CogSci Colloquium: Sarah Shomstein (GWU)

Title: Hidden in Plain Sight: Intrusive Effects of Task-Irrelevant Representations on Attention

Abstract: Attention is a cognitive process by which a subset of sensory information is selected for further, more detailed, processing.  The study of attentional selection is often framed in terms of task relevant information, selected in accordance with the current goal of the organism, thought to be subserved by a large-scale network panning the frontal and parietal cortex. In my talk, I will challenge the notion that only task relevant information constrains attentional allocation. First, I will show that task-irrelevant information, both the intermediate (object) and high-level (semantic) representations, influence attentional allocation.  I will then demonstrate a mechanism by which task-irrelevant information influences selection via interactions between the posterior parietal and early visual cortices. I will conclude by proposing a novel approach suggesting that attention is a flexible mechanism that acts to reduce uncertainty present in the sensory environment. Evidence for this argument will be drawn from a set of behavioral, eye-tracking, and neuroimaging experiments. Taken together, I will argue that traditional accounts of attentional selection need to be revised to incorporate intrusive effects of task-irrelevant sensory stimuli.

Bio: Sarah Shomstein is a Professor of Psychology at George Washington University.