Varieties of Attention: Their Roles in Visual Word Identification. (June 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Besner, Derek; Risko, Evan F.; Stolz, Jennifer A.; White, Darcy; Reynolds, Michael; O'Malley, Shannon; Robidoux, Serje
• Is Part Of: Current directions in psychological science. Volume 25:Number 3(2016:Jun.)
• Page Start: 162
• Page End: 168
• Publication Date: 2016-06
• Subjects: automaticity -- visual word identification -- mental control -- spatial attention -- pathway control; Psychology -- Periodicals; 150
• DOI: 10.1177/0963721416639351
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0963-7214

Abstract

The standard view in cognition is that the identification of visually presented words, up to and including semantic activation, is automatic in various senses. The perspective favored here is that various kinds of attention are intimately involved in the identification of words. Some forms of attention are necessary, whereas others (i.e., executive attention) are recruited to optimize performance. We briefly review results from a variety of literatures that (a) support the latter perspective and (b) are difficult to reconcile with an automatic-processing account.