Event 2: Professor Ellen K. Levy's Presentation

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For this event, I attended the virtual presentation given by Professor Ellen K. Levy on “Science As A Model For Art: Which Science? Which Model?” It was fascinating listening to Professor Levy showcase her work as well as present to us what she had curated from other artists. The presentation touches on many different things that one can think and talk about; however, one thing made me extremely excited to explore further: the topic of “Attention”.

Figure 1: Professor Levy opens the conversation about "Attention".
Credit: Professor Ellen K. Levy

Professor Levy brings up a couple of interesting questions and statements, as shown in Figure 1, such as: “Without attention, nothing is seen” and “Is technology outpacing our sensorial capacities?” Professor Levy supports the former by showcasing a research project on selective attention.

Video 1: Experimental video on "selective attention"
Credit: Daniel Simons YouTube channel

After a bit of research on selective attention, I found that “Attention acts somewhat like a spotlight, highlighting the details that we need to focus on and casting irrelevant information to the sidelines of our perception” (Cherry, 2023), which is very interesting nonetheless.

Figure 2: Professor Levy showcasing her own "selective attention" test that involves sensitive stolen objects in the background of a card shuffle video. This is similar to the experiment in Video 1.
Credit: Professor Ellen K. Levy

To further explore the question of whether or not technology is outpacing our sensorial capacities, one will immediately find that not only technology is outgrowing our capabilities, but it is also negatively impacting them. With social media as popular as ever, it is evident that “Apps like Instagram and TikTok have contributed to student’s shortened attention spans with their short, scrollable nature” (Bragg, 2024). To understand how bad the impact of social media has been on our attention span, Dr. Gloria Mark “found it to average about 47 seconds” (Mills, 2023).

Overall, I enjoyed watching Professor Levy’s presentation and hearing her speak about her life’s work. There are many areas, subjects, and ideas one can expand on and explore further based on the material presented. Professor Levy’s efforts and love for what she does is inspirational to those who have the luxury of experiencing it.


Proof of registration and attendance:

Figure 3: Registration confirmation


Figure 4: Zoom meeting ID sent to my email as further supplemental proof of attendance.


References:

Bragg, Julia. “Technology Is the Culprit for Shortened Attention Spans.” Massachusetts Daily Collegian, 15 Feb. 2024, dailycollegian.com/2024/02/technology-is-the-culprit-for-shortened-attention-spans/.

Cherry, Kendra. “How We Use Selective Attention to Filter Information and Focus.” Verywell Mind, 18 Dec. 2023, www.verywellmind.com/what-is-selective-attention-2795022.

Mills, Kim. “Speaking of Psychology: Why Our Attention Spans Are Shrinking, with Gloria Mark, PhD.” Apa.org, American Psychological Association, Feb. 2023, www.apa.org/news/podcasts/speaking-of-psychology/attention-spans.

Simons, Daniel. “Selective Attention Test.” YouTube, 10 Mar. 2010, www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG698U2Mvo&ab_channel=DanielSimons.


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