5 ms·

What a new theory of attention says about consciousness

43 points by johanam 7y ago

hbarka 7y ago
I’ve often wondered why I can focus for a very long time when working in a coffee shop, yet when working alone at home I can easily go off on a tangent.
- mettamage 7y ago
  IMO those processes you describe are from classical conditioning, operabt conditioning and the fact that you have some social control.
  - hbarka 7y ago
    Not to sound rude, but those phrases sound like cliches and don’t mean anything. There really is something to trying to tune out distractions which converts to laser focus as a net effect.
    - mettamage 7y ago
      Cool, let me go into detail with specific examples. Because those phrases are not cliche and they do mean something. Game-designers use social control (I suppose a better term is: social processes), classical and operant conditioning processes all the time! And it makes them money. In all fairness, my comment is a bundle of hypotheses, but I tend to think they are true. In my previous comment I was less nuanced about it since I wanted to be brief. But to test that they are true requires a lot of experiments. And also note: these processes may be different to other people. I can't focus in coffeeshops, for example. I'd rather be alone. Moreover, upon thinking about this more deeply, I forgot the imitation aspect of social control. I'm not going into that, this thing is long enough to write. In any case to go back to my previous comment, there are 3 processes: (A) social control (a word that I invented on my own), (B) classical conditioning and (C) operant conditioning. (A) Let's start with the easiest: how does social control play a role for you to focus a very long time when working in a coffeeshop versus working alone at home? (1) When you're alone at home, nobody is watching you. (2) You feel more free to do whatever you want because of it. Want to take a nap? Go for it! Want to work in your underpants? You can. Want to take a break and play video games/watch youtube/<insert favorite entertainment>? Yep, all possible. These things are less possible in a coffee shop. Even when it comes to entertainment: you need wear headphones. You might be embarrassed on laughing out loud publicly. You don't feel as relaxed. In other words, because other people being there in the room that are silently judging you on your behavior (i.e. social control), you won't feel as compelled to just chill in your own idiosyncratic way. Yes, you can find ways around it. Yes, you can hack it and find counter examples. But it won't be as accessible compared to doing it at your own house. So one feels less compelled to do so. (B) How does classical conditioning play a role for you to focus a very long time when working in a coffeeshop versus working alone at home? Recap on classical conditioning: bell --> food --> salivation, the learning then became bell --> salivation. In this case: a biological potent stimulus (e.g. coffee), is being paired with a previously neutral stimulus (e.g. the atmosphere). Which then results in learning: coffee shop atmoshpere is cofee high. So: atmosphere --> coffee --> coffee high, therefore: atmosphere --> coffee high. What does a coffee high do? It makes you feel more alert. Does that makes you feel more focused? Not necessarily, but it helps. Therefore, it plays a role. (C) How does operant conditioning play a role for you to focus a very long time when working in a coffeeshop versus working alone at home? Recap on operant conditioning: the strength of a behavior is modified by rewards (technical term: reinforcement) and punishment. Example: a child learns to open a box to get the sweets inside. The social control that I described earlier is a form of operant conditioning as one might anticipate a punishment for acting out of line (e.g. lying on the couch to sleep, something you can do in your house, not in a coffeeshop). You getting work done gives you a feeling of accomplishment. So if the first couple of times of working in a coffee shop went well for some reason, you tend to associate a coffee shop with a place where you get work done? Sounds obvious, I suppose, but that's what operant conditioning can mean. Drinking coffee at a nice cafe can be seen as a reward in itself, and you only get to go there if you focus and work there. --- Obviously, there are more processes at play. But the article is about how our brain suppresses the information flow of certain stimuli. You happen to experience in coffee shops that you tend to focus better, in other words that your brain suppresses information flow better than at home. I simply describe a couple of hypotheses of why this might be. The theories that I use have been validated by psychologists for decades and also by game-designers who actively use them in casual games. So their theoretical underpinning in that it works (and to some extent how it works) is quite strong. Only in your second comment, below mine do you make clear what your implicit hypothesis in the first comment was "there really is something to trying to tune out distractions which converts to laser focus as a net effect." Putting your PFC in overdrive might indeed be a thing. I wouldn't know.
- alfonsodev 7y ago
  It happens to me too, but I achieve maximum productivity during a flight. I though about several aspects that make the flight so productive. - There are just 3 roles and are very clear: pilots, stewardess and passanger. - As a passenger nobody expects anything from you, (perhaps just opening the emergency door in case of an unlikey event), not even to get work done, after all you were flying. - There are 0 surprises (in 99.99% of the flights) so you can very well rely on what's going to happen. - It has a limited time frame, and you can't do anything to accelerate it, you surrender to that. - It's noisy, but kind of white noise that is bearable with noise cancelation, 95% people don't feel like talking. - There is no internet in the airlines I use, nor mobile signal. - There is a scheduled break for food and drinks. - People can see what you are doing in the computer, so subconsciously there is some social signaling. [Edit] A bit of speculation: - The oxygen and temperature in the cabin, might be better or more constant than in your room? I'm not sure about this, I'd love to know. So I think different environments come with different limitations, and different limitations create different "games". Think what's the "game" at home, much more is possible, self-imposed limitations will require more energy or training than those created by the environment. Someone should create a co-working that reproduces the cabin flight conditions inland, but propably people will find all kind of excuses to jump out the plain :D.
Gormisdomai 7y ago
The interesting thing about this for me is that I've always assumed that the default state of an awake mind is a kind of inattentiveness where we take in an process no data at all. But this article makes it sound like, by default, our minds are constantly trying to process and take everything in, and the extra work goes in to filtering the input we get. This seems to match with the phenomenal experience of being overwhelmed in noisy or crowded situations, and of the difficult part of meditation being teaching yourself not to suppress experiences as they arise and just take everything in.
- collyw 7y ago
  > I've always assumed that the default state of an awake mind is a kind of inattentiveness where we take in an process no data at all Try a bit of meditation and you will realise this is far from the case.
PeterStuer 7y ago
If attention is achieved by tuning out other stimuli, could an attention deficit also come from an overeager filter tuning out also the target of the attention? As a child I was a voracious reader, often reading a book a day. I remember many times when the situation would allow it turning on both the television and the radio, both with sound on, to create a 'distraction field' that let me 'cocoon' in the reading. I always thought it could have been just masking distractions like 'strange noises' in the house that would cause one to have to pay attention, like some people use white noise, but could it be in this theory's model that I was putting load on the 'filters' so as to prevent them catching the desired attention target, the text I wanted to focus on?
- loceng 7y ago
  I think this is a very important concept that needs to be better understood. As others have posted in this thread, I tend to work better - at least on certain tasks, when sitting in a busy cafe vs. at home where it's quiet. It's made me realize that certain people may have an optimal minimal amount of stimulus required, otherwise leading to restlessness - boredom. It would make sense that a system, body and mind, designed or optimized for a higher level of sensory input - when active and not sleeping - wouldn't just be able to "rev down" quickly, which perhaps would be more akin to a depressed state - or suppression/repression of where someone's systems naturally want to them to efficiency wise for the amount of stimulus they can process. A quiet classroom may be a terrible environment for some people to learn - yet is common practice for most school systems.
pdkl95 7y ago
> The brain wasn’t brightening the light on stimuli of interest; it was lowering the lights on everything else. An outstanding demonstration of this process is Apollo Robbins' "pick-pocket" act[1]. You can clearly see how he gives his subject a bunch of things to think about - his hand movements, what he's talking about, sounds, touch, etc - until it fills up the subjects attention capacity and they suddenly stop noticing everything else going on right in front of them. He basically performs a denial-of-service attack on someone's attention system until they cannot notice him take their wristwatch off. All done with a flourish for the camera, of course, which works because he's not DOSing the audience's attention. A particularly good example is from his talk[2] at defcon (the entire talk is worth watching). Right when he asks "When you walked past me, did you check to see where your wallet was?" you can see the volunteer suddenly put all of his attention on that question and not his wristwatch. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoUSO_Mj1TQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoUSO_Mj1TQ [2] (demo starts at 31:22) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kkOKvPrdZ4&feature=youtu.be&t=1882 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kkOKvPrdZ4&feature=youtu.be...

43 points by johanam 7y ago

I’ve often wondered why I can focus for a very long time when working in a coffee shop, yet when working alone at home I can easily go off on a tangent.

mettamage 7y ago
IMO those processes you describe are from classical conditioning, operabt conditioning and the fact that you have some social control.
- hbarka 7y ago
  Not to sound rude, but those phrases sound like cliches and don’t mean anything. There really is something to trying to tune out distractions which converts to laser focus as a net effect.
  - mettamage 7y ago
    Cool, let me go into detail with specific examples. Because those phrases are not cliche and they do mean something. Game-designers use social control (I suppose a better term is: social processes), classical and operant conditioning processes all the time! And it makes them money. In all fairness, my comment is a bundle of hypotheses, but I tend to think they are true. In my previous comment I was less nuanced about it since I wanted to be brief. But to test that they are true requires a lot of experiments. And also note: these processes may be different to other people. I can't focus in coffeeshops, for example. I'd rather be alone. Moreover, upon thinking about this more deeply, I forgot the imitation aspect of social control. I'm not going into that, this thing is long enough to write. In any case to go back to my previous comment, there are 3 processes: (A) social control (a word that I invented on my own), (B) classical conditioning and (C) operant conditioning. (A) Let's start with the easiest: how does social control play a role for you to focus a very long time when working in a coffeeshop versus working alone at home? (1) When you're alone at home, nobody is watching you. (2) You feel more free to do whatever you want because of it. Want to take a nap? Go for it! Want to work in your underpants? You can. Want to take a break and play video games/watch youtube/<insert favorite entertainment>? Yep, all possible. These things are less possible in a coffee shop. Even when it comes to entertainment: you need wear headphones. You might be embarrassed on laughing out loud publicly. You don't feel as relaxed. In other words, because other people being there in the room that are silently judging you on your behavior (i.e. social control), you won't feel as compelled to just chill in your own idiosyncratic way. Yes, you can find ways around it. Yes, you can hack it and find counter examples. But it won't be as accessible compared to doing it at your own house. So one feels less compelled to do so. (B) How does classical conditioning play a role for you to focus a very long time when working in a coffeeshop versus working alone at home? Recap on classical conditioning: bell --> food --> salivation, the learning then became bell --> salivation. In this case: a biological potent stimulus (e.g. coffee), is being paired with a previously neutral stimulus (e.g. the atmosphere). Which then results in learning: coffee shop atmoshpere is cofee high. So: atmosphere --> coffee --> coffee high, therefore: atmosphere --> coffee high. What does a coffee high do? It makes you feel more alert. Does that makes you feel more focused? Not necessarily, but it helps. Therefore, it plays a role. (C) How does operant conditioning play a role for you to focus a very long time when working in a coffeeshop versus working alone at home? Recap on operant conditioning: the strength of a behavior is modified by rewards (technical term: reinforcement) and punishment. Example: a child learns to open a box to get the sweets inside. The social control that I described earlier is a form of operant conditioning as one might anticipate a punishment for acting out of line (e.g. lying on the couch to sleep, something you can do in your house, not in a coffeeshop). You getting work done gives you a feeling of accomplishment. So if the first couple of times of working in a coffee shop went well for some reason, you tend to associate a coffee shop with a place where you get work done? Sounds obvious, I suppose, but that's what operant conditioning can mean. Drinking coffee at a nice cafe can be seen as a reward in itself, and you only get to go there if you focus and work there. --- Obviously, there are more processes at play. But the article is about how our brain suppresses the information flow of certain stimuli. You happen to experience in coffee shops that you tend to focus better, in other words that your brain suppresses information flow better than at home. I simply describe a couple of hypotheses of why this might be. The theories that I use have been validated by psychologists for decades and also by game-designers who actively use them in casual games. So their theoretical underpinning in that it works (and to some extent how it works) is quite strong. Only in your second comment, below mine do you make clear what your implicit hypothesis in the first comment was "there really is something to trying to tune out distractions which converts to laser focus as a net effect." Putting your PFC in overdrive might indeed be a thing. I wouldn't know.
alfonsodev 7y ago
It happens to me too, but I achieve maximum productivity during a flight. I though about several aspects that make the flight so productive. - There are just 3 roles and are very clear: pilots, stewardess and passanger. - As a passenger nobody expects anything from you, (perhaps just opening the emergency door in case of an unlikey event), not even to get work done, after all you were flying. - There are 0 surprises (in 99.99% of the flights) so you can very well rely on what's going to happen. - It has a limited time frame, and you can't do anything to accelerate it, you surrender to that. - It's noisy, but kind of white noise that is bearable with noise cancelation, 95% people don't feel like talking. - There is no internet in the airlines I use, nor mobile signal. - There is a scheduled break for food and drinks. - People can see what you are doing in the computer, so subconsciously there is some social signaling. [Edit] A bit of speculation: - The oxygen and temperature in the cabin, might be better or more constant than in your room? I'm not sure about this, I'd love to know. So I think different environments come with different limitations, and different limitations create different "games". Think what's the "game" at home, much more is possible, self-imposed limitations will require more energy or training than those created by the environment. Someone should create a co-working that reproduces the cabin flight conditions inland, but propably people will find all kind of excuses to jump out the plain :D.

Gormisdomai 7y ago

The interesting thing about this for me is that I've always assumed that the default state of an awake mind is a kind of inattentiveness where we take in an process no data at all. But this article makes it sound like, by default, our minds are constantly trying to process and take everything in, and the extra work goes in to filtering the input we get. This seems to match with the phenomenal experience of being overwhelmed in noisy or crowded situations, and of the difficult part of meditation being teaching yourself not to suppress experiences as they arise and just take everything in.

collyw 7y ago
> I've always assumed that the default state of an awake mind is a kind of inattentiveness where we take in an process no data at all Try a bit of meditation and you will realise this is far from the case.

PeterStuer 7y ago

If attention is achieved by tuning out other stimuli, could an attention deficit also come from an overeager filter tuning out also the target of the attention? As a child I was a voracious reader, often reading a book a day. I remember many times when the situation would allow it turning on both the television and the radio, both with sound on, to create a 'distraction field' that let me 'cocoon' in the reading. I always thought it could have been just masking distractions like 'strange noises' in the house that would cause one to have to pay attention, like some people use white noise, but could it be in this theory's model that I was putting load on the 'filters' so as to prevent them catching the desired attention target, the text I wanted to focus on?

loceng 7y ago
I think this is a very important concept that needs to be better understood. As others have posted in this thread, I tend to work better - at least on certain tasks, when sitting in a busy cafe vs. at home where it's quiet. It's made me realize that certain people may have an optimal minimal amount of stimulus required, otherwise leading to restlessness - boredom. It would make sense that a system, body and mind, designed or optimized for a higher level of sensory input - when active and not sleeping - wouldn't just be able to "rev down" quickly, which perhaps would be more akin to a depressed state - or suppression/repression of where someone's systems naturally want to them to efficiency wise for the amount of stimulus they can process. A quiet classroom may be a terrible environment for some people to learn - yet is common practice for most school systems.

pdkl95 7y ago

> The brain wasn’t brightening the light on stimuli of interest; it was lowering the lights on everything else. An outstanding demonstration of this process is Apollo Robbins' "pick-pocket" act[1]. You can clearly see how he gives his subject a bunch of things to think about - his hand movements, what he's talking about, sounds, touch, etc - until it fills up the subjects attention capacity and they suddenly stop noticing everything else going on right in front of them. He basically performs a denial-of-service attack on someone's attention system until they cannot notice him take their wristwatch off. All done with a flourish for the camera, of course, which works because he's not DOSing the audience's attention. A particularly good example is from his talk[2] at defcon (the entire talk is worth watching). Right when he asks "When you walked past me, did you check to see where your wallet was?" you can see the volunteer suddenly put all of his attention on that question and not his wristwatch. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoUSO_Mj1TQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoUSO_Mj1TQ [2] (demo starts at 31:22) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kkOKvPrdZ4&feature=youtu.be&t=1882 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kkOKvPrdZ4&feature=youtu.be...