ATTENTION AND PERCEPTION

1. Attention and Perception

2. Attention

3. Definitions
• Attention is defined as a process, which
compels the individual to select some particular
stimulus according to his interest and attitude
out of the multiplicity of stimuli present in the
environment
Sharma RN-1967
• Attention is the concentration of consciousness
upon one object rather than upon another
Dumville-1938

4. Types of attention
1. Non-volitional/Involuntary Attention : This
attention is not under the will of a person. He/she
attends to the object/ situation without any
conscious efforts by that person. For example,
attention towards someone with opposite sex,
mother's attention towards the cry of her child etc
a) Enforced Non-Volitional Attention : This type
of attention is aroused by our instincts. For
instance, when we remark mother on her care
towards her child, she becomes quite attentive in her
caring attitude and the way she cares.
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5. b) Spontaneous Non-volitional Attention : The
one aroused by our sentiments is known as
spontaneous non-volitional/involuntary attention.
For example, when a girl is passing through the
ward or hospital where her mother was expired
after long treatment, then she will unconsciously
focus on that ward, hospital or bed number etc.
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6. 2. Volitional or Voluntary Attention : When we
attend some stimuli with own conscious efforts or
with our will is known. as volitional attention. In
such type, we have clearcut goals before us and
we tend focus again and again till the completion
of the goal/objectives set already by us. For
example, asking for admission fee/prospectus at
the reception counter of Khalsa College of
Nursing, paying attention towards the time table
of the class, answering questions in the
examination hall etc.
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7. a) Implicit Volitional Attention : The act which
is introduced by motive such as, reward and
punishment. For example, when the student
nurses are assigned to repeat previous lecture of
psychology in the next class, otherwise they will
be punished, then this makes the students more
attentive to the single task/subject. Hence single
act of will/conscious causes attention.
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8. b) Explicit Volitional Attention : Here, we focus
by repeated acts of will/conscious efforts against
much distraction by other stimuli.
For example, the student nurses are paying
attention towards writing in the examination hall
though lot of distraction is created by construction
of building, other classes and admissions going on
that same college.

9. DETERMINANTS OF ATTENTION
There are many factors that influence the
direction and selection of our attention. They
determine our attention.
1. Objective or external determinants : There
are the qualities and characteristics present in the
object of attention.
(a) Intensity/potency : The more intense the
stimulus, the more likely it is to be attended eg.
bright gorgeous shades are catchy.
(b) Size/Extensity : Big things always drawn, or
one's attention than smaller ones.
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10. (c) Duration : Objects exposed for a longer period
of attention have more focus than those shown for
shorter period.
(d) Novelty: Anything novel or new is instantly
noticed eg. new dress, decoration etc
(e) Repetition : A weak stimulus frequently
repeated becomes centre of consciousness and we
attend it.
(f) Change : Change may be in size, colour, taste,
intensity and in other aspects is necessary to draw
one's attention.
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11. (g) systematic form : A definite pattern, or
rhythmic flow of stimulus attract our attention.
(h) Movement : A running ball, a moving picture, a
flying bird is more attended than static one.
(I) Location /situation : The location of a stimulus
(eg. visual stinmulus in front of eye) determines the
direction of attention.
(j) colour: A coloured dress, a coloured light has
special attention.
(k) Contrast : Anything opposite of other stimulus
is called contrast. eg. a dwarf in a by us Khalsa
group of tall persons.
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12. 2. Internal or subjective determinants : These
lie with the individual who attends.
(a) Organic needs and motives : Biological needs
operating at a moment play a potent role eg. thirsty
person will prefer drinking water, a sexually
deprived man will attend to females.
(b) Habit : A particular habit determines day-to-
day attention eg. An alcoholic to wine,a smoker to
cigarettes.
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13. (c) Interest : Individual differences in attention to
a stimulus occur because of a person's interests
eg. a psychiatric nurse's attention may be drawn to
the attitude and behaviour of students.
(d) Attitudes and mood : A worried depressed
person will attend to very small annoyances, a
palatable attitude towards flowers will make one
to attend to its every detail.

14. FACTORS THAT AFFECT ATTENTION
1. Health factors :
+ Many health factors may cause to have
difficulty with attention splicit er the behaviours.
• Ear infections and hearing impairments
• Visual infections Physical illness
• Preoccupation with pain or discomfort or having
an illness.
All of these issues should be checked out by a
health care professional.

15. 2. Environmental factors :
Stressful and challenging situations (eg. a death
in the family , parental divorce) may have more
difficulty focussing. Some children may be
sensitive to physical factors such as strong
lighting, materials that are uncomfortable to the
touch, and loud noises. These factors may affect
children's abilities to sustain their attention and
remain engaged during a task.
3. Personality factors :
• A low self-esteem may approach a task with
caution or fear.
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16. • Some have more active personalities where they
become bored and restless with certain activities
• Some may need activities that are more visual,
more auditory, or more physical.
• Factors like fatigue, nutrition, caffeine/sugar and
bathroom needs can interrupt concentration and
completion of tasks.

17. Duration and Degree of Attention
Span of Attention : The maximum amount of
material that can be attended in one period of
attention is called span of attention. This can be
visual attention or auditory attention.
1. Span of visual attention: Experiments have
been carried out to measure the span of visual
attention by making brief exposures to a number of
objects. The time of exposure is very short, The
objects exposed to the eye are simple like dots,
lines, letters or complex words or or triangles, etc.
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18. The mind can attend to only four or five separate
units if the items are not grouped into familiar
units. But if the items are combined into
meaningful wholes, for example, letters are
arranged into words, a large number of items can
be perceived at once.
2.Span of auditory attention: The number of
auditory impressions perceived at a single
instance is called span of auditory attention. An
adult can perceive eight sounds given rapidly in
succession.
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19. But when sounds are given in a rhythm, a much
larger number of sounds can be perceived.
+ Duration of Attention : It refers to how long
one can attend to an object without a break. If we
attend to a single, simple object for instance a dot it
will remain in the focus of our consciousness for
only a second at the most, then something in the
margin will crowd it out or memory of a past event
will intrude. The duration of attention depends
upon the nature of the material, the interest of the
observer, and other conditions.
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20. Sustained Attention (Act of Fixation of Mind)
To sustain attention is to concentrate one's activity
continuously upon some object or a happening or a
problem. The individual attention always remains
on track and the activity proceeds systematically
without any serious distraction. All internal as well
as external factors of getting attention can be
helpful in this track.
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21. Shifting Attention
While paying attention towards an object or an
event, it is not possible to hold attention
continuously with the same intensity for a longer
duration. It is constantly shifting from one object
to another, from one aspect of the situation to
another. We can perform only one voluntary act at
a time and not two or more acts at a time.
However, we can quickly shift attention from one
voluntary act to another.
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22. Division of Attention
Division of attention means to attend two or more
tasks simultaneously. Psychologists say we cannot
attend to two things at a given time and there is no
possibility of division of attention.
The reason for paying attention to more than one
task at a given time can be :
+ In performing two task simultaneously one of the
two activities requires no attention
+ Attention rapidly shifts from one task to the
other.
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23. DISTRACTION
Distraction means any stimulus whose presence
interferes with the process attention or draws away
attention from object which we wish to attend.
HR Bhatia-196
Factors of distraction
• External Factors: Noise, music, improper
lighting, uncomfortable seats, unfavorable
temperature, inadequate ventilation, defective
methods of teaching, defective voice of the
Teacher ect.
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24. • Internal Factors: Emotional disturbance, ill
health, boredom lack of motivation, fatigue,
etc.

25. Types of Distraction
1. Continuous Distraction : The distraction is
continuous in nature. For example, the sound of
radio played continuously, the noise at the market
place. etc. Experiments have shown that adjustment
to continuous distraction takes place quickly.
2. Discontinuous Distraction : It is irregular. For
example, the hearing of somebody's voice every
now and then. It interferes with work because of the
possibility of adjustment.

26. Some major means of removing distractions are:
+ Being active in work
+ Disregard for distraction
+ Making the distraction a part of the work

27. Perception

28. Definitions
• Perception is the experience of objects, events or
relationships obtained by extracting information
from and interpreting sensations.
JH Jackson, O Desiderato and DB Howieson -
1976
• Perception is an individual's awareness aspect of
behavior, for it is the way each person processes
the raw data he receives from the environment
into meaningful patterns.
RE Silverman-1976

29. NATURE OF PERCEPTION
1. Perception is a process: The word 'process
means an activity which initially starts (INPUT)
and ultimately it reaches at the end (OUTPUT)
INPUT——> PROCESSING——>
OUTPUT
+ When sensory impressions are gathered
through our senses is called "input and the way in
which we finally behave or react to this gathered
information is termed a "output'. There is a link
between input and output for converting input to
output is known as "processing'.
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30. 2. Preception involves sensation : There are five
senses of an individual. The process/ ability to
stimulate our sensory nerves by any stimuli in the
environment is known as sensation. When sensation
is attached with meaning is perception. Hence,
sensation precedes perception.
3.Perception is the information extractor : Various
stimuli in the environment are continuously
stimulating our sensory receptors. And its very
difficult to react to all the stimuli.The perception
helps in selecting/extracting the relevant information
and converting into a meaningful pattern.
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31. 4. Perception is preparation to response : When
an individual analyse, classify, interpret and derive
meaning of any stimuli, he/she is now ready to
respond/act to that stimuli.
5.Perception provides organisation : When we
perceive various stimuli then we perceive not its
sum total (of these stimuli), we perceive it as a
whole in an organised Partern. For example, a child is
looking at a tree, now he will perceive it as a whole .
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32. 6. Perception is highly individualized :
Perception is perceived by different individual
differently. Every individual will have different
perception. Even the same individual has different
perception of a same situation.

33. Factors Affecting Perception
There are individual differences in perceptual
abilities. Two people may perceive the same
stimulus differently.
1.Sense Organs : Perception depends upon the
sense organs or receptors on which the stimuli act
and sensory neurons which transmit the nerve
current from the receptors to the sensory area of
the brain. For example, if cones are not developed
in the retina, color cannot be perceived.
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34. 2.Brain : Perception depends upon the
functioning capacity of both the sensory and
association areas of the brain. For example, if the
auditory area is destroyed we cannot have
auditory perception.
3.Memory Images of the Past Experience :
Memory images help us in the comprehension of
the object or stimulus before us. Generally,
perception involves the integration of sensory
experience in the light of past experience and
present psychological conditions.
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35. • Experiments have shown that whenever we come
in contact with new stimuli we are inclined to
interpret them in terms of our experiences with
similar stimuli in the past. For example,a child has
come in contact with a horse for the first time. He
has already seen a cow. When he is asked what it
(horse) is, he may say it is a cow or like a cow.
4.Personal Interests and Mind Set : We perceive
those things quickly and clearly which are concerned
with our interests and mind set.
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36. 5. Acquired Interests : Our acquired interests
also determine the object or objects which we
perceive. A person who has a hobby of
collecting stamps will quickly notice any new
stamp on a letter.
6.Needs and Desires : Our needs or desires
also modify our perceptions. Besides these our
beliefs, opinions and cultural ideals also modify
our perception of things, situations and objects.

37. Principles or Laws of
Perception

38. 1. Figure Ground Relationship : Whenever we
percieve some stimuli, it has figure and at the
back of that figure there is a background. It
depends whether the person's perception is
influenced by figure (in the background) or
background (at the back of figure). Here, figure is
two faces (dark shaded) on the light background.
Examples can be a tree (figure) and sky
(background) chapati (figure) and salt (back-
ground). Please note a person can't perceive both
figure and background at the same time.
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40. 2. Principle of Grouping :
According to gestalt principle objects can be
perceived meaningfully when they are grouped
together. The following principles make our
perception more meaningful.
+ Principle of proximity: Proximity means
nearness. The objects which are nearer to each
other can be perceived meaningfully by grouping
them. In Figure we see four sets of four squares
each and looks single square.
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42. + Principle of similarity: There is a tendency to
perceive objects of a similar size and shape or
color as a unit or figure.

43. + Principle of continuity: Any stimulus which
extends in the same direction or shape will be
perceived as a whole. Our attention is being held
more by a continuous pattern rather than
discontinuous ones.curved line and a straight line.
We do not see a straight line with small semi-
circles above and below.

44. + Principle of closure:While confronting an
incomplete pattern one tends to complete or close
the pattern or fill in sensory gaps and perceive it as
a meaningful whole. This type of organization is
extremely helpful in making valuable interpretation
of various incomplete objects, patterns or stimuli
present in our environment. The lines in the Figure
may well be perceived as a circle and square.
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46. + Principle of symmetry: Objects having
symmetrical shape are perceived as groups.example,
brackets of different shapes shown in figure are
perceived meaningfully because the symmetrical
ones are grouped together.

47. + Principle of Contrast : Perceptual organization
is very much affected through contrast effects as the
stimuli that are in sharp contrast to nearby stimuli
may draw our maximum attention and carry
different perceptual affects.
For example, in Figure the surrounding circles in
the first figure A make the central circle seem larger
than the central circle in B even though the two are
of the same size.
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49. + Principle of Adaptability : The perceptual
organization for some stimuli depends upon the
adaptability of the perceiver to perceive similar
stimuli. An individual who adapts himself to work
before an intense bright light will perceive normal
sunlight as quite dim.

50. Errors in Perception
Perceptual processes enable an individual to
perceive things accurately and facilitate smooth
functioning. some errors leading to impaired
perceptions These are illusions and hallucinations.
1.illusion : It is a misinterpretation of actual
perception. When the interpretation of a particular
stimulus goes wrong, it gives rise to a wrong
perception or illusion.

51. For example, a rope in the dark is perceived as a
snake or vice-versa The voice of an unknown
person is mistaker as a friend's voice. A person
standing at distance who is not known may be
perceived as a known person.
+ Causes:
inadequacies of our sense organs, distance of the
object from the sense organ which perceives it,
misleading stimuli in the environment, our
perceived notions and expectancy.
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52. 2. Hallucination : It is false sensory perception
not associated with real external stimuli. It may be
visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile, gustatory etc.
But usually visual and auditory are more
commonly experienced.
• Hallucinations are imaginary perceptions, in
which one sees or hears something that is not
seen or heard by others around him.
Example, An alcoholic person may see 'pink
elephant's, a schizophrenic may hear voices,
experience foul odors in the absence of any
sensory stimulation. Hallucinations are more
common in mentally ill people.