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High-Level and Low-Level Awareness01:19

High-Level and Low-Level Awareness

Controlled processes in human consciousness represent high-alert mental states where individuals deliberately focus their attention on achieving specific goals. Controlled processes can be seen in situations like mastering new technology, where a person might become so absorbed that they ignore surrounding distractions. Such processes involve selective attention, requiring one to concentrate on particular elements of experience while disregarding others. These are governed by executive...

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Related Experiment Video

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A Dual Task Procedure Combined with Rapid Serial Visual Presentation to Test Attentional Blink for Nontargets
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Divided attention performance and the matching law.

Timothy A Shahan1, Christopher A Podlesnik

  • 1Department of Psychology, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322, USA. tim.shahan@usu.edu

Learning & Behavior
|November 9, 2006
PubMed
Summary

The generalized matching law accurately describes how pigeons adjust their attention based on reinforcement rates. This finding offers insights into how rewards influence decision-making and attention allocation.

Area of Science:

  • Behavioral psychology
  • Cognitive science
  • Animal behavior

Background:

  • The generalized matching law is a mathematical model used to describe choice behavior.
  • Understanding attention allocation is crucial for explaining decision-making processes.
  • Pigeons are often used as model organisms in behavioral experiments.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To test the generalized matching law's ability to explain changes in divided-attention performance.
  • To investigate the relationship between reinforcement rate and attention allocation.
  • To explore the roles of sensory activation and stimulus pertinence in attention.

Main Methods:

  • A delayed matching-to-sample procedure was used with pigeons.
  • Compound samples (color + line orientation) and element comparisons were employed.

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  • The relative rate of reinforcement for accurate matches was systematically varied.

    • Main Results:

    • Pigeon performance changes aligned well with predictions from the generalized matching law.
    • Relative accuracy in divided-attention tasks was effectively modeled by reinforcement variations.
    • The study provides quantitative links between reinforcement and attention.

    Conclusions:

    • The generalized matching law is applicable to divided-attention performance.
    • Bias and sensitivity parameters may quantify sensory activation and stimulus pertinence.
    • Further research can advance quantitative models of attention and decision-making.