Individual Differences in Attention Control and Change Blindness

Abstract

Change blindness is a well-studied perceptual phenomenon that demonstrates the volatility of the human visual system. Although its effects are ubiquitous, they do not manifest themselves in the same way in all observers. This dissertation explores the relationship between individual differences in attentional control, specifically differences in cognitive flexibility and working memory capacity, and change blindness in the presence of relevant task knowledge and task load. Results indicate that both cognitive flexibility and working memory predict change blindness independently, but can also interact in the presence of relevant task knowledge.