Wilterson Andrew I, Kemper Casey M, Kim Noah, Webb Taylor W, Reblando Alexandra M W, Graziano Michael S A
Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, United States.
Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States.
Prog Neurobiol. 2020 Dec;195:101844. doi: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2020.101844. Epub 2020 Jun 1.
In the attention schema theory (AST), the brain constructs a schematic, simplified model of attention. The model is associated with three cognitive processes: a model of one's own attention contributes to the endogenous control of attention, a model of the attention of others contributes to theory of mind, and the contents of these models leads to the common human claim that we contain a non-physical consciousness or awareness inside us. Because AST is a control-engineering style theory, it can make specific predictions in complex situations. Here, over six experiments, we examined interactions between attention and awareness to test predictions of AST. Participants performed a visual task in which a cue stimulus affected their attention, as measured by their reactions to a subsequent target stimulus. The task measured both exogenous attention drawn to the cue and endogenous attention directed to a target location predicted by the cue. When participants were not aware that the cue predicted the target, both exogenous and endogenous attention effects remained. In contrast, when participants were not visually aware of the cue itself, the exogenous attention effect remained and the endogenous effect was impaired. In an additional two experiments, when participants learned an implicit shift of attention, the learning generalized from trained spatial locations to adjacent, untrained locations. Each of these findings matched predictions of AST. The results support the interpretation that attention control relies partly on an internal model that is responsible for claims of awareness.
在注意模式理论（AST）中，大脑构建了一个关于注意力的示意性、简化模型。该模型与三个认知过程相关：一个人自身注意力的模型有助于注意力的内源性控制，他人注意力的模型有助于心理理论，而这些模型的内容导致了人类普遍认为我们内心存在一种非物质的意识或觉知。由于AST是一种控制工程风格的理论，它可以在复杂情况下做出具体预测。在此，通过六个实验，我们研究了注意力与意识之间的相互作用，以检验AST的预测。参与者执行一项视觉任务，其中一个提示刺激会影响他们的注意力，这通过他们对后续目标刺激的反应来衡量。该任务测量了被提示吸引的外源性注意力以及指向由提示预测的目标位置的内源性注意力。当参与者没有意识到提示预测了目标时，外源性和内源性注意力效应均存在。相反，当参与者没有视觉上意识到提示本身时，外源性注意力效应存在而内源性效应受损。在另外两个实验中，当参与者学习注意力的隐性转移时，学习从训练的空间位置推广到相邻的未训练位置。这些发现均与AST的预测相符。结果支持了这样一种解释，即注意力控制部分依赖于一个负责意识宣称的内部模型。
