Attention: the taking possession of the mind, in clear and vivid form, of one out of what seem several simultaneous possible objects or trains of thought. Focalization, concentration of consciousness are of its essence. It implies withdrawal from some things in order to deal effectively with others. attention is used to refer to this allocation of processing resources, also the concentration and focusing of mental effort, a focus that is selective, shift able, and dividable Two Broad Categories of AttentionVoluntary attention (endogenous)Intentionally attend to somethingReflexive attention (exogenous)Attention is captured by a sensory eventFocused attention: ability to respond to specific visual, auditory or tactile stimuli in a discrete manner.Sustained attention- ability to maintain a consistent behavioral response during continuous and repetitive activityDivided attention- paying attention to more than one thing at a time, this ability is limited, which has an impact on how much we can process at onceSelective attention:Cocktail party effectPerception of a weak speech signal in a noisy environmentAbility to attend selectively to one person’s speech in the midst of competing conversationsCherry (1953) Dichotic ListeningShadowing: participants wear a set of headphones and made to hear two messages at the same time, one in each ear and asked to shadow- repeat back the words from one message only.Most participants can attend to one message and ignor the other,(very little of the unattended message is processed in a shadowing taskLimited capacity processes, Selective attention as a bottleneckAttention acts as a bottleneck, letting only a limited amount of info through, keeping other info out.Divided Attention- TH ability to distribute one’s attention and simultaneously engage two or more activitiesReal Life Dual TaskDriving and (cell phones/music/scenery)*Almost 80% of crashes and 64% of near crashes involve some form of the driver inattention with three seconds of the event.Stroop EffectDemonstration of the automatic nature of highly practiced activities-in this case reading meaning is automatically processed.Demonstration of the interference-competing stimuli.Attention Involves focusing awareness on a narrowed range of stimuli or eventsStimuli  sensory detection | recognition of meaning | Response selection  Response |= possible filter placementsInattentional Blindness: a stimulus is not perceived even when the person is looking directly at itChange Blindness: difficulty in detecting changes in scenesVisual attention- cant take in all visual info at once so shifts around what to focus on like a spotlightOvertly- overt movement of head and or eyesCovertly: internal shift of attention, in condition where there is no time for eye movementsAuditory AttentionIn contrast to visual attention, auditory info is received simultaneouslyNeed to focus on info that is important and ignor irrelevant info- selective listeningEarly Selective attention (Broadbent)Attenuation Theory (TreismanLate-selection TheoryMotivation- desires, needs, wants, interestsinvolves goal directed behaviorMotivation involves goal directed behaviorDrive TheoryHull’s concept of drive was derived from walter cannon’s observation that organisms tend to seek homeostasis. (temperature up=sweat, temperature down= shiver)Hunger  go eatInternal stimuli pushIncentive TheoriesAn external goal that has the capacity to motivate behaviorStress environmental factors and Downplays the biological basis of motivationExternal stimuli pullEvolutionary theoriesNatural selection favors behaviors that maximize reproductive successRegulated by the hypothalamusHormonal RegulationInsulin-Levels increase when people eatGhrelin-Causes stomach contractions, promotes hungerLeptin-High levels of leptin diminish hungerBiological MotivesHungerThirstSexTempSleep/restMoodSocial motivesAchievementAffiliation (need for social bond)Autonomy (Need for independence)Nurturance (need to nourish and protect others)Dominance (need to control)Exhibition (need to make an impression)Environmental factorsAvailability and palatability of foodLearned preferences and habitsSexual MotivationThe intense interest in sex reflects the importance of sexual motivationWomen:Need to be highly selectiveNumber of children is biologically limitedHave a certainty of who their children areWill search for a man with resources to support her offspringAttracted to older men, financially secure with commitmentMen:Can ensure reproductive success by inseminating many womenCan father an unlimited number of childrenHave a lack of certainty about paternityMen seek women who are young and physically healthy (attractiveAttrected to women who are less likely to be sexually promiscuousBiological RealityEvolutionary significanceBehavioral OutcomesMalesReproductiton involves minimal investment of time, energy, and riskMaximize reproductive success by seeking more sexual partners with high reproductive potentialMore interest in uncommitted sex, greater number of sex partners over lifetime; look for youth and attractiveness in partnersFemalesReproduction involves substantial investment of time, energy, and riskMaximize reproductive success by seeking partners willing to invest material resources in your offspringLess interested in uncommitted sex, smaller number of sex partners over lifetime; look for income, status, and ambition in partners.Sexual MotivationBUSS (1989) “evolutionary psychologists develop hypotheses about the psychological mechanisms that have evolved in humans to solve particular adaptive problems that humans have faced under ancestral conditions.”–surveyed 10,000 people across 37 culturesmen value good looks and virginswomen value good financial prospects, ambitious and industrious menWomen cared about financial status more than men do, multicultural.Number of sexual partners men>female desired over the next 30 yearsEmotionA feeling state characterized by:A subjective conscious experience (cognitive component)Bodily arousal (Physiological component)A characteristic overt expression (Behavioral component_CognitiveJoy, Grief, Dismay, happiness, anxiety, contentmentPhysiologicalComplex processes incode many ares of the brain, many neurotransmitters as well as the autonomic nervous system and the endocrine systemAmygdala- storage of memories concerning emotional events (fears)Polygraph-lie detectorsPolygraph: device that records heart rate, blood pressure,