“It
is not possible, or even desirable, to remain in focal attention one hundred
percent of the time. Many activities, like driving a car, for example, require
constantly shifting attention for the sake of safety. An individual's
concentration and focus will naturally be interrupted by automatic attention
throughout the day, not just because it is necessary to notice what is
happening in the surrounding environment, but also to give the brain a rest.
[12]”
I believe, large systems operators such as ATCOs, ATC
engineers are faced with the risk of continuously concentrating for long
durations which puts them at the risk of losing the natural balance of their
minds, the balance between automatic processing and controlled – conscious processing.
Some relevant material is given below to facilitate the
interested readers.
Ali R+ SARAL
REFERENCES:
[1] Schneider, W, Shiffrin, RM, ‘Controlled and automatic human information processing: I.
Detection, search, and attention’, 1977, Journal Psychological Review , Vol.84, p. 1-66, ISSN 0033295.
A 2-process theory of
human information processing is proposed and applied to detection, search, and
attention phenomena. Automatic processing is activation of a learned sequence
of elements in long-term memory that is initiated by appropriate inputs and
then proceeds automatically-without S control, without stressing the capacity
limitations of the system, and without necessarily demanding attention.
Controlled processing is a temporary activation of a sequence of elements that
can be set up quickly and easily but requires attention, is capacity-limited
(usually serial in nature), and is
controlled by the S.
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[2] Michael I.
Posner* and Mary K. Rothbart, ‘Attention, self-regulation and consciousness’, (Department of Psychology, University of Oregon,
Eugene, OR, USA and Sackler Institute for Human Brain Development,Cornell Medical College, NewYork, NY 10021, USA)
Consciousness has many aspects. These include awareness of
the world, feelings of control over one's behaviour and mental state (volition), and the notion of a
continuing self. Focal (executive) attention is used to control details of our awareness and is thus closely
related to volition. Experiments suggest an integrated network of neural areas involved in executive
attention. This network is associated with our voluntary ability to select among competing items, to
correct error and to regulate our emotions
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[3] Definition of Consciousness –
Merriam – Webster
1a: the quality or state of being aware especially of something within
oneself
b: the state or fact
of being conscious of an external object, state, or fact
c: awareness; especially: concern for some
social or political cause
2: the state of being characterized by sensation, emotion, volition,
and thought : mind
3: the totality of conscious states of an individual
4: the normal state of conscious life consciousness>
5: the upper level of mental life of which the person is aware as
contrasted with unconscious processes
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[4] Unconscious mind - From Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia
In psychoanalytic
theory, the unconscious refers to that part of mental functioning of which subjects make
themselves unaware. The psychoanalytic unconscious is similar to but not
precisely the same as the popular notion of the subconscious. For psychoanalysis, the unconscious does not
include all of what is simply not conscious - it does not include e.g. motor
skills - but rather, only what is actively repressed from conscious
thought. … In the psychoanalytic view, the unconscious is a force that can only be
recognized by its effects - it expresses itself in the symptom.
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[5] Definition of Unconscious - Answers.com
1.
Lacking
awareness and the capacity for sensory perception; not conscious.
2.
Temporarily
lacking consciousness.
3.
Occurring
in the absence of conscious awareness or thought: unconscious resentment;
unconscious fears.
4.
Without
conscious control; involuntary or unintended: an unconscious mannerism.
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[6] Staffan Sohlberg, The Philosophy Of Freedom - A.
Unconscious Functioning, http://www.philosophyoffreedom.com/node/693
Concepts of the
unconscious
We cannot be conscious of everything
we do and how we do it. For example, tying our shoelaces, walking, speaking,
and driving are all guided to a large degree by unconscious processing, which
broad domain is also denoted by terms such as automaticity or implicit
memory. The reason we have extensive unconscious capabilities has to do
with efficiency. The very complex informational environments that the brain is
required to handle are beyond the capacity of consciousness, which can contain
only one or a few things at a time
Definitions of
unconsciousness
unconscious means contents or
processes that we cannot report being aware of, with automatic referring to
processes and subliminal to external stimuli. Included here are contents and
processes we cannot in principle become aware of (often termed nonconsciuos),
such as how the visual system builds perceptions, as well as those we can
become aware of, such as a stressful situation we have momentarily forgotten.
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[7] Implicit Memory -
Wikipedia
Implicit memory is a type of memory in which previous experiences aid in
the performance of a task without conscious awareness of these previous
experiences.[1] Evidence for implicit memory arises in
priming, a process
whereby subjects are measured by how they have improved their performance on
tasks for which they have been subconsciously prepared.[2][3] Implicit memory also leads to the
illusion-of-truth effect, which suggests that subjects are more likely to rate
as true those statements that they have already heard, regardless of their
veracity.[4] In daily life, people rely on implicit
memory every day in the form of procedural memory, the type of memory that allows people
to remember how to tie their shoes or ride a bicycle without consciously
thinking about these activities.
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[8] Attention - New World Encyclopedia
Understanding Attention
Attention is the
selection of some incoming information for further processing. … Attention may
be differentiated according to its status as "overt" versus
"covert." Overt attention is the act of directing sense organs towards
a stimulus source. Covert attention is the act of mentally focusing on one of
several possible sensory stimuli. Covert attention is thought to be a neural
process that enhances the signal from a particular part of the sensory
panorama. …
Voluntary vs.
Automatic Attention
Attention can
be directed either voluntarily, also referred to as endogenous control, or
automatically, which is also called exogenous or reflexive attention. While
endogenous control involves one choosing of their own volition to direct their
attention, exogenous control occurs when an external object or event, for
example, a bee flying by, grabs attention away from the book one is reading,
and attracts it involuntarily.
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[9] LANA M. TRICKy*, JAMES T. ENNSz, JESSICA MILLSz and JOHN VAVRIKx, ‘Paying attention behind the wheel: a
framework for studying the roleof attention in driving’,Theor. Issues in Ergon. Sci. September–October 2004, vol. 5, no. 5, 385–424, (yDepartment of
Psychology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, zUniversity of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia,
Canada,xInsurance Corporation of British Columbia, Vancouver,
British Columbia, Canada)
2.3.1. Automatic vs.
controlled processes. Automatic
processes involve selection without awareness. These processes are effortless,
fast, and can be carried out concurrently with other processes without compromising
performance. Once automatic processes are initiated, they are difficult to
modify. Also, automatic processes typically do not produce changes in declarative long-term
memory. Consequently, a person may drive home from work on ‘auto-pilot’ and have
no conscious memory of the trip.
In contrast, controlled processes involve selection with
awareness. These are conscious processes, but they are also laborious and slow,
and it is difficult to carry out several controlled processes at once.
Controlled processes can be started, stopped,
or modified at will, and can produce conscious changes in long term memory through learning. With practice, some controlled
processes may even become automatic.
...
2.3.2. Exogenous vs.
endogenous processes. Exogenous selection
occurs as a result of the way humans are built and it is initiated by the
presence of specific stimulus configurations. In this case, external stimuli
seem to trigger selection (it is exogenous), but the reason these stimuli
produce this effect is because of the way the nervous system is built. Specifically, the nervous system is
structured to respond to certain stimuli preferentially, so that there is a
continuum of stimulus salience, with some types of stimuli more likely to
receive exogenous selection than others.
In general, when a person is in an unfamiliar environment, and thus has
no specific expectations, exogenous processing is dominant. Similarly, if a
person has no specific goals in a familiar environment, exogenous processing
dominates. Exogenous processing is
easily confused with bottom-up or stimulus-driven processing, but it is not the
same thing. When we refer to exogenous selection we mean something that is
‘hard wired’. In contrast, bottom-up or stimulus-driven processing may also
occur as a result of extended practice or learning, which are the result of
internal (or endogenous) factors. For example, when a person repeatedly carries
out a deliberate intention, after a while the response becomes so over-learned that it occurs automatically, and it may
seem that the stimulus alone is ‘driving’ the behavior. Selection has been
triggered by the stimulus (bottom-up) independent of any intentional goals
(top-down). Nonetheless, this would not constitute exogenous selection in our
sense because selection was not ‘hard wired’; the association resulted from
repeated conscious intentions to carry out a goal (Theeuwes 1991). Some
processes are bottom-up but not exogenous.
Endogenous selection results from what people know about an environment
and what they want to achieve. People actively search the environment for
information relevant to specific goals or intentions; they perform these tasks
in ways that are consistent with expectations and previous learning.
Expectancies may act as a form of ‘perceptual set’ causing people to look for
specific objects at certain locations. A
perceptual set can be advantageous because it directs viewers to the
goal-relevant information in a scene, and thus facilitates accomplishment
of goals. An example would be looking for the exit ramp sign on a familiar
freeway. Endogenous selection helps drivers react more rapidly, as occurs when
they anticipate the need to brake (Johansson and Rumar 1971, Van der Hulst et al. 1999). While
endogenous selection can facilitate performance, it can also produce errors when
drivers miss pertinent information because it is unexpected or does not pertain
to current goals (Hills 1980, Rumar 1990).
...
2.4. Four modes
of attentional performance
By combining automatic and controlled processing with
exogenous and endogenous selection, it is possible to derive four modes of
performance relevant to the study of attention and driving. The first,
automatic-exogenous, can be thought of as the collection of all reflexes that
are initiated by stimuli. The second, automatic-endogenous, corresponds to
processing that is habitual. The third, controlled-exogenous, corresponds to a mode of performance that occurs when a
person’s only goal is exploration. The fourth, controlled-endogenous,
corresponds to deliberate goaldriven behavior.
...
These two types of process are reflexive
(automatic-exogenous) and habitual (automaticendogenous). There are a number of important differences between reflex
and habit. First, though both are triggered by particular stimuli, these triggers are
established in different ways. Reflexes are innately ‘hard wired’ into the
system, whereas habits are automatic because a particular goal or intention has
been repeatedly carried out. As a result, reflexes are common to all whereas
habits are idiosyncratic, based on a given individual’s specific learning
experiences. Second, reflexes emerge on a developmental timetable and are
stable once acquired, whereas habits can be formed at any time, and can also be
replaced or fade at any time due to lack of practice or new learning.
...
Some processes are more automatic than others in the sense
that they are initiated more quickly, require less effort, are more likely to
be evoked unintentionally in a given situation, and are thus more difficult to
bring under deliberate control. In such a continuum, reflexes retain their
position near the extreme end on the automaticity continuum, whereas habits
change their level of automaticity based on the frequency with which they are practiced ...
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[10] Walter Schneider∗, Jason
M. Chein,‘Controlled & automatic processing: behavior, theory, and
biological mechanisms’, Cognitive Science 27 (2003) 525–559 (Department of
Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, 3939 O’Hara St., Pittsburgh, PA 15221,
USA)
Abstract: This paper provides an overview of
developments in a dual processing theory of automatic and controlled processing
that began with the empirical and theoretical work described by Schneider and
Shiffrin (1977) and Shiffrin and Schneider (1977) over a quarter century ago. A
review of relevant empirical findings suggests that there is a set of core
behavioral phenomena reflecting differences between controlled and automatic
processing that must be addressed by a successful theory. These phenomena
relate to: consistency in training, serial versus parallel processing, level of
effort, robustness to stressors, degree of control, effects on long-term
memory, and priority encoding.
2. Definition of automatic and
controlled processing
The basic nature of automatic and controlled
processing was laid out in our earlier papers. In Schneider and Shiffrin
(1977), an automatic process was defined as the activation of a
sequence of nodes that “nearly always becomes active in response to a
particular input configuration,” and that “is activated automatically without
the necessity for active control or attention by the subject” (p. 2).
...
In general,
automatic processes “operate through a relatively permanent set of associative
connections . . . and require an appreciable amount of
consistent training to develop fully” (Schneider&Shiffrin, 1977, p. 2). An automatic attention response is a special type of automatic process
that directs attention automatically to a target stimulus (Schneider &
Shiffrin, 1977).
...
In contrast to automatic processes, Schneider and
Shiffrin (1977, pp. 2–3) defined a controlled process as “a temporary sequence of nodes activated under control
of, and through attention by, the subject.” Furthermore, controlled processes
are “tightly capacity limited, but the costs of this capacity limitation are
balanced by the benefits deriving from the ease with which such processes may
be set up, altered, and applied in novel situations for which automatic
sequences have never been learned.”
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[11] Josh McDermott, ‘Workspace Theory:
Consciousness Explained?’ - The Harvard
Brain Harvard university undergraduate Journal of Neuroscience.
Baars proposes that consciousness is the
result of a Global Workspace in the brain that distributes information to the
huge number of parallel unconscious processors that form the rest of the brain
..
many
unconscious processes underlie ordinary perception and cognition. (By an
unconscious process, I mean a process that takes place in the brain of which we
are unaware
...
Baars
treats the brain as a large group of separable, very specialized systems that
are unconscious much of the time that they operate. At least some of these
processes can, one by one, become conscious, and the successive outputs of
these processes constitute conscious experience. Significant, though, is the
idea that only one process can be conscious at one instant of time. In other words,
consciousness is a serial phenomenon.
...
Baars'
second claim about consciousness is that it has internal consistency, a
property not shared by the collection of unconscious processes in the brain.
Baars cites as an example of this property the experience of viewing a Necker
cube, an optical illusion which we can consciously see in one of two different
orientations. The two views of the cube can "flip" back and forth,
but we cannot entertain both of them simultaneously
...
that
a huge variety of things can be experienced consciously, but that by
definition, an unconscious specialized processor can perform but a limited
range of tasks
...
Another property of consciousness is
its ability to relate what seem to be any two conscious experiences to each
other. The best example of this is classical conditioning, where virtually any
conscious stimulus may serve as a signal for virtually any other event. This
relating cannot occur if the experiences are unconscious. Baars cites a study
showing that Pavlovian association cannot occur if the signal stimulus has been
repeated to the point of habituation (when the stimulus ceases to be
consciously experienced). (Razran, 1961)
...
A fifth contrast is that conscious
experiences are what Baars terms "context-sensitive," while
representations processed unconsciously are not. Context-sensitivity is defined
by Baars as "the way in which conscious events are shaped by unconscious
factors." (Baars, 1988, p 79) Our conscious experiences are constantly
affected by unconscious assumptions. Unconscious events are, in contrast, not
influenced by such contextual assumptions ...
Finally, there are the contrasts of
inefficient, error-prone conscious processes with efficient, relatively
error-free unconscious processes. These can be illustrated with any task that a
person learns. While unlearned, a task has to be performed consciously, at
which point it is done slowly and with frequent errors. Once learned , the task
is unconscious, and is performed with comparative speed and accuracy.
...
There
is limited evidence that there is a delay involved in some types of conscious
events, and that much unconscious preprocessing goes on prior to the conscious
experience of something (Libet, 1978). Thus it is conceivable that error
detection has nothing at all to do with consciousness.
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[12] B. Miller, Edited By: Andrew Jones, wiseGEEK
Focal attention refers to a type of
attention in which the individual is deliberately, consciously focused on a
certain thing to the exclusion of surrounding images or noises. Automatic
attention occurs when an individual's attention is drawn by something; for
instance, a loud noise might cause someone to look up or lose focus, and is in
many cases a response that cannot be controlled. Focal attention is intense
deliberate concentration, and is a skill that can be practiced
...
It is not possible, or even
desirable, to remain in focal attention one hundred percent of the time. Many
activities, like driving a car, for example, require constantly shifting
attention for the sake of safety. An individual's concentration and focus will
naturally be interrupted by automatic attention throughout the day, not just
because it is necessary to notice what is happening in the surrounding
environment, but also to give the brain a rest.
[13] Kiefer,
Markus; Front Hum Neurosci. 2012; 6: 61., “Executive control over unconscious cognition:
attentional sensitization of unconscious information processing”,
Published online 2012 March 23. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2012.00061 PMCID:
PMC3311241
[14]
Jennifer McBride1*,
Frédéric Boy2, Masud Husain1 and Petroc Sumner2, “ Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, “Automatic motor activation in the executive control of
action” 1 Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience
and Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK 2 School of Psychology,
Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
