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Chapter1.VantageTheory:originandbasictenets
Sincethecapacityofshort-termmemoryisfinite,concentrationonone
vantagelevel,i.e.apairingofcoordinatesinafigure-groundfashion,makes
theotherlevelsrecedeto“thebackofthemind”(MacLaury1997:139).Con-
centration,aswellasatentiontosimilarityordiference,arecovertprocesses,
mentalacts,ratherthanovertprocesses,inwhichastimulusdirectssense
organstoitself(cf.WrightandWard2008).
Itisthethirdprocedure,focusingacategory,thatmaybehypothesized
tobeanovertprocess:sensesaredirectedtocolourstimuli,oneofwhichis
thenselectedasavantagefocus.Essentially,concentrationandfocusingare
distinctinthattheyoccurondiferentplanes:itisthankstofocusselection
thatavantageobtainsitsprimaryfixedcoordinate,whichisaprerequisite
forarrangingthevantagelevelsofconcentration.Focusselectionnecessar-
ilyinvolvessensoryperception,whereasconcentratingonafigure-ground
arrangementdoesnot:itisapurelymentaloperation.Theexperienceofthe
twoprocessesbeingdistinctiscommonplace,aswhenthinkingofsomething
(atendingtoitmentally)whileperformingaroutineactivity,suchasironing
ordrivingthroughafamiliarterrain.8
Thesebriefcommentscannotpossiblypresentafullpictureofwhataten-
tionis,orevenwhatitisinVT.Such,however,isnottheiraim;rather,they
hopefullyhelplocateMacLaury’sunderstandingofatentionwithregardtohis
other,relatedconcepts.Thefollowingsectionshowsthefurtherconsequences
ofselectivelyatendingtosimilarityvs.diference.
2.4Contractionandprotractionofcognitivedistance
Themajorconsequencesofatendingtosimilarityordiferenceisthecontrac-
tionorprotractionofthecognitivedistancebetweentheentitiesbeingper-
ceived.Whenatentiontosimilarityprevails,thecognitivedistancecontracts
andtheobjectsviewedarebroughtclosertogether.Whentheemphasisisvery
strong,theybecomeindistinguishableandmaybetreatedasahomogeneous
mass.Strongeratentiontodiference,ontheotherhand,causesprotraction
ofthementaldistanceandtheobjectsbeingconceptualizedcanbeviewedas
discreteentities.
Thiskindofcorrelationbetweensimilarityand(cognitive)distancerests
ontheassumptionthatatentiontosimilarityisafundamental,perhaps
8Thesearemulti-modalcontexts.Itisinterestingtonotethatinsingle-modalones,covert
atentionprecedesovertorganshifting,atleastinvision(Peterson,KramerandIrwin2004).