Learning & Memory/Cognitive

Abstract: Some of my research has examined the factors that control how attention is deployed in a scene and whether or not it is easy to see a particular object. I will discuss one factor in particular:the history of the interaction between observer and environment. Did the observer considered this interaction successful or not? This matters greatly in determining how he/she will reengage a similar scene in the future. I will also present a project examining what role attention plays in maintaining a thought /active/ in our minds over prolonged periods of time. I will show that, contrary to most theories of sustained attention, attention does not exhaust over time. Rather, it is our thoughts and goals that simply become habituated. I propose that it is important for “task-unrelated thoughts” to sometimes distract us from our current goals. Yet, I will also show that the emotional content of these distractor thoughts matters a great deal.