Attention modulates in discrete samples just as digital media do

Evidence

The central question of the neuronal attention economy is to be posed, therefore, in terms of SAMPLING MODULATION: from the moment our different tasks no longer demand constant attention, our freedom consists in modulating the frequency with which we redirect our attention to them to make sure they go well. The notion of sampling is particularly interesting because of the continuity it establishes between the analysis of neuronal processes and the functioning of digital technologies. Indeed, digitalization consists, we saw, in the translation of minimal discrete units cut from our perception of reality into digitalized data. The sampling rate determines the pixel density variation (high or low definition) for images or the compression variation for musical files (mp3). — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 383

Categorization

• XREF: Core conceptual bridge between neural and digital attention — directly serves the reader’s Frankfurt-to-digital-media purpose. — connects to: Experiments reify attention while it is actually a plastic flux — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 390; Digital technologies replace human attentional energy with electrical energy. — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 195; Digital images subject attention to objective abstractions preconfigured by protocols — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 209
• SEED: Could form the spine of an essay arguing that the ‘sampling’ metaphor unifies neuroscience, digital compression, and media consumption as one attentional economy.