Research

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Two Research Strands and Five Sub-projects

We study attention and the norms that govern it. Our research involves two strands. The Descriptive Strand studies the biological function of attention and whether natural norms for attention can be derived from it (Sub-project 1), as well as how social norms of attention may arise in groups of individuals that need to coordinate their actions (Sub-project 2). The Descriptive Strand, thus, takes a bottom-up approach to attention norms: from two different directions it investigates how attention norms might emerge.

The Evaluative Strand, on the other hand, takes a more top-down approach. It starts from three fields of philosophy that are centrally concerned with normative evaluations: the theory of practical rationality (Sub-project 3), epistemology (Sub-project 4), and ethics and political philosophy (Sub-project 5), and uses the conceptual and analytic tools in these fields (and develops new ones!) to investigate whether attention norms play a serious role in these respective areas.

Sub-project 1: Natural Attention Norms

This sub-project studies the function of attention in our cognitive architecture, and what natural norms of attention, if any, may be derived from it. It investigates the biological function of attention, both from an etiological and a systemic perspective. We are inspired by the hypothesis that the biological function of attention is to organize the input to cognitive systems by prioritizing states with the highest relevance to the individual.

In our work we argue that a core function of attention is to make agency more flexible (see the following article on attention and self-control). We also have developed a new account of the problem attention is helping an organism solve (see this article that utilizes David Marr's Level's of Analysis). We further investigate when attention is functioning properly (article as pdf): it does so, we argue, when it prioritizes processes in ways that best serve the agents needs (article as pdf). We apply our account of the proper function of attention to disorders like ADHD, to contemporary environments online (article as pdf), and to the role of attention in the evolution of cognition and agency.

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Associated Researchers:

Associated Events

  • Workshop "Natural Norms and the Functions of Attention" (16-17.2.2024)
  • Workshop on Attention and Mental Health with Clinical Psychologists (05.02.2025_
  • Attention and ADHD. Public Panel Discussion. Litteraturhuset, Oslo. 04.02.2025.
  • Presentations e.g. by
    • Hakwan Lau on “Engineering Sentience” (05/2023)
    • Roberta Locatelli on Attention, Disfunction and ADHD (04/2024)
    • Meeting Nicholas Allot to discuss the Cognitive Principle of Relevance (10/2022)
    • Meeting Deidre Wilson and Dan Sperber to discuss Cognitive Principle of Relevance (11/2022)

Associated Presentations

  • What attention Is (Watzl)
    • Copenhagen (12/2021)
  • A Needs-based account of the Function of Attention (Johnson)
    • Meeting of the American Philosophical Association 2023;
    • Meeting of the Society for Philosophy and Psychology 2023
  • Attention and the Evolution of Abstract Thought (Johnson)
    • Annual European Congress for Analytic Philosophy 2023.
    • University of Connecticut 2023
    • Chapman University 2023
  • ADHD, Disfunction, and Disorders of Attention (Johnson)
    • Philosophy of Psychiatry Workshop (Bielefeld) 2024
  • PTSD Recovery Processes as Attention-Directing Processes (Friedman)
    • Transdisciplinary workshop on “Recovery in Mental Health”, University of Cologne
  • ADHD. The Broader Societal Context
    • The Norwegian Directorate of Health (June 2025)
    • Psykiatriveka (Annual Meeting of the Norwegian Psychiatry Association, 12.03.2026

Associated Publications and Work-in-Progress

Sub-project 2: Social Attention Norms

This sub-project looks at the social dimension of attention, and the social norms that may govern it. It studies the function of attention sharing and coordination in social interaction and the emergence of social norms. It investigates the emergence of social norms of attention, if any, that guide social interactions. It considers the hypothesis that the significance of social attention norms is for negotiating relevance, and to settle common standards for relevance in a particular social setting.

In our work, we argue (based on empirical research by one of our team members) that social stereotypes are prioritized (article as pdf) at the expense of other information that is more task relevant. We argue further that the distribution of cues in non-verbal social interaction (article as pdf) (such as covert attention shifts) reflects and reinforces power-dynamics and social stereo-types. In ongoing work we argue that social attention and communication is further affected, we suggest, by how cognitive load reflects social biases. We have explored transgender stereotypes as a case study (article as pdf) for these effects. We also work on applying game theoretic modelling to explain how attention becomes sensitive to specific social norms.

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Associated Researchers:

Associated Events

Associated Presentations

  • Attention and Non-Verbal Communication (Baker)
    • Meeting of European Society for Philosophy and Psychology 2023
    • Minorities and Philosophy Workshop UK, 2023
    • Perceiving Speaker and Voice Workshop Lillehammer 2022
  • Names and Social Norms (Baker)
    • Understanding Language Workshop, Moss 2022
  • Communication, Attention and Cognitive Load (Baker)
    • Morovian University 2024
    • Workshop on Perspectives on Communication (Oslo, invited June 2024)
  • Legal Right to Transgender Identity (Baker)
    • Society for Philosophy and Psychology, 2023
  • Attentional Landscaping (Watzl)
    • Glasgow (2026)

Associated Publications and Work-in-Progress

Sub-project 3: Integrating Attention into Decision Theory

This sub-project investigates formal models of rational decision making that incorporate attention as an independent factor. It studies how to integrate such decision theoretic models with research on the role of attention in action. It connects with philosophical work on frame-dependent, context-dependent, and situational reasoning.

In our work, we argue that salience can play a rational role as an input to attention, whereby an agent responds rationality to what their situation demands (article as pdf). We develop an account of how attention interacts with belief and decision making and show how to formalize the role of attention in epistemic planning. We also look at the interaction of the norms of attention in agency and communicative norms.

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Photo: Lysa

Associated Researchers:

Associated Events

Associated Presentations

  • Rationality and Salience (Watzl)
    • Meeting of the German Society of Analytic Philosophy 2023
    • Hebrew University and NYU 2023 (online)
  • Attention and rational choice (Watzl)
    • Stockholm (2024)
    • Vancouver (2024(
  • Attentional Conflicts (Pedaprolu)
    • Graduate Conference on Attention and Salience (Vienna), 04/2024
    • Oslo Mind, Language and Epistemology Network (2025)
    • Workshop on New Models of Knowledge Communication, Oslo (2026)
  • Attention, agency and self-awareness (Pedaprolu)
    • Second Nordic Graduate Conference on the Philosophy of Mind (2022)

Associated Publications and Work-in-Progress

Sub-project 4: Attention Norms and Epistemic Norms

This sub-project investigates the role of attention in epistemology and the rational status of the role of attention in the acquisition and exchange of knowledge and in inquiry. It studies the interaction between attention and epistemic norms with a special focus on a social and inquiry-centered approach to epistemic norms. It looks specifically at how epistemic notions of relevance might emerge at the interplay between, on the one hand, natural and social attention norms, and, on the other hand, the social context that make the evaluation of information exchange prominent.

Our work suggests a central role of attention in inquiry. We apply this idea to introspection, and are working on a general theory. We also explore connections (and tensions) between the epistemic role of attention and an evaluation of attention in terms of fittingness. We connect the fittingness of attention to what an agent cares about. Our work further investigates how attention impacts the legitimacy of holding some beliefs without evidence.

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Associated Researchers:

Associated Events

Associated Presentations

  • Attention and Self-knowledge (Watzl)
    • University of Bamberg 2022
  • Fittingness and Attention (Watzl)
    • Congress of the American Philosophical Association 2022
    • University of Bayreuth 2023
  • Fittingness, Attention, and Care (Clover)
    • Analytic Philosophy Summer School, Inter-University Centre Dubrovnik, 06/2024
  • No Epistemic Norms on Belief Formation (Clover)
    • Nordic Epistemology Network Conference, 10.06.2025
    • Oslo Mind Language and Epistemology Network, 09.05.2025
  • Attention, meaning, and AI (Clover)
    • PhD course and Workshop on AI Ethics Human Learning and Societal Change, 11.06.25
  • Salience-Based Hinge Epistemology and the Treacheries of the Obvious (Johnson)
    • New Waves in Hinge Epistemology Workshop. Glasgow. 2024
  • The Epistemic Role of Attention (Watzl, with A. Lee)
    • Oslo, 2022

Associated Publications and Work-in-Progress

  • Johnson, D. (2025). Belief beyond reason: A radical relativist hinge epistemology. Asian Journal of Philosophy, 4(1), 1-26
  • Watzl, S. (in press). Attention and Introspection, in: A. Guistina, The Routledge Handbook of Introspection (Ch. 25, pp. 390-408), Routledge
  • Baker, A. (in preparation) Paper on Causal Theories of Knowledge
  • Clover, L. (in preparation). Paper on Fittingnes, Attention, and Care
  • Clover, L. (in preparation). Paper on Attention and Fitting anxiety
  • Clover, L. (in preparation). Paper on Attention and Inquiry
  • Watzl, S. (in preparation). Attention and Inquiry

Sub-project 5: Ethics: Rights and Duties for Attention

This sub-project examines moral duties of attention and political attention rights by drawing on the social role of attention norms for social coordination and joint action. Directions of research include the study of procedural duties of non-negligence as well as substantial moral duties to pay enough attention to morally relevant facts; whether there should be restrictions on the commodification of attention; and whether the normative demands of democracy put restrictions on how much of our attention an individual or group can legitimately demand.

Our work investigates how moral and political norms on attention interact with other norms on it (see the article "The Ethics of Attention"). We explore the political legitimacy of ignoring the unreasonable, and investigate civic duties of attention. Other work studies the role of attention in democratic deliberation, how questions of justice apply to attention, and whether freedom of attention can be seen as a political liberty. Our work also provides a foundational analysis of the attention economy, and we have written a policy brief on social media bans and the ethics of attention.

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Associated Researchers:

Associated Events

Associated Presentations

  • The Ethics of Attention (Watzl)
    • Wisconsin Milwaukee (2.2022)
    • London School of Economics (9.2022)
    • University of British Columbia (Psychology) (12.2022)
  • What is Wrong with Commodifying Attention (Watzl)
    • Workshop on the Ethics of Attention, University of British Columbia (11.2022)
    • University of Minnesota (11.2022)
    • Leeds University (11.2022)
    • LMU Munich (1.2023)
    • Boston-Bergen Forum on Digital Futures (11.2023)
  • Ignoring the Unreasonable (Kapelner)
    • Workshop on Extremism and Subjectivity at VU Amsterdam (04/2024)
    • Colloquium in Social and Political Philosophy at LMU Munich (04/2024)
  • The Civic Dutoes of Attention (Kapelner)
    • Workshop with Emanuela Ceva at UiT – The Arctic University of Norway (Tromsø, 10/2023)
    • Workshop of the Pluralism, Democracy, and Justice Research group at UiT – The Arctic University of Norway (Tromsø 04/2024)
  • The Ethics of Agenda Setting (Kapelner)
    • Salience in Society: The Nature and Ethics of Collective Attention workshop, University of Vienna, 04.12.2024
    • Nasjonal fagkonferanse for statsvitenskap. NTNU, Trondheim (Norway), 6.1.2026,
    • ECPR Political Theory Online Seminar, 03.12.2025
    • Nordic Network of Political Theory Annual Conference. Norwegian Nobel Institute, Oslo, 06.11.2025
    • MANCEPT Workshops in Political Theory. University of Manchester, 04.09.2025
  • Democracy Embattled (Kapelner)
    • AUTHLIB Workshop on the normative boundaries of interventions aiming to safeguard the liberal order. Central European University, Democracy Institute, Budapest, 31.03.2025
  • Autonomy and Self-determination (Kapelner)
    • Annual Meeting of American Political Science Association (accepted, in 09/2024)
  • Freedom of Attention as a Political Liberty (Kapelner)
    • University of British Columbia Workshop, 06/2024
  • Justice and Public Attention (Kapelner – with K. Browne)
    • Vienna 12.2024
    • Norway-Berkeley Political Philosophy Workshop (Online). 07.06.2025

Associated Publications and Work-in-Progress

 

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GOODATTENTION: Attention norms and their role in practical reason, epistemology, and ethics - is funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 101003208 (ERC Consolidator Grant 2020).

Published July 13, 2021 12:14 PM - Last modified June 5, 2026 9:52 AM
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