An authoritative overview of current research on human attention, emphasizing the relation between cognitive phenomena observed in the laboratory and in the real world. Laboratory research on human attention has often been conducted under conditions that bear little resemblance to the complexity of our everyday lives. Although this research has yielded interesting discoveries, few scholars have truly connected these findings to natural experiences. This book bridges the gap between “laboratory and life” by bringing together cutting-edge research using traditional methodologies with research that focuses on attention in everyday contexts. It offers definitive reviews by both established and rising research stars on foundational topics such as visual attention and cognitive control, underrepresented domains such as auditory and temporal attention, and emerging areas of investigation such as mind wandering and embodied attention. The contributors discuss a range of approaches and methodologies, including psychophysics, mental chronometry, stationary and mobile eye-tracking, and electrophysiological and functional brain imaging. Chapters on everyday attention consider such diverse activities as driving, shopping, reading, multitasking, and playing videogames. All chapters present their topics in the same overall format: historical context, current research, the possible integration of laboratory and real-world approaches, future directions, and key and outstanding issues. Contributors Richard A. Abrams, Lewis Baker, Daphne Bavelier, Virginia Best, Adam B. Blake, Paul W. Burgess, Alan D. Castel, Karen Collins, Mike J. Dixon, Sidney K. D'Mello, Julia Föcker, Charles L. Folk, Tom Foulsham, Jonathan A. Fugelsang, Bradley S. Gibson, Matthias S. Gobel, Davood G. Gozli, Arthur C. Graesser, Peter A. Hancock, Kevin A. Harrigan, Simone G. Heideman, Cristy Ho, Roxane J. Itier, Gustav Kuhn, Michael F. Land, Mallorie Leinenger, Daniel Levin, Steven J. Luck, Gerald Matthews, Daniel Memmert, Stephen Monsell, Meeneley Nazarian, Anna C. Nobre, Andrew M. Olney, Kerri Pickel, Jay Pratt, Keith Rayner, Daniel C. Richardson, Evan F. Risko, Barbara Shinn-Cunningham, Vivian Siu, Jonathan Smallwood, Charles Spence, David Strayer, Pedro Sztybel, Benjamin W. Tatler, Eric T. Taylor, Jeff Templeton, Robert Teszka, Michel Wedel, Blaire J. Weidler, Lisa Wojtowicz, Jeremy M. Wolfe, Geoffrey F. Woodman

A suitably engrossing investigation of attention through many disciplines and ways of life, from neuroscience to surfing. If there is one thing we are short on these days, it’s attention. Attention is central to everything we do and think, yet it is mostly an intangible force, an invisible thing that connects us as subjects with the world around us. We pay attention to this or that, let our attention wander—we even stand at attention from time to time—yet rarely do we attend to attention itself. In this book, Gay Watson does just that, musing on attention as one of our most human impulses. As Watson shows, the way we think about attention is usually through its instrumentality, by what can be achieved if we give something enough of it—say, a crisply written report, a newly built bookcase, or even a satisfied child who has yearned for engagement. Yet in losing ourselves to the objects of our fixation, we often neglect the process of attention itself. Exploring everything from attention’s effects on our neurons to attention deficit disorder, from the mindfulness movement to the relationship between attention and creativity, Watson examines attention in action through many disciplines and ways of life. Along the way, she offers interviews with an astonishing cast of creative people—from composers to poets to artists to psychologists—including John Luther Adams, Stephen Batchelor, Sue Blackmore, Guy Claxton, Edmund de Waal, Rick Hanson, Jane Hirshfield, Wayne Macgregor, Iain McGilchrist, Garry Fabian Miller, Alice and Peter Oswald, Ruth Ozeki, and James Turrell. A valuable and timely account of something central to our lives yet all too often neglected, this book will appeal to anyone who has felt their attention under threat in the clamors of modern life.

The early years of modern experimental psychology were marked by a considerable amount of research on attention, and much work was carried out in the laboratories of Wundt, Titchener and Helmholtz. For various reasons, research on attention declined from 1920 until the 1950s. Under the early philosophy of behaviourism, attention became suspect as a ‘mentalistic’ concept. At the time of original publication in 1969, however, much work had been done to quantify and make objective research in this area. This was of increasing importance in a world dominated by communication networks, and ‘man-machine’ systems, in which the human element is the weakest link due to the limits on the rate at which man can handle information. Following the publication of Broadbent’s Perception and Communication in 1958, work on attention had begun to pour from an ever increasing number of laboratories. This book is dedicated to summarising what we knew, and attempts to survey the behavioural research in vision and hearing which throw light on how we share and direct attention, what are the limits of attention, to make some general methodological recommendations, to review current theories of the time, and to provide a guide to the relevant physiological work. As far as possible, work on memory has been omitted. A bibliography of the major work to the spring of 1969 is included.

How to self-regulate and train your brain's attentional mechanism for faster, more accurate, high-quality performance at work. Do you feel like you're "crushing it?" How productive, happy and fulfilled do you feel each day at your job? You might ask what attention has to do with it. The answer may help fix a wide range of ongoing workplace concerns, including workplace error. Simply put, attention is connected to every single thing you think, feel and do at work. It's almost impossible to imagine, but by the end of this book you'll understand how that is, and you'll be tapping into your attentional system and regulating it to your highest advantage. You'll learn how to: * Use your entire attentional system, beyond just focus * Avoid fading out * Relieve data overflow, internal and external distraction * Use "at a glance" mental capacity to "catch" more desired detail * Regulate the brain's automatic, high-speed attention triggers and use them to your advantage * Turn your cell phone into a focus-enhancing device. The 12-Rules of Attention shows you how to train your attention to sharp, accurate, high definition... and keep it there.

Jonardon Ganeri presents an account of mind in which attention, not self, explains the experiential and normative situatedness of human beings in the world. Attention consists in an organisation of awareness and action at the centre of which there is neither a practical will nor a phenomenological witness. Attention performs two roles in experience, a selective role of placing and a focal role of access. Attention improves our epistemic standing, because it is in the nature of attention to settle on what is real and to shun what is not real. When attention is informed by expertise, it is sufficient for knowledge. That gives attention a reach beyond the perceptual: for attention is a determinable whose determinates include the episodic memory from which our narrative identities are made, the empathy for others that situates us in a social world, and the introspection that makes us self-aware. Empathy is other-directed attention, placed on you and focused on your states of mind; it is akin to listening. Empathetic attention is central to a range of experiences that constitutively require a contrast between oneself and others, all of which involve an awareness of oneself as the object of another's attention. An analysis of attention as mental action gainsays authorial conceptions of self, because it is the nature of intending itself, effortful attention in action, to settle on what to do and to shun what not to do. In ethics, a conception of persons as beings with a characteristic capacity for attention offers hope for resolution in the conflict between individualism and impersonalism. Attention, Not Self is a contribution to a growing body of work that studies the nature of mind from a place at the crossroads of three disciplines: philosophy in the analytical and phenomenological traditions, contemporary cognitive science and empirical work in cognitive psychology, and Buddhist theoretical literature.

This edited book provides professionals in the field of English Language Teaching (ELT) with a situated and culturally-responsive account of diversity and inclusion in English language education, from primary to higher education and in a wide range of settings. The volume focuses on three overlapping areas: interculturality, special education needs, and gender. The chapters in each section seek to help readers reflect on the opportunities and challenges of diversity as a step towards inclusive practices, and raise awareness of critical topics across the curriculum and beyond by engaging in wider social issues. This book will be of interest to language teachers and teacher trainers, as well as scholars working in applied linguistics, higher education, intercultural studies, and related fields.

"The editors have brought together a range of eminent contributors who present a range of issues throughout the life cycle. The book asserts that it hopes to 'assist readers to anticipate change and discontinuity in people's lives and think about strategies to support them' through the many challenges that they may face in their lives. In my view this book certainly does that and the editors and contributors are to be congratulated on the production of a relevant and contemporary text that I have no hesitation in both endorsing and recommending to all involved in supporting and or caring for people with learning disabilities." Professor Bob Gates, Project Leader - Learning Disabilities Workforce Development, NHS Education South Central, UK "The editors have gathered an authoritative faculty to present and discuss a range of contemporary issues; both practical and ethical. The text is well grounded in the lived experience of people with disability and draws on the evidence-base of contemporary science. Each chapter includes thought provoking exercises. This is a seminal text for students and practitioners, researchers and policy makers." Associate Professor Keith R. McVilly, Deakin University, Australia "I currently own a copy of the first edition and it has proved an invaluable resource time and time again. There is not an essay I complete that does not make reference to the book and I can consistently use it to reflect back on my practice as a student nurse and social worker. Having read several extracts from the new edition it does appear to include very high quality content covering learning disabilities over the lifespan ... if I were to personally recommend any book for budding or current learning disability professionals then this would be it." James Grainger, Student Nurse/Social Worker, Sheffield Hallam University, UK "I like the way it has primary and secondary information from a range of sources. The exercises in the book also get you to think about the situation in question which helps us think about our values and anti-oppressive practice ... This book really does start with the basics and having a learning disability from birth and the effects, to in depth knowledge and literature ... This book would be very helpful to me as it brings in literature policies and models from both a health and social side, which is important for my course and collaborative working." Laura Jean Lowe, Student Nurse, Sheffield Hallam University, UK "It is written with a clearly conveyed in-depth knowledge and in a way that has professional lived experience within the context of the work. The authors have taken into account the emotional, client-centred approach to the modern practitioner's practice ... The book gives a true wealth of good practice scenarios that can only help practitioners be good at what they do and aspire to be." Lee Marshall, Student Nurse, Sheffield Hallam University, UK With its spread of chapters covering key issues across the life cycle this text has established itself as the foundational primer for those studying the lived experiences of people with learning disabilities and their families, and outcomes achieved through services and support systems. Recognising learning disability as a lifelong disability, this accessible book is structured around the life cycle. The second edition is refreshed and expanded to include seven new chapters, covering: Aetiology Breaking news (about disability) and early intervention Transition to adulthood The sexual lives of women Employment Personalisation People with hidden identities With contributions from respected figures from a range of disciplines, the book draws heavily upon multidisciplinary perspectives and is based on the latest research and evidence for practice. The text is informed by medical, social and legal models of learning disability, exploring how "learning disability" is produced, reproduced and understood. Extensive use is made of real-life case studies, designed to bring theory, values, policy and practice to life. Narrative chapters describe, in the words of people with learning disabilities themselves, their lives and aspirations. They helpfully show readers the kinds of roles played by families, advocates and services in supporting people with learning disabilities. New exercises and questions have been added to encourage discussion and reflection on practice. Learning Disability is core reading for students entering health and social care professions to work with people with learning disabilities. It is a compelling reference text for practitioners as it squarely addresses the challenges facing people with learning disability, their loved ones and the people supporting them. Contributors Dawn Adams, Kathryn Almack, Dorothy Atkinson, Nigel Beail, Christine Bigby, Alison Brammer, Jacqui Brewster, Hilary Brown, Jennifer Clegg, Lesley Cogher, Helen Combes, Clare Connors, Bronach Crawley, Eric Emerson, Margaret Flynn, Linda Gething, Dan Goodley, Peter Goward, Gordon Grant, Chris Hatton, Sheila Hollins, Jane Hubert, Kelley Johnson, Gwynnyth Llewellyn, Heather McAlister, Michelle McCarthy, Alex McClimens, Roy McConkey, David McConnell, Keith McKinstrie, Fiona Mackenzie, Ghazala Mir, Ada Montgomery, Lesley Montisci, Elizabeth Murphy, Chris Oliver, Richard Parrott, Paul Ramcharan, Malcolm Richardson, Bronwyn Roberts, Philippa Russell, Kirsten Stalker, Martin Stevens, John Taylor, Irene Tuffrey-Wijne, Sally Twist, Jan Walmsley, Kate Woodcock

Ancestry played a continuous role in the construction and portrayal of Roman emperorship in the first three centuries AD. Emperors and Ancestors is the first systematic analysis of the different ways in which imperial lineage was represented in the various 'media' through which images of emperors could be transmitted. Looking beyond individual rulers, Hekster evaluates evidence over an extended period of time and differentiates between various types of sources, such as inscriptions, sculpture, architecture, literary text, and particularly central coinage, which forms the most convenient source material for a modern reconstruction of Roman representations over a prolonged period of time. The volume explores how the different media in use sent out different messages. The importance of local notions and traditions in the choice of local representations of imperial ancestry are emphasized, revealing that there was no monopoly on image-forming by the Roman centre and far less interaction between central and local imagery than is commonly held. Imperial ancestry is defined through various parallel developments at Rome and in the provinces. Some messages resonated outside the centre but only when they were made explicit and fitted local practice and the discourse of the medium. The construction of imperial ancestry was constrained by the local expectations of how a ruler should present himself, and standardization over time of the images and languages that could be employed in the 'media' at imperial disposal. Roman emperorship is therefore shown to be a constant process of construction within genres of communication, representation, and public symbolism.