Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
Many theories of learning provide no role for learned selective attention (e.g., Anderson, 1991; Pearce, 1994; Rehder & Murphy, 2003). Selective attention is crucial, however, for explaining many phenomena in learning. The mechanism of selective attention in learning is also well motivated by its ability to minimize proactive interference and enhance generalization, thereby accelerating learning. Therefore, not only does the mechanism help explain behavioural phenomena, it makes sense that it should have evolved (Kruschke & Hullinger, 2010).
The phrase ‘learned selective attention’ denotes three qualities. First, ‘attention’ means the amplification or attenuation of the processing of stimuli. Second, ‘selective’ refers to differentially amplifying and/or attenuating a subset of the components of the stimulus. This selectivity within a stimulus is different from attenuating or amplifying all aspects of a stimulus simultaneously (cf. Larrauri & Schmajuk, 2008). Third, ‘learned’ denotes the idea that the allocation of selective processing is retained for future use. The allocation may be context sensitive, so that attention is allocated differently in different contexts.
There are many phenomena in human and animal learning that suggest the involvement of learned selective attention. The first part of this chapter briefly reviews some of those phenomena. The emphasis of the chapter is not the empirical phenomena, however. Instead, the focus is on a collection of models that formally express theories of learned attention. These models will be surveyed subsequently.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.