking on phone as compared to
when they were not talking on the phone in a simulated driving task. It was
concluded that talking on the phone used up a large amount of cognitive
resources leaving behind hardly any resources for focusing on driving.
While driving a car, having a conversation on a cell phone is more harmful than
conversing with a fellow passenger because it is difficult to pay attention to the
person on phone at the same time when driving becomes challenging as in a
traffic situation. The person on phone would be unaware of the driver’s situation
and would keep on talking. The driver would be too pressurized to keep the
conversation going without pausing even while facing difficult situations on the
road. As a result of poor divided attention between talking on phone and driving,
severe automobile accidents can occur.
On the other hand, a co-passenger in the car would be completely aware of the
driver’s situations on the road. Therefore, he would stop the conversation or
would even direct the driver’s attention to the approaching dangers on the road
also called backseat driving.
3. Describe the following evidence that attention is necessary for perception:
inattentional blindness experiment; “basketball” experiment; change detection
experiments. Be sure you understand what is preventing attention from being
directed to parts of a display or scene in each of these experiments.

Answer:

Step 1 of 4
Several experiments have been conducted to demonstrate that attention is an
imperative aspect for perception. Results of these experiments indicate the
attention is very crucial for perception. One may go unsuccessful in vivid
perception of a scene, if attention is prevented from being directed to certain
scene’s parts.
Step 2 of 4
In inattention blindness experiment, participants were presented with a task to
determine whether the perpendicular or the flat arm of the cross was longer.
After three to four trials, a geometrical stimulus/object was presented along with
the main task, and they were later asked to identify the geometrical object that
was presented.
It was found that the participants failed to identify the object that was presented
with the main task in the observable field. The results revealed that consistent
focusing or attention to a particular scene or object makes one oblivious to things
that happen around that object/scene. Thus, it results in inattention blindness.

Step 3 of 4
The results of the ‘basketball experiment’ revealed that the participants failed to
notice a person in gorilla suit, who passed through the perceptual field. Since
their attention was directed towards the game/task constantly, they hardly
noticed any odd event happening around the scene. This too indicates the
significance of attention for clear perception.

Step 4 of 4
In the change detection experiments, participants were presented with a series
of almost similar pictures, but with slight changes in each. They were required to
identify the changes. However, results revealed that most of the participants
failed to detect any variations.
On the other hand, when the participants’ attention was directed towards the
part of the picture where the change had taken place indirectly using a cue, it was
seen that they were able to notice the change instantly.
 Test yourself – 4.3

1. What is overt attention? What is the relation between overt attention and eye
movements?

Step 1 of 2
Overt attention is a type of visual attention that involves shifting of attention from
an object to the other by moving eyes. Thus, eye movements are means of overt
attention. Eye movements provide indications of shifting attention over time.

Step 2 of 2
Overt attention can be determined by one’s eye movements. For example, when
looking for a face in a crowd, a rapid scanning of each face occurs by shifting
attention from one face to the other.
Eye movements recorded by a device called eye tracker reveals that about three
quick pauses per second are made by people when screening a new scene or an
object. Movement of the eyes specifies the scene’s parts or object’s parts that
draws the attention of a person.
Thus, change of attention that happens in overt attention is accompanied by eye
movements. This is the relationship between eye movements and overt attention.

2. How are eye movements determined by bottom-up processes, such as physical

characteristics of the stimuli? How are eye movements determined by top-down
processes, such as people’s knowledge about characteristics of the environment,
their interests, and the type of task?

Answer:

Step 1 of 3

Attention can be influenced by many factors, such as the physical features of the
stimuli, knowledge about the stimuli, the observer’s interests and type of tasks.
Physical characteristics of the stimulus, such as the color, contrast and pattern can
have an effect on attention. It involves bottom-up processing, since only the
physical characteristics of the stimuli are considered without reflecting on its
meaning. For example, role of spotting people wearing red shirt in a picture
involves bottom-up processing.
However, eye movements are determined not only by the bottom-up processes
that involve only the physical features of the stimuli but also the meaning of the
stimuli that draws attention.

Step 2 of 3
Determination of eye movements is also done by top-down processes, like a
person’s knowledge about the characteristics associated with a particular scene
called scene schemas. For example, in a study, two scenes were shown to the
participants. One in which, a pan was kept in the kitchen and the other in which a
printer was kept in the kitchen. It was found that participants stared longer at the
printer than the pan because it was unusual for a printer to be found in the
kitchen. It did not fit the scene schema of a typical kitchen.
A person’s specific interests also influence his attention. For example, a person
with not much interest in baseball but with very high interest in architecture
would focus more on the upper part or structure of the stadium.

Step 3 of 3
Eye movements are also determined by the type of the task. For example, in a
study, participants’ eye movements were measured, while preparing a tea and it
was found that they did not pay attention to things that were not related to the
task.
Thus, eye movements indicate where and what a person is attending to. Also eye
movements are determined by the type of task, knowledge and interest of the
observer and physical characteristics of the stimuli.
3. What is covert attention? Location-based attention? Describe the precueing
procedure used by Posner. What does the result of Posner’s experiment indicate
about the effect of attention on information processing?

Answer:

Step 1 of 3
Covert attention is a kind of visual attention directed toward different places in an
area without moving the eyes. Location based attention refers to attention
directed towards a specific location in the surrounding or environment. Pre
cueing experiments have demonstrated the effect of attention on information
processing.

Step 2 of 3
Michael Posner (1978) used pre cueing procedures to study the effect of directing
attention towards a specific location on information processing by presentation of
a cue, where stimulus will emerge and analyzing speed of responding to that
stimulus. In this experiment, participants were asked to fix their eyes to a
particular location marked ‘+’ throughout the experiment. They were given a cue,
that is, an arrow showing on which side, stimulus (a square) was expected to
appear.
Their role was to press the key as quickly as possible when they saw the stimulus.
In the valid trials’ condition, the stimulus appeared on the side represented by the
cue whereas in the invalid trials’ condition, stimulus showed on side that is
opposite to that indicated by cue.

Step 3 of 3
Results of the experiment revealed that the reaction time for the invalid trials
were more as compared to the valid trials, indicating that directing attention
towards a specific location enhances processing at that location. Presenting a cue
directs attention towards a specific location, resulting in faster processing of
information presented at that particular location.
4. Describe the Egly precueing experiment. What is the same-object advantage,
and how was it demonstrated by Egly’s experiment?

Answer:

Step 1 of 2
When attention is directed towards specific objects, it is called object based
attention. The enhancing effect of attention distributed throughout an object
when directed toward a specific part on the object is called the same object
advantage. Egly et al (1994) studied the effects of object based attention using the
pre cueing procedure.

Step 2 of 2
In the experiment, participants were asked to fix their eyes on a particular
location marked ‘+’ which was in between two rectangles (objects). One end of a
rectangle (the upper part) was highlighted as a cue to indicate the appearance of
the target (a dark square) on that rectangle’s part. Their role was to press key as
soon as they saw the target anywhere in the scene.
Results revealed that the reaction time was fastest when target emerged, where
cue predicted it to be, and slowest when the target appeared on the other
rectangle. However, it was found that the reaction time was lesser, when the
target appeared anywhere on the rectangle in which the cue was presented as
compared to the rectangle in which the cue was not presented, indicating that
there was an advantage of enhanced attention spread throughout the rectangle
on which the cue was presented.
Thus, pre cueing experiments on object based attention demonstrated that
directing attention toward a specific object results in enhanced attention spread
all through that object.
5. Describe Treisman's feature integration theory. What does the theory seek to
explain about perceiving objects? What are the stages of the theory, and at what
point does attention become involved?

Answer:

Step 1 of 3
Treisman’s feature integration theory helps to explain how objects are perceived.
It describes the mechanism that allows perceiving an object’s visual attributes as
belonging together.

Step 2 of 3
According to the theory, there are two stages of processing. One is the pre
attentive stage of processing and the other is the stage of focused attention. In
the former stage (pre attentive), individual features of the objects are analyzed by
separate areas of the brain. For example, rolling blue ball would be dissected into
individual features, such as the color (blue) and movement (to right) and distinct
parts of the brain would examine each of these features. This takes place early in
the perceptual process and that’s why one remains unaware of this process of
individual feature examination.

Step 3 of 3
In the focused attention stage, attention plays a significant role in blending
together the individual features of an object in order to conceive the perception
of whole objects (rolling blue ball). Thus, once the objects are dissected into their
individual features, attention gets involved to join together those features, so as
to produce perception of that object.
The central idea of feature integration theory is that objects are evaluated into
their respective features and focused attention is required to incorporate these
features in order to perceive the object.
6. What are illusory conjunctions, and what do they demonstrate about feature
analysis? How have illusory conjunction experiments supported the role of
attention in feature analysis? How do experiments with Balint's syndrome
patients support feature integration theory?

Answer:

Step 1 of 2
In order to provide evidence for the role of feature analysis in perception of
objects, Triesman conducted a number of experiments involving the display of
objects with different shapes and colors.
In the experiment, a display of four objects of different shape, size and color
flanked by two numbers were exhibited on to a screen for a fraction of a second.
Participants were then asked to report what they had seen on the screen. It was
found that in eighteen percent of the trials, participants’ description of objects
included a mixture of features from two dissimilar stimuli. For example, in a
display with small green triangle and small red circle, participants reported
perceiving small green circle and small red triangle. This mixing of features from
two distinct stimuli is called illusory conjunctions. Thus, illusory conjunctions
presented perceptual proof for feature analysis in the perception of objects.

Step 2 of 2
Experiments on illusionary conjunction also demonstrated attention’s role in
integrating the features to generate perception of whole objects by instructing
participants to not pay attention to the two numbers and to concentrate only on
the target items. It was found that directing attention towards the target items
removed illusory conjunctions.
Patients with Balint’s syndrome have damaged parietal lobe, resulting in a failure
to concentrate on individual objects. Experiments with such patients have
revealed that it was difficult for them to combine the features of the objects
correctly, resulting in illusory conjunctions due to lack of focused attention.
7. Describe physiological research on how covert attention infl uences neural
responding in monkeys and in humans. What is the evidence that attentional
processing is distributed throughout the brain?

Answer:

Step 1 of 3
A number of research studies have taken place to explore physiological
determinants of attention. Research revealed that covert attention improves
neural responding in the brain of monkey and activity is increased in several
brains’ areas of humans.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiments have demonstrated
that different cortex parts are linked with the processing of attention. Thus,
attention causes distributed activity across the cortex.

Step 2 of 3
Carol Colby (1995) conducted an experiment in order to study the effects of
covert attention on neural responding in monkeys. In this experiment, monkeys
were trained to fixate their eyes on a target (a dot of light), while a lateral light
was exhibited on to the right side of the target.
The task of the monkeys was to keep gazing at target and to release the hand
from the bar after the dimming of the target light in the ‘fixation only’ condition.
On the other hand, in the ‘fixation and attention’ condition the task of the
monkeys was to keep gazing at target and release the hand from the bar after the
dimming of the lateral light. Thus, in second condition, it had to focus on
peripheral light, while keeping its eyes fixated on the target light.
Results of the experiment revealed an enhanced neural responding in the ‘fixation
and attention’ condition as compared to the ‘fixation only’ condition. This
indicates that attention increases neural response in monkeys. Using fMRI, this
demonstration has also been done in humans.

Step 3 of 3
The activities of attention processing are spread throughout the human brain.
This has been demonstrated in Gordon Shulman’s experiment. In his experiments,
fMRI was used to measure the brain activity of the participants, while they
performed a task. The task was to focus on the motion of dots to a particular
direction indicated by a cue either to attend to the motion of the dots to a specific
direction or to just passively observe the moving dot display. They also have to
push the key when they witnessed coherent motion to a particular direction
indicated by the cue.
Results revealed that there was an increased brain activity in several areas of the
cortex when attention was directed to a particular direction of motion of the dots
as compared to the passive observation condition. Thus, attention causes an
increased activity distributed throughout the brain.
8. How do eye movements of autistic and normally developing people compare?

Answer:

Step 1 of 2
Eye movement reveals a lot about a person’s shifts in attention and attention is an
integral part of social situations. For example, attention can be determined by the
pattern of eye movement. However this pattern of eye movement is not the same
for autistic and non autistic people.

Step 2 of 2
Autism is a pervasive developmental disorder with significant impairments in
social communications and interactions. People with autism find it difficult to
establish eye contact with other people in social situations.
Recent research evidence suggested that on comparing the eye fixations of
autistic and normal people, while they were watching a movie, it was found that
autistic people fixated their eyes near the mouth or the side of the main character
whereas non autistic people fixated their eyes on the main character’s eyes to
access his emotional reaction. This explains autistic people’s difficulty in analyzing
others’ emotions as they do not pay attention to other people’s eyes.
Research also revealed that people with autism lack joint attention, that is, the
ability to follow one’s gaze or pointing. Thus the pattern of eye movement reveals
that the autistic people attend to things whereas non autistic people attend more
to other people.