Topics in the Psychology of Human Attention.

"Every one knows what attention is.
It is the taking possession by the mind, in clear and vivid form, of one out of what seem several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought"
(William James, The Principles of Psychology, Volume 1, pp. 403-404, 1890).

Although some commentators argue that psychologists know less about attention now than they did when these words were written, it is currently one of the most active areas in human experimental psychology, with important contributions also from cognitive neuroscience. This seminar will be concerned with problems of selective, divided, and biased attention, primarily in vision but also in audition. Topics and readings will be chosen with the aim of introducing students to major theoretical issues, phenomena, experimental methods, analytic tools, and models.