Addie Johnson & Robert W. Proctor 
Attention 
Theory and Practice

‘The book is well-organized and comprehensive in covering the essential material. The inclusion of human factors material is a strength that is not covered in other books. . . . The book is a balanced survey which will be of value to graduate students or anyone wanting to enter the field and needing a broad overview.’


                                                                      –Steven Yantis,
The Johns Hopkins University




‘My overall impression is that the authors have combined their expertise and experience in the classroom to provide a text that will clearly cover attention more completely and in a more coherent and less confusing manner than any other available text. . . . this is the best available text on the psychology of attention at the advanced undergraduate level.’



                                                                         –Mark Faust,
University of South Alabama  




‘This text represents a strong review of the empirical and theoretical developments in attention work.’



                                                                                       –Tom Busey,
Indiana University




‘A nice overview of the ′classic′ work on attention, with up-to-date consideration of the literature, usefully bringing together some more applied literatures in which attention is a central construct…The scholarship seems comprehensive and up-to-date, and the authors do a nice job of presenting research in a fair and neutral manner.’



                                                                –Richard Carlson,
Pennsylvania State University




‘The chapters present the material at a level appropriate for a first course on attention. The focus on providing a comprehensive treatment of the highlights of a variety of different topics related to attention is a strength.’



                                                                                  –Art Kramer,
University of Illinois  




Attention is one of the fastest growing research areas in cognitive psychology. In light of the growing importance of this topic, there are surprisingly few texts that provide a coherent overview of the field of attention. Authors Addie Johnson and Robert W. Proctor have written
Attention: Theory and Practice for students, researchers, and practitioners who wish to gain insight into this area in a comprehensible and consistent manner.  




Attention: Theory and Practice provides a balance between a readable overview of attention and an emphasis on how theories and paradigms for the study of attention have developed. The book highlights the important issues and major findings while giving sufficient details of experimental studies, models, and theories so that results and conclusions are easy to follow and evaluate. Rather than brushing over tricky technical details, the authors explain them clearly, giving readers the benefit of understanding the motivation for and techniques of the experiments in order to allow readers to think through results, models, and theories for themselves.  




Features and benefits of this text:

• Balanced. The book gives equal coverage to theory, experimental paradigms and results, neuropsychology, and applications.


• Adaptable. ‘Technical Boxes’ isolate technical procedures and difficult models, which can be omitted without interrupting the flow of the chapters, allowing instructors to adjust the material to the level of their course.


• Pedagogical. The book includes brief chapter previews, chapter summaries, highlighted key words, an end-of-book glossary, and an abundance of figures and tables that enhance student understanding. 

Attention is an accessible text for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in psychology,  as well as an important resource for researchers and practitioners interested in gaining an overview of the field of attention.

Tabella dei contenuti

1. Historical Overview of Research on Attention – with Kim-Phuong L. Vu

The Philosophical Period

The Period from 1860 to 1909

The Period from 1910 to 1949

The Period from 1950 to 1974

The Period from 1975 to Present

Summary & Preview of the Book

2. Information Processing & the Study of Attention

The Information Processing Approach

Mental Resources

Behavioral Measures

Signal Detection Methods

Psychophysiological Measures

Brain Imaging Techniques

Summary

3. Selective Visual Attention

The Function of Selective Attention

The Locus of Selection

The Spotlight of Attention

Exogenous & Endogenous Orienting

Space-based versus Object-based Attention

Visual Search

Combining Object- and Space-based Selection in Theories of Visual Attention

Summary

4. Auditory & Crossmodal Attention

Auditory Selective Attention

Divided Auditory Attention

Alerting & Orienting Functions of Auditory

Attention

Attentional Set

Cross-modal Attention

Summary

5. Attention & Inhibition

Types of Inhibition

(Attempted) Inhibition of Irrelevant Information

Inhibition of Return

Visual Marking

Negative Priming

Inhibition of Thought & Action

Responding to a Signal to Stop

Summary.

6. Multiple-Task Performance

Managing Attentional Resources

Setting Goals & Intentions

Control of Multi-step Tasks

Intentional Control & Multitasking

Attention & Skill

A Closer Look at Dual-task Performance

Summary

7. Memory & Attention – with Mark Nieuwenstein

Sensory Memory

Working Memory

The Role of Attention in Encoding & Retrieval

Memory Consolidation & Attention

The Bottleneck Model Revisited

Procedural Memory

Implicit Learning

Attention, Memory, & Skill

Summary

8. Attention & Displays – with Kim-Phuong L. Vu

Visual Displays

Organization of Displays

Auditory & Multisensory Displays

Supervisory Control

Complex Tasks & Display Arrangements

Sustained Attention & Vigilance

Summary

9. Mental Workload & Situation Awareness

Processing Resources

Processing Strategies

Measuring Mental Workload

Situation Awareness

Human Error

Summary

10. Individual Differences in Attention

Attentional Ability

Attention & Intelligence

Intra-individual Differences in Attention

Attention Across the Lifespan

Training & Attention

Attention, & Memory & Emotion

Summary

11. The Neural Basis of Attention – Robert Melara

Tools of the Cognitive Neuroscientist

Mismatch Negativity: The Automatic Detection of Change

Selective Attention

The Duality of Selection

The Sources of Selective Control

The Sites of Selective Control

Attentional Networks

Summary.

12. Disorders of Attention – with Edward de Haan & Roy Kessels

Developmental Attention Disorders

Attention Deficits Due to Focal Lesions & Hemorrhage

Attention Deficits Following Diffuse Injury

Measuring Attention Deficits

Dementia

Attention Deficits in Psychiatric Patients

Treatment of Attention Deficits

Summary

References

Circa l’autore

Robert Proctor is Professor of Psychology at Purdue University at West Lafayette. He received his Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1975. Dr. Proctor has been teaching and conducting research in the field of attention and human performance for nearly 30 years. He conducts research on basic and applied aspects of human performance, with an emphasis on stimulus-response compatibility effects and the relation between perception and action. Dr. Proctor is member of several journal editorial boards. He has co-authored four books and co-edited two. Attention: Theory and Practice is his second book with Dr. Addie Johnson; the first, Skill Acquisition and Human Performance, was published by Sage in 1995. Together, these two authors brought an integrated perspective and broad experience to bear in crafting this book. Dr. Proctor is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society and an honorary fellow of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.