The Psychology of Attention

More about the book

Views on attention have undergone continuous evolution since the early work of the 1950s. Today, the questions asked about attention, consciousness and control are rather different from those initially posed, and evidence drawn into the debate comes not only from experimental psychology, but also from neuro-physiology, neuropsychology and computational modelling. As evidence has accumulated, theories have changed and fundamental assumptions have been challenged. Rather than asking "What is attention?," people are beginning to consider "Why does attentional behaviour appear the way it is?." This book charts the development of these ideas, through the examination of a variety of tasks considered to involve attentional behaviour, together with evidence from studies of patients, neurophysiology and cognitive modelling.