Perceptual experiences can guide attention in two ways:
1. As part of their function, experiences inform subjects about their environment and guide their attention to salient aspects.
2. As part of their phenomenology, experiences feel like they are drawing attention towards certain objects or sounds.
Some descriptions of guidance include it feeling like a command to focus on something, or a conflict between what one wants to focus on versus what their experience wants. Guiding experiences directly cause and sustain attention on the objects of those experiences due to their phenomenal properties. They also make subjective sense of the focused attention. Any theory of perceptual guidance must meet the integration challenge of explaining how guidance fits with other aspects of experience, attention, and behavior
Abstract the unity of mind and feelings in the process of cognition.AlaaAlchyad
The mind is the set of thinking faculties including cognitive aspects such as consciousness, imagination, perception, thinking, judgment, language, and memory, as well as non-cognitive aspects such as emotion. Under the scientific physicalist interpretation, the mind is housed at least in part in the brain
The original meaning of Old English gemynd was the faculty of memory, not of thought in general. Hence call to mind, come to mind, keep in mind, to have mind of, etc. The word retains this sense in Scotland.[1] Old English had other words to express "mind", such as hyge "mind, spirit".[2]
Chapter 6: Perception
Selective Attention
At any moment we are conscious of a very limited amount of all that we are capable of experiencing. One example of this selective attention is the cocktail party effect—attending to only one voice among many. Another example is inattentional blindness, which refers to our blocking of a brief visual interruption when focusing on other sights.
Perceptual Illusions
Visual and auditory illusions were fascinating scientists even as psychology emerged. Explaining illusions required an understanding of how we transform sensations into meaningful perceptions, so the study of perception became one of psychology’s first concerns. Conflict between visual and other sensory information is usually resolved with the mind’s accepting the visual data, a tendency known as visual capture.
Perceptual Organization
From a top-down perspective, we see how we transform sensory information into meaningful perceptions when we are aided by knowledge and expectations.
The early Gestalt psychologists were impressed with the seemingly innate way we organize fragmentary sensory data into whole perceptions. Our minds structure the information that comes to us in several demonstrable ways:
Form Perception
To recognize an object, we must first perceive it (see it as a figure) as distinct from its surroundings (the ground). We must also organize the figure into a meaningful form. Several Gestalt principles—proximity, similarity, continuity, connectedness, and closure—describe this process.
Depth Perception
Research on the visual cliff revealed that many species perceive the world in three dimensions at, or very soon after, birth. We transform two-dimensional retinal images into three-dimensional perceptions by using binocular cues, such as retinal disparity, and monocular cues, such as the relative sizes of objects.
Motion Perception
Our brain computes motion as objects move across or toward the retina. Large objects appear to move more slowly than smaller objects. A quick succession of images, as in a motion picture or on a lighted sign, can also create an illusion of movement.
Perceptual Constancy
Having perceived an object as a coherent figure and having located it in space, how then do we recognize it—despite the varying images that it may cast on our retinas? Size, shape, and lightness constancies describe how objects appear to have unchanging characteristics regardless of their distance, shape, or motion. These constancies explain several of the well-known visual illusions. For example, familiarity with the size-distance relationships in a carpentered world of rectangular shapes makes people more susceptible to the Müller-Lyer illusion.
Perceptual Interpretation
The most direct tests of the nature-nurture issue come from experiments that modify human perceptions.
Sensory Deprivation and Restored Vision
For many species, infancy is a critical period during which experience must activate the brain’s innate visual mechanisms. If cataract removal restores eyesight to adults who were blind from birth, they remain unable to perceive the world normally. Generally, they can distinguish figure from ground and can perceive colors, but they are unable to recognize shapes and forms. In controlled experiments, animals have been reared with severely restricted visual input. When their visual exposure is returned to normal, they, too, suffer enduring visual handicaps.
Perceptual Adaptation
Human vision is remarkably adaptable. Given glasses that shift the world slightly to the left or right, or even turn it upside down, people manage to adapt their movements and, with practice, to move about with ease.
Perceptual Set
Clear evidence that perception is influenced by our experience—our learned assumptions and beliefs—as well as by sensory input comes from the many demonstrations of perceptual set and context effects. The schemas we have learned help us to interpret otherwise ambiguous stimu
On which basis we have artistic preferences?
What’s behind the emotional connection that we establish with a certain image or a specific form?
Why sometimes we tend to attribute life to an image or feel an object as a piece of us?
And finally, what kind of benefit could bring us if we pay more attention to these dynamics?
Abstract the unity of mind and feelings in the process of cognition.AlaaAlchyad
The mind is the set of thinking faculties including cognitive aspects such as consciousness, imagination, perception, thinking, judgment, language, and memory, as well as non-cognitive aspects such as emotion. Under the scientific physicalist interpretation, the mind is housed at least in part in the brain
The original meaning of Old English gemynd was the faculty of memory, not of thought in general. Hence call to mind, come to mind, keep in mind, to have mind of, etc. The word retains this sense in Scotland.[1] Old English had other words to express "mind", such as hyge "mind, spirit".[2]
Chapter 6: Perception
Selective Attention
At any moment we are conscious of a very limited amount of all that we are capable of experiencing. One example of this selective attention is the cocktail party effect—attending to only one voice among many. Another example is inattentional blindness, which refers to our blocking of a brief visual interruption when focusing on other sights.
Perceptual Illusions
Visual and auditory illusions were fascinating scientists even as psychology emerged. Explaining illusions required an understanding of how we transform sensations into meaningful perceptions, so the study of perception became one of psychology’s first concerns. Conflict between visual and other sensory information is usually resolved with the mind’s accepting the visual data, a tendency known as visual capture.
Perceptual Organization
From a top-down perspective, we see how we transform sensory information into meaningful perceptions when we are aided by knowledge and expectations.
The early Gestalt psychologists were impressed with the seemingly innate way we organize fragmentary sensory data into whole perceptions. Our minds structure the information that comes to us in several demonstrable ways:
Form Perception
To recognize an object, we must first perceive it (see it as a figure) as distinct from its surroundings (the ground). We must also organize the figure into a meaningful form. Several Gestalt principles—proximity, similarity, continuity, connectedness, and closure—describe this process.
Depth Perception
Research on the visual cliff revealed that many species perceive the world in three dimensions at, or very soon after, birth. We transform two-dimensional retinal images into three-dimensional perceptions by using binocular cues, such as retinal disparity, and monocular cues, such as the relative sizes of objects.
Motion Perception
Our brain computes motion as objects move across or toward the retina. Large objects appear to move more slowly than smaller objects. A quick succession of images, as in a motion picture or on a lighted sign, can also create an illusion of movement.
Perceptual Constancy
Having perceived an object as a coherent figure and having located it in space, how then do we recognize it—despite the varying images that it may cast on our retinas? Size, shape, and lightness constancies describe how objects appear to have unchanging characteristics regardless of their distance, shape, or motion. These constancies explain several of the well-known visual illusions. For example, familiarity with the size-distance relationships in a carpentered world of rectangular shapes makes people more susceptible to the Müller-Lyer illusion.
Perceptual Interpretation
The most direct tests of the nature-nurture issue come from experiments that modify human perceptions.
Sensory Deprivation and Restored Vision
For many species, infancy is a critical period during which experience must activate the brain’s innate visual mechanisms. If cataract removal restores eyesight to adults who were blind from birth, they remain unable to perceive the world normally. Generally, they can distinguish figure from ground and can perceive colors, but they are unable to recognize shapes and forms. In controlled experiments, animals have been reared with severely restricted visual input. When their visual exposure is returned to normal, they, too, suffer enduring visual handicaps.
Perceptual Adaptation
Human vision is remarkably adaptable. Given glasses that shift the world slightly to the left or right, or even turn it upside down, people manage to adapt their movements and, with practice, to move about with ease.
Perceptual Set
Clear evidence that perception is influenced by our experience—our learned assumptions and beliefs—as well as by sensory input comes from the many demonstrations of perceptual set and context effects. The schemas we have learned help us to interpret otherwise ambiguous stimu
On which basis we have artistic preferences?
What’s behind the emotional connection that we establish with a certain image or a specific form?
Why sometimes we tend to attribute life to an image or feel an object as a piece of us?
And finally, what kind of benefit could bring us if we pay more attention to these dynamics?
Husserl's phenomenology a short introduction for psychologistsMarc Applebaum, PhD
This is the presentation I used to set the philosophical context for students in my graduate seminar in descriptive phenomenological psychological research--it is an outline of some central Husserlian concepts, and assumes no prior acquaintance with Husserl's work. Naturally, I supplemented the slides with many experiential examples!
Presented at Spirit Rock Meditation Center - December, 2011.
The biological evolution of awareness and the apparent self; what neuroscience tells us about the distributed and endlessly variable neural nature of the apparent self; the stress, suffering, and interpersonal difficulties that come from “excesses of self”; the importance of healthy self-compassion and self-advocacy; how to heal injuries to self-worth; methods for taking things less personally, relaxing possessiveness, and feeling more at one with all things.
11Chapter 2ACT’s Six Core ProcessesA number of thi.docxdrennanmicah
11
Chapter 2
ACT’s Six Core Processes
A number of things make ACT unique among therapies and approaches. One of ACT’s differences stands out:
It is based on a scientific program that does not simply theorize what helps; rather, each component of
ACT is analyzed and presented separately to explicitly detail how it helps people live a richer, more vital
life. ACT is composed of six such components that we refer to as the six core processes. Each of the processes is
individual but not mutually exclusive. This means that each one of the processes works with the others. When
combined, the six core processes form a circular model that represents psychological flexibility.
The six core processes of ACT can be viewed separately and defined individually. In this chapter, we look at
each process in detail, which will be helpful to you in learning ACT as you will see how each process makes
ACT work. Furthermore, each process is individually mediated to be a valid mechanism of change. That means
if you successfully focus on any one of these processes in your clinical work, you should see an improvement in
psychological flexibility. This last term, psychological flexibility, represents the whole ACT model of health.
All six processes seek to increase psychological flexibility or coming in full contact with painful experiences
and with uniquely chosen values, while consciously choosing the actions to engage in a meaningful life.
Notice from this description that psychological flexibility does not prescribe one’s attempts to escape or avoid
painful experiences but instead invites experiencing them. To work with our pain where painful experiences
do not exclusively govern our behavior. That is what ACT’s six processes are about. The six processes include
acceptance, defusion, present moment, self-as-context, values, and commitment.
ACCEPTANCE
Acceptance is practicing openness to private events (thoughts, feelings, sensations, memories). We often focus
on our clients’ most difficult private events (e.g., anxiety, sadness, physical pain, etc.) as targets for therapy.
In ACT, individuals are encouraged to be accepting of their experience, rather than avoiding private events
such as anxiety, sadness, or physical pain. Because the term acceptance can have different meanings to others,
it is important to note that in ACT, acceptance means a willingness to come into contact with a person’s
whole experience, including the unpleasant internal stuff that shows up. Acceptance is not liking or wanting
these experiences, is not begrudgingly or angrily saying they exist, and is not giving up and not doing anything;
rather we encourage a willingness to notice those difficult private events, to allow them to be there as part of
your experience.
Now, because unpleasant private events can be painful, we do not encourage this contact with private
experiences without a function. The function of acceptance is to further the goal of working toward.
WHAT WE
BELIEVE
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/lagnado-lab/experiments/christos/causeAndTime/
WHAT WE
BELIEVE
The Invisible Gorilla Test (1999)
Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris
The Invisible Gorilla Test (1999)
Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris
The Hortus Deliciarum, Herrad von Landsber, 1870
WHAT WE SEE IS
WHAT WE BELIEVE!
The Wilton Diptych, 1395-1399
James Turrell, Virtuality squared, 2014
The way we observe is affected by a
whole series of learnt assumptions
and experiences.
James Turrell, Apani, 2011
A phenomenon of perception caused by exposure to an unstructured and homogeneous visual
field. Since our brains are designed to find patterns, it can start to make things up when there's no
real pattern to find. The Ganzfeld effect frequently causes hallucinations and an altered state of
mind.
GANZFEL EFFECT:
https://vimeo.com/69357924
SEEING / OBSERVATION
“ It is important to realize that observation is much more than
merely seeing something; it also involves a mental process. In
all observations there are two elements : (a) the sense-
perceptual element (usually visual) and (b) the mental, which
may be partly conscious and partly unconscious. ”
- The Art of Scientific Investigation, W. I. B. Beveridge
ACTIVEOBSERVATION
“ It is important to realize that observation is much more than
merely seeing something; it also involves a mental process. In
all observations there are two elements : (a) the sense-
perceptual element (usually visual) and (b) the mental, which
may be partly conscious and partly unconscious.
Active observation involves firstly noticing some object or
event. The thing noticed will only become significant if the
mind of the observer either consciously or unconsciously
relates it to some relevant knowledge or past experience, or if
in pondering on it subsequently he arrives at some
hypothesis. ”
- The Art of Scientific Investigation, W. I. B. Beveridge
HOW TO PRACTICE?
1. Identify what to observe.
2. Become familiar with the
object/event in its setting.
3. Determine how to observe the
object or event (sight, sound, touch,
taste, smell, measurement).
4. Consider any biases or frames of
reference that may impact the
observation.
5. Decide on a format for recording the
observation.
6. Use your sensory elements to
observe the object/event and identify
the details.
7. Immediate review: After observing the
event, try to process the information that
you observed in as many modes as
available to you, e.g., writing, speaking,
typing, drawing, acting out, seeing, etc.
Immediate active processing is an
important part of active observation.
Chuck Close, Lucas, 1986
Chuck Close, Phil, 2011
Philip Glass, A Musical Portrait of Chuck Close, 2005
Alfred Yarbus’s eye tracking studies, circa 1967
FOVEAL VISION & SACCADE
METACOGNITION
The act of consciously considering one's own thought processes by
planning, monitoring, and evaluating them.
(thinking abou.
2 Peter 3: Because some scriptures are hard to understand and some will force them to say things God never intended, Peter warns us to take care.
https://youtu.be/nV4kGHFsEHw
What Should be the Christian View of Anime?Joe Muraguri
We will learn what Anime is and see what a Christian should consider before watching anime movies? We will also learn a little bit of Shintoism religion and hentai (the craze of internet pornography today).
The Good News, newsletter for June 2024 is hereNoHo FUMC
Our monthly newsletter is available to read online. We hope you will join us each Sunday in person for our worship service. Make sure to subscribe and follow us on YouTube and social media.
Lesson 9 - Resisting Temptation Along the Way.pptxCelso Napoleon
Lesson 9 - Resisting Temptation Along the Way
SBs – Sunday Bible School
Adult Bible Lessons 2nd quarter 2024 CPAD
MAGAZINE: THE CAREER THAT IS PROPOSED TO US: The Path of Salvation, Holiness and Perseverance to Reach Heaven
Commentator: Pastor Osiel Gomes
Presentation: Missionary Celso Napoleon
Renewed in Grace
HANUMAN STORIES: TIMELESS TEACHINGS FOR TODAY’S WORLDLearnyoga
Hanuman Stories: Timeless Teachings for Today’s World" delves into the inspiring tales of Hanuman, highlighting lessons of devotion, strength, and selfless service that resonate in modern life. These stories illustrate how Hanuman's unwavering faith and courage can guide us through challenges and foster resilience. Through these timeless narratives, readers can find profound wisdom to apply in their daily lives.
The Chakra System in our body - A Portal to Interdimensional Consciousness.pptxBharat Technology
each chakra is studied in greater detail, several steps have been included to
strengthen your personal intention to open each chakra more fully. These are designed
to draw forth the highest benefit for your spiritual growth.
Exploring the Mindfulness Understanding Its Benefits.pptxMartaLoveguard
Slide 1: Title: Exploring the Mindfulness: Understanding Its Benefits
Slide 2: Introduction to Mindfulness
Mindfulness, defined as the conscious, non-judgmental observation of the present moment, has deep roots in Buddhist meditation practice but has gained significant popularity in the Western world in recent years. In today's society, filled with distractions and constant stimuli, mindfulness offers a valuable tool for regaining inner peace and reconnecting with our true selves. By cultivating mindfulness, we can develop a heightened awareness of our thoughts, feelings, and surroundings, leading to a greater sense of clarity and presence in our daily lives.
Slide 3: Benefits of Mindfulness for Mental Well-being
Practicing mindfulness can help reduce stress and anxiety levels, improving overall quality of life.
Mindfulness increases awareness of our emotions and teaches us to manage them better, leading to improved mood.
Regular mindfulness practice can improve our ability to concentrate and focus our attention on the present moment.
Slide 4: Benefits of Mindfulness for Physical Health
Research has shown that practicing mindfulness can contribute to lowering blood pressure, which is beneficial for heart health.
Regular meditation and mindfulness practice can strengthen the immune system, aiding the body in fighting infections.
Mindfulness may help reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and obesity by reducing stress and improving overall lifestyle habits.
Slide 5: Impact of Mindfulness on Relationships
Mindfulness can help us better understand others and improve communication, leading to healthier relationships.
By focusing on the present moment and being fully attentive, mindfulness helps build stronger and more authentic connections with others.
Mindfulness teaches us how to be present for others in difficult times, leading to increased compassion and understanding.
Slide 6: Mindfulness Techniques and Practices
Focusing on the breath and mindful breathing can be a simple way to enter a state of mindfulness.
Body scan meditation involves focusing on different parts of the body, paying attention to any sensations and feelings.
Practicing mindful walking and eating involves consciously focusing on each step or bite, with full attention to sensory experiences.
Slide 7: Incorporating Mindfulness into Daily Life
You can practice mindfulness in everyday activities such as washing dishes or taking a walk in the park.
Adding mindfulness practice to daily routines can help increase awareness and presence.
Mindfulness helps us become more aware of our needs and better manage our time, leading to balance and harmony in life.
Slide 8: Summary: Embracing Mindfulness for Full Living
Mindfulness can bring numerous benefits for physical and mental health.
Regular mindfulness practice can help achieve a fuller and more satisfying life.
Mindfulness has the power to change our perspective and way of perceiving the world, leading to deeper se
In Jude 17-23 Jude shifts from piling up examples of false teachers from the Old Testament to a series of practical exhortations that flow from apostolic instruction. He preserves for us what may well have been part of the apostolic catechism for the first generation of Christ-followers. In these instructions Jude exhorts the believer to deal with 3 different groups of people: scoffers who are "devoid of the Spirit", believers who have come under the influence of scoffers and believers who are so entrenched in false teaching that they need rescue and pose some real spiritual risk for the rescuer. In all of this Jude emphasizes Jesus' call to rescue straying sheep, leaving the 99 safely behind and pursuing the 1.
The Book of Joshua is the sixth book in the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament, and is the first book of the Deuteronomistic history, the story of Israel from the conquest of Canaan to the Babylonian exile.
The PBHP DYC ~ Reflections on The Dhamma (English).pptxOH TEIK BIN
A PowerPoint Presentation based on the Dhamma Reflections for the PBHP DYC for the years 1993 – 2012. To motivate and inspire DYC members to keep on practicing the Dhamma and to do the meritorious deed of Dhammaduta work.
The texts are in English.
For the Video with audio narration, comments and texts in English, please check out the Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF2g_43NEa0
Why is this So? ~ Do Seek to KNOW (English & Chinese).pptxOH TEIK BIN
A PowerPoint Presentation based on the Dhamma teaching of Kamma-Vipaka (Intentional Actions-Ripening Effects).
A Presentation for developing morality, concentration and wisdom and to spur us to practice the Dhamma diligently.
The texts are in English and Chinese.
3. +
The Explosion Experience
Suppose that you are sitting at your desk and working. Suddenly there is
an explosion right outside of your window. You hear that and have a
vivid perceptual experience.
4. +
What does the Explosion
Experience tell you?
It tells you what there is: there is a loud, high-pitched sound to your
left.
the experience is informing.
It tells you what to do: “look and listen to what is happening there!”
the experience is guiding.
Some intuitive descriptions of perceptual guidance
like a command to focus your attention on that sound.
a conflict between your desire to focus on your work; you want one
thing, your experience wants otherwise.
you feel a perceptual pull to focus attention on that sound.
5. +
Informing and Guiding
Informing
Informational Function of perceptual experience.
The function of perception is to deliver an objective representation of features in the
subject’s environment (e.g. Burge 2010).
The rational role of perceptual experience is to rationalize perceptual beliefs.
Informational Phenomenology of perceptual experience.
The phenomenology of perceptual experience is or supervenes on how the world
appears to the subject of that experience (“what is (re)present(ed) to the subject”)
Guiding
Guiding Function of perceptual experience.
(Part of) the function of perception is to guide the attention of the subject to salient
aspects of her surroundings.
? (Part of) the rational role of perceptual experience is to rationalize attending to those
salient aspects
Guiding Phenomenology of perceptual experience
(Part of) the phenomenology of perceptual experience is to feel your attention drawn to
various aspects of your surroundings.
7. +
Perceptual Guidance Everywhere?
The focus seems to move relentlessly,
shimmering and fidgeting no matter how
hard we may try to concentrate on a
thought, preserve an image, or otherwise
freeze the instant. Not only does it seem
quite impossible to hold a particular
thought or percept fully in mind for an
indefinite period, it also seems futile to
attempt to keep consciousness away from
a chosen target by fixing our minds on
something else. Consciousness simply
cannot hold itself still.
Wegner 1997, p. 295
8. +
Two Claims
Guidance
Some perceptual experiences are guiding
1. as part of their function;
2. as part of their phenomenology.
Could also have views on which there is guidance phenomenology, but it is not perceptual.
Could have views that accept only the functional or only the phenomenal part.
Universal Guidance
All perceptual experiences are guiding
1. as part of their function;
2. as part of their phenomenology.
Guidance comes in degrees. Commands can have different strengths.
Some experiences guide more, others less; but all a little bit.
Interesting when applied to fairly fine-grained experiences (experiences of colors, color-
instances, shapes, single objects, presences, absences, ...) [more below]
9. +
Overview
Perceptual Guidance in Context
Guiding attention and guiding other activities
Perceptual Guidance and Involuntary Attention
Perceptual Guidance and Salience
Constraints on a theory of Perceptual Guidance
Characteristics of Guidance
The Integration Challenge
How to Explain Perceptual Guidance
The Significance of Perceptual Guidance
11. +
Just one among many?
In Perceptual Guidance, perceptual experience guides attention. It says:
Attend to this!
Given a number of natural models, attention guidance might be seen as one
instance of a broader set of phenomena (“Imperative Aspects of Perceptual
Experience”):
Do A!
I should do A!
A-ing is called for!
Guiding attention and guiding other
activities
12. +
Just one among many?
Compare also that one might think that voluntary attention is an action in the same
sense as, say, dancing, turning your head, hammering a nail in the wall, returning a
tennis ball, writing a philosophy paper:
You can intend them, try to do them them, decide to do them, stop doing them, etc.
There might be restrictions on what a particular subject can, say, try to do at a particular time.
But arguably these restriction are not due to the nature of trying.
Similarly, one might think that if there is perceptual attention guidance then there
could be perceptual guidance for other activities. At least, one might think, there are
no restrictions on what perception can guide that are due to the nature of
perception.
Guiding attention and guiding other
activities
13. +
Guiding attention and guiding other
activities
Outside perceptual experience (in a narrow sense):
Itch experiences as commands to scratch: scratch here! (Hall 2008)
Pain experiences as commands to get rid of a bodily disturbance (Klein
2007, Martinez 2011)
Note that these are fairly naturally treated as kinds of experience or
modalities. The case for the claim that either their function or their
phenomenology is exhaustively informational has never been very strong
(they were always “problem cases” for representationalists)
14. +
Guiding attention and guiding other
activities
Within perceptual experience (in a narrow sense):
Husserl, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Dreyfus, Cussins, Kelly.
“[I]nkstand, pen, ink, paper, blotting pad, table,
lamp, furniture, windows, doors, room [...] never
show themselves proximally as they are for
themselves [...] The hammering itself uncovers
the specific 'manipulability' of the hammer. The
kind of Being which equipment possesses [...]
we call "readiness-to-hand". When we deal
with them by using them and manipulating
then, this activity is not a blind one; it has its
own kind of sight by which our manipulation
is guided”
15. +
Guiding attention and guiding other
activities
Within perceptual experience (in a narrow sense):
Husserl, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Dreyfus, Cussins, Kelly.
[C]onsider a tennis swing. [...] if one is
expert at the game, things are going well,
and one is absorbed in the game, what
one experiences is more like one's arm
going up and its being drawn to the
appropriate position, the racket forming
the optimal angle with the court - an angle
one need not even be aware of - all this
so as to complete the gestalt made up of
the court, one's running opponent, and the
oncoming ball.
16. +
Guiding attention and guiding other
activities
Within perceptual experience (in a narrow sense):
Husserl, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Dreyfus, Cussins, Kelly.
Many years ago I used to ride a motorcycle around
London [...] One time I was stopped by a
policeman, who asked me "Do you know how fast
you were travelling?” [...] I was unable to tell the
policeman my speed, yet surely I did know [...] The
speed was presented to me as a certain way of
wiggling through and around heavy traffic [...] as a
felt rotational pressure in my right hand as it held
the throttle grip [...] a felt vibration of the road and a
rush of wind, a visual rush of surfaces, a sense of
how the immediate environment would afford
certain motions and resist others
17. +
Guiding attention and guiding other
activities
Detachability
All of these authors try to argue for much more than for Generalized
Perceptual Guidance:
Heidegger: argue for a metaphysics with different modes of being.
Dreyfus: argue for an anti-intellectualist account of know-how and skill
Cussins: argue that experience has non-propositional, non-truth-
conditional content in whose terms we can explain propositional content
Kelly: argue that shape perception depends on generalized guidance.
The Generalized Guidance Claim though arguably can be detached from
these larger projects. We can consider whether it is true and how to best to
develop (if true) in independence of those larger projects.
18. +
Guiding attention and guiding other
activities
A special one?
Attention guidance might, though, also be special and unique:
Suppose one is not convinced of the Heidegger, Dreyfus, Cussins examples.
One might still accept Guidance for attention.
Maybe perceptual experience is a kind of experience that allows only for
perceptual attention guidance (while pain and itch experiences allow other
forms of guidance).
Attention, after all, is a perceptual activity.
Maybe the best model for attention Guidance does not generalize:
maybe it isn’t in the end quite like an imperative, though shares some
similarities.
19. +
Guiding attention and guiding other
activities
Reasons to focus on attention guidance
powerful phenomenological case.
powerful functional case.
lots of empirical data that can guide philosophical theorizing.
interesting consequences.
20. +
Guidance and Involuntary Attention
Perceptual Guidance is directly connected to involuntary
attention (arguably constitutively)
to have a guiding experience is to “feel you attention drawn to
something” (sometimes against your will) without trying or intending to
attend.
Involuntary attention (and with it perceptual guidance, I claim) has been the
subject of intense scientific study.
22. +
Guidance and Involuntary Attention
Some general remarks about these studies.
The cue (which attracts attention) is almost always consciously
perceived (though some recent studies, e.g. Jiang et al. 2006, suggest that there
are rare exceptions).
The experience of the cue temporally precedes and most likely
causes focus of attention to its location.
The features that are reliable cues, and whose experience tends to
guide attention are fairly hetereogenous and context dependent.
In vision: color, orientation, motion, size, luminance, onset (different for
other modalities); influenced by familiarity, and prior experience
Attention cueing is not automatic (except maybe in rare cases)
23. +
Guidance and Involuntary Attention
Yantis and Jonides (1990) asked whether attention capture is
automatic in the following sense
“Attempts by a subject to prevent an automatic process from proceeding are
not successful”
They call this “The Intentionality Criterion” for automaticity
They found that attention capture is not automatic in that sense
A voluntary cue will interfere with an involuntary cue.
Further studies* confirmed that in the overwhelming number of cases:
what captures attention is contingent on which task the subject is performing,
her prior experience, her goals, rewards, interests, etc
“Contingent Capture”
* Folk, Remington and Johnston 1992; Yantis 1993; Bacon and
Egeth 1994; Yantis and Egeth 1999; Serences et al. 2005;
Folk and Remington 2006; Chen and Mordkoff 2007; Ansorge
and Horstmann 2007; Kiss et al. 2008; etc.
24. +
Guidance and Involuntary Attention
Summary:
The conscious experience of cues draws subjects’ attention to
various aspects of her surroundings.
That process is not directly controlled by the subject (in any sense
that would make it an intentional action).
Yet, that process is also strongly context dependent and “in
conversation” with the subject’s overall motivational system.
25. +
Guidance and Salience
Despite the heterogeneity of features whose experience captures
attention, it is natural to speak of a property they have in common
when they do capture attention:
What captures attention is salient, and does so in virtue of being
salient.
26. +
Guidance and Salience
Notions of Salience
Feature Salience. Probably best viewed as a relational property, i.e.
the property shared by all those properties, objects that are salient to a
certain perceiver in a certain perceptual context given a certain
background and certain goals.
only what is currently perceived is feature salient.
arguably comes in degrees.
Statistical Salience. “Explosions (in general) are salient events.” Natural
to understand in terms of perceptual salience: entity e is statistically
salient just in case in normal conditions N entity e would be
perceptually salient to a class of perceivers C to a sufficiently high
degree d.
often shows up in explanation: why did they meet at the fountain? Because it
was such a salient object on the otherwise empty square.
27. +
Guidance and Salience
Notions of Salience
Generalized Feature Salience. Generalization from perceptual
salience to non-perceptual cases: options, ideas, solutions might be
salient (for a subject) in a situation. When they are they capture the
subject’s attention.
Phenomenal Salience. A phenomenal property of experiences (not of
mind-independent objects).
An experience e of x is phenomenally salient in situation s iff x is
perceptually salient in s.
28. +
Guidance and Salience
Proposal
The class of attention guiding experiences is the class of
phenomenally salient experiences.
An experience is attention guiding in virtue of being phenomenally
salient.
Will need to answer what is explanatorily prior: phenomenal salience
or feature salience?
are phenomenally salient experiences attention guiding primarily because of
some property of the experience or primarily because of a property a feature
is experienced to have?
30. +
Guiding experience (=phenomenally salient experiences) play a a
certain causal role
They cause a perceptual state with a certain focus of attention.
They do so directly: the causal chain doesn’t go through the subject’s
desires, intentions, etc.
Which properties of guiding experience are relevant for that causal
role?
Two options: phenomenal properties or non-phenomenal properties
Arguably, the relevant properties are the phenomenal properties, in
particular: phenomenal salience.
It is part of the nature of guiding experiences that they play this causal
role
what it is to be that kind of experience entails playing that causal role.
Comparable to itch experiences.
Characteristics of Perceptual
Guidance
31. +
Causal Role
Guiding experiences as part of their nature directly cause and causally sustain
the focus of attention to be centered on the objects of those experiences in
virtue of their phenomenal properties.
Characteristics of Perceptual
Guidance
32. +
Sense-Making
Consider what Dreyfus (2005, p.13) says about perceptual action guidance
“It seems that, either one is pushed around like a thing by meaningless physical and
psychological forces, or else one’s reasons, explicit or implicit, motivate one’s actions [...]
“Merleau-Ponty faces this challenge by introducing a third way one can be led to cope - a
way he calls motivation. This is not a psychological concept for him but a perceptual one.”
The rough idea here, I take it, is that perceptually guided activities in some way
“make-sense” from the subject’s point of view – even though they are not
intentional actions, not directly controlled by her reasons.
Perceptually guided attention (when attention is captured by what is feature
salient) has some features that makes it natural to also put it in such an
intermediary category:
Caused and causally sustained by the instantiation of certain phenomenal properties.
Responsive to the subject’s motivational system.
Characteristics of Perceptual
Guidance
33. +
Sense-Making
Guiding experiences make (subjective) sense of the focus of attention to be
centered on the objects of those experience.
Note:
The intuitive datum of sense-making is not extremely clear. So, it’s not very
clear what exactly a philosophical theory of perceptual guidance has to
accomodate.
Characteristics of Perceptual
Guidance
34. +
Any account of perceptual guidance has to meet what I shall call “The
Integration Challenge”
This is the challenge of integrating the guiding aspect of perceptual
experience with its informing aspect:
How can perceptual experience be both like an imperative and like an
assertion?
How can experience be in some way like belief and in some way like an
intention?
The Integration Challenge
36. +
Models of Perceptual Guidance
Building Block Models
The explosion experience has two parts, an informing part and a guiding
part. It is the mereological sum of these to parts.
The informing part has a mind-to-world direction of fit, the guiding part a world-to-
mind direction of fit.
The explosion experience = experientially-believe <this is loud and left> +
experientially-desire <attending to this>
Analogy: being please that p = believing that p + desiring that p.
Advantage
easy to fit into a standard Humean picture that maintains fundamental divisions
between motivational and non-motivational states.
Disadvantages
can’t seem to explain the unity of the explosion experience.
hard to see why perceptual guidance deserves to be called “perceptual”
37. +
Models of Perceptual Guidance
Descriptive Content Models
The explosion experience represents <the explosion is loud, to the left
and feature salient>
Phenomenal salience gets explained by feature salience.
Feature salience might be a simple or relational property. It is
experienced, but possibly nothing has it.
Advantage
easy to explain the unity of the explosion experience
Fits into standard representationalist accounts of perceptual experience
Disadvantages
Can’t explain why the causal role of guiding experiences is essential to them
Can’t provide any plausible account of sense-making
38. +
Models of Perceptual Guidance
Normative Content Models
The explosion experience represents <the explosion is loud, to your left
and to be attended>
Different ways of understanding “to-be-doneness” (see Susanna’s talk)
moral, prudential, primitive
To-be-doneness might be relational (“by me now”)
Advantage
easy to explain the unity of the explosion experience
Fits into (fairly) standard representationalist accounts of perceptual experience
Can explain why the causal role of guiding experiences is essential to them
Can provide a plausible account of sense-making
39. +
Models of Perceptual Guidance
Normative Content Models
The explosion experience represents <the explosion is loud, to your left
and to be attended>
Disadvantages
not clear what exactly these normative properties are.
not clear that these normative properties are naturalistically kosher.
not clear that it gets the direction of explanation right.
Compare non-cognitivism about normative judgments (when you judge that
such-and-such is to be done you express a certain attitude). The attitudes here
are explanatorily prior to the representation of a normative property (e.g.
Gibbard 2003)
Same here: arguably it is because phenomenally salient experiences are a
certain kind of state that attending is experienced as to be done, not the other
way around.
40. +
Models of Perceptual Guidance
Imperative Content Model
The explosion experience represents <the explosion is loud and to the
left, and attend to it!>
Advantages
Arguably all of the ones of the normative content model.
No need for normative properties.
Need an account of imperative contents that fits with perceptual
imperatives.
salience also causally sustains the focus of attention.
the subject’s preferences arguably do not shift even when she is attending to
what is salient (“I still prefer attending to my work to attending to that #$?
explosion!”
41. +
Models of Perceptual Guidance
One way to develop the imperative content model
Think of imperative contents as dynamic contents
not a set of accuracy conditions, but a rule for updating your mental
state.
The update rule take you from an experience with the current focus of
attention to an experience with a different focus of attention
The account is compatible with understanding the focus of attention in a number of
different ways. For present purposes think of attention as prioritization: it orders or ranks
the various parts of a subject’s experience
Higher attentional
priority
42. +
Models of Perceptual Guidance
One way to develop the imperative content model
Explosion
Experience
Attending to the
Explosion
43. +
Models of Perceptual Guidance
One way to develop the imperative content model
An alternative: the rule prescribes a change in the preference
ranking (see Starr forthcoming) so that attending to the explosion is
now preferred.
Seems implausible to me in light of the above.
Shouldn’t try to force a theory of involuntary attention (arguably a fairly simple system) into
a mold devised for more complex phenomena (we should, though, keep their similarities in
sight.
44. +
Models of Perceptual Guidance
One way to develop the imperative content model
Can include both re-ordering of the attention state (when what becomes
salient is already perceived) or introduction of a new element (which was
not perceived before).
Must develop an account of explaining the force of the imperative
If that can be done, then we might get universal guidance.
46. +
A quick way of re-prioritizing that side-steps the complex
evaluation that comes with central processing.
Sensitivity to the agents motivational system let’s the agent
integrate sensitivity to the current situation with her overall
goals and concerns.
Without it the informing function of perception would be
compromised:
information overflow if everything (whether attended or not) would
be used for further processing.
sever limits to learning if further processing were limited to what is
voluntary attended.
Why is perceptual experience
guiding?