We live in an increasingly visual world. Video production has moved from specialized studios to home computers and smart phones. Students are creating infographics as often as 5-paragraph essays. But how do we communicate in our multimedia world in ways that will continue to resonate? How do we use visual input to help create meaning?
During the end of the 20th century, two researchers made great progress in answering these questions. Anne M. Treisman and Garry Gelade worked together in a series of ground-breaking experiments. They developed what they called the feature-integration theory of attention. In their research they found that humans process visual information in two different ways: using focal attention or using top-down processing. Let’s explore those two types of visual processing so that we can better understand how the language of visual information works and create better presentation visuals.
Focal Attention
In this type of visual processing, we use our attention like a spotlight to search for clues. These clues are “features” which help us to identify what something is. In their research, Treisman and Gelade studied the process we move through to recognize or identify any given object. They found that we examine shape first. After that, we look for things like color, movement, and spatial location (think “the moon belongs in the sky”), although not always in that order.
In trying to learn, we have to move through a sequence to gather up all the features of an object and then combine them to identify something. The more familiar we are with the object, the more quickly this process occurs. In addition, the less features we have to use to identify something, the less we have to work. Which means as speakers we need to simplify our graphics.
Treisman and Gelade say, “The number of items receiving focal attention at any moment of time can vary. Visual attention, like a spotlight or zoom lens, can be used over a small area with high resolution or spread over a wider area with some loss of detail.” So the more visual information you include on your slide, the wider the attention “spotlight” has to be. This causes your audience members to lose detail and understanding in their attempt to process that complex visual information. In addition, if you have multiple graphics spread out over the same screen, your audience members either have to use a complex series of small spotlights or they have to spread that spotlight out in which case some clarity is lost.
Top-down Processing
Top-down processing involves using past experience or memory to fill in the blanks caused by lack of focal attention. Treisman and Gelade found that we default to top-down processing in two specific scenarios: “when attention is prevented by brief exposure or overloading.”
Have you ever seen a speaker flash a graphic on the screen only to take it down a second or two later? You didn’t have enough time to process it. That means you will need to rely on information you already have to figure out what you just saw. You might be able to fill in some of the missing information if the parts of the visual were familiar to you. But you won’t have much to draw from if the visual was unfamiliar, so you’ll probably be confused.
In addition, your attention can be overloaded for any number of reasons. Perhaps you can’t understand the graphics on the screen because they are jampacked with too much information. Or maybe the people sitting in front of you are whispering to each other. Or you could be thinking about an important meeting you have later that day. Whatever the reason, you can’t rely on focal attention because you are distracted. Your lack of attention will inhibit you from fully processing the visual information, so you will default to top-down processing. Speakers need to do everything they can to minimize overload by removing any distractions over which they have control.
In most situations, we use both focal attention and top-down processing to help us perceive what we see. We move between moments of intense focus and less attention. We are speaking to audience members who are attuned to an increasingly visual world. Knowledge of how we take in and process visual information can help us design better visual presentations for them.
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