The first stage of attention is called pre-attentive processing stage in which in my case was determining that a stimulus was being presented of letters rapidly floating by in my field of vision. In other words, I was asked to identify whether the letters j or k could be identified in any given sequence. The next stage is called focused attentive processing in which I was trying to determine which of the two letters I actually saw. What seemed to be happening for my test was that I was focusing on one letter, the letter j and I was having difficulty processing if I saw both letters as I could only seem to place focus on one letter with any degree of perceived accuracy. As I point out perceived accuracy because there was no immediate feedback if I was correct or not (Argosy, 2009).
My visual attention was directly affected as the presentation speed varied. The probability that I saw both letters at the faster speeds rapidly declined. I was fortunate to see one. In actual fact I was quite pleased if I was able to see just one of the two letters as I have previously stated. As the speed decreased the probability that I made the right choice increased however slightly. At the slower speeds my eyes could focus on each image, the converse was true at higher speeds. What it was reminiscent of is watching a stop watch that shows tenths of a second, it is virtually impossible to see each tenth of a second as it clicks off even though each image is present for 100 ms. My notion is that 100 milliseconds is too fast for me to identify each digit in a tenth of a second.
Feature integration theory which holds that humans have to take time to process letters that are similar dovetails in my opinion with selective attention which had me trying to select the two targeted letters and disregarding all the rest (Argosy, 2009). Selective attention is the ability to attend of focus on one source of information that is to only see the letters j or k and to exclude other stimuli which for my lab experiment was to ignore all the other letters that were not j or k. Further along these lines is that this experiment required controlled attention where I maintained a deliberate effort to pay attention to the stimulus at hand and ignoring all others or the letters that were not j and k (Ashcraft & Radvansky, 2010).
Sleep deprivation affects the brain’s ability to function at the same speed and its capability deteriorates quickly. The brain will work harder to counteract the affects but the concentration levels will drop and memory will be affected and impaired (The effects of sleep deprivation, 2007).
Attentional blink which in this experiment has asked us to respond to one stimulus and then immediately to another showed that our response is delayed having to identify another event (Ashcraft & Radvansky, 2010). It is common knowledge that alcohol affects judgment and reduces reaction time. Therefore a high-pressure attention demanding job like air traffic controllers (ATC) requires much more attention than the Coglab experiment just conducted and any use of alcohol or drugs could have disastrous consequences.
• Argosy University (2009). Cognition and Learning PSY360 UC Module 3. Retrieved September 25, 2009 from http://myeclassonline.com
Ashcraft, M.H., Radvansky, G.A. (2010). Cognition. Belmont CA.: Prentice
The effects of sleep deprivation, 2007 Retrieved September 25, 2009 from http://www.sleep-deprivation.com/articles/effects-of-sleep-deprivation/index.php
You are SF deep at times
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