Learn to pay attention!

PA 180/11 - A new scientific theory on what we learn to pay attention to and what we learn to ignore could turn 30 years of research on its head. Research by Dr Mark Haselgrove from The University of Nottingham (UK), and Dr Guillem Esber from the University of Maryland (USA), challenges two long held and contradictory theories on which cues our brains use to predict events of significance. The theory, published today (Wednesday June 8 2011) in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, has important implications for the psychology and neuroscience of attention. It has implications for our understanding of how uncertainty, such as the uncertainty surrounding a risky investment, may bias our attention. Furthermore, by advancing the theoretical basis of how learning influences attention, this research may inform our understanding of what happens when the allocation of attention is inappropriate, such as occurs in mental illnesses such as schizophrenia. Dr Haselgrove said: "Animals, and that includes humans, spend a great deal of their waking hours learning about and using cues to predict events of significance — such as food, danger, or the opportunity to have sex. One question that has long captivated the imagination of psychologists is how animals come to attend to the appropriate cues.