Visual Attention (U03901)

? Credit Points : 10 ? SCQF Level : 10 ? Acronym : PPL-4-VA-PS

Attention plays a critical role in current theories of human visual perception and visual cognition. This course will consider the role of attention in visual encoding, visual memory, visual representation, and visual experience. Topics to be covered include the distinctions between covert versus overt attention, space- versus object-based attention, and visual versus spatial attention. Phenomena and experimental paradigms to be discussed include attentional cueing, visual search, the attentional blink, change blindness, inattentional blindness, attentional capture, and the relationship between attention and eye movements. The function of attention in complex tasks such as reading and scene perception will also be discussed. These issues will be considered from the perspectives of both cognitive theory and neural implementation drawing on a variety of empirical approaches including behavioural methods (e.g., psychophysics and chronometrics) and neuroimaging.

? Keywords : visual encoding, visual memory, visual representation, visual experience

Entry Requirements

? Pre-requisites : Normally Psychology Methodology 1 (U00651) or equivalent.

Variants

? This course has variants for part year visiting students, as follows

Visual Attention (VS1) (Block 1 only)

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Psychology, (School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, Schedule I)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : 4th year

? Delivery Period : Block 1 only

? Contact Teaching Time : 2 hour(s) per week for 5 weeks

First Class Information

Date	Start	End	Room	Area	Additional Information
21/09/2007	14:00	15:50	Room S37, 7 George Square	Central

All of the following classes

Type	Day	Start	End	Area
Lecture	Friday	14:00	15:50	Central

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of the course, students will:
a) Understand the core theoretical concepts of visual attention.
b) Understand the key experimental paradigms and main sources of evidence associated with these core theoretical concepts.
c) Be able to critically evaluate the existing evidence.
d) Understand how new experiments would add to theory advancement in this area.
e) Be able to apply knowledge about visual attention in both written and oral form.