Reflexive and controlled processes in attention

注意力的反射和控制过程

• 批准号: 261203-2008
• 负责人: Ferber, Susanne
• 金额: $ 1.96万
• 依托单位: University of Toronto
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2012-01-01 至 2013-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=497208
• 关键词: Reflexive; controlled; processes; attention

At any given moment in time there is considerably more visual information available in the environment than we can efficiently deal with. From the visual information impinging on our retinae, the light sensitive tissue at the back of our eyes, our brain selects only a subset to reach conscious awareness. One of the major selection processes is happening in the attentional system which will highlight certain information in the environment while at the same time suppressing the rest. The main questions we will be addressing over the next five years are concerned with this initial selection process: What are the mechanisms behind it? What are the limitations and how flexible is the process? Can typically hard-wired selection processes be overwritten by an individual's goals? Can the rules for attentional selection be learned implicitly and is this as effective as conscious awareness of rules? How do attentional processes interact with other cognitive faculties such as working memory (the ability to maintain information online after it has been removed from view)? Do both faculties show the same capacity limits? How do they interfere with each other when one is taxed? Furthermore, we will show how attentional and working memory processes are implemented in the brain and to what extent they share the same neural resources. This in turn will advance our understanding of some cognitive disorders observed after brain damage.

在任何特定时刻，环境中可用的视觉信息都比我们能够有效处理的要多得多。视网膜是眼睛后部的感光组织，我们的大脑从视网膜上接收的视觉信息中只选择一部分来达到有意识的感知。其中一个主要的选择过程发生在注意系统中，它会突出环境中的某些信息，同时抑制其他信息。我们将在今后五年中处理的主要问题与这一初步选择过程有关：其背后的机制是什么？有哪些限制，流程有多灵活？典型的硬连线选择过程会被个人的目标所覆盖吗？注意力选择的规则能被内隐地学习吗？这和有意识地意识到规则一样有效吗？注意力过程如何与其他认知能力相互作用，比如工作记忆（在信息从视野中消失后保持在线信息的能力）？这两种能力是否具有相同的能力极限？当一个人被征税时，他们是如何相互干扰的？此外，我们将展示注意力和工作记忆过程是如何在大脑中实现的，以及它们在多大程度上共享相同的神经资源。这反过来又将促进我们对脑损伤后观察到的一些认知障碍的理解。