This paper critically analyses the "attention economy" within the framework
of cognitive science and techno-political economics, as applied to both human
and machine interactions. We explore how current business models, particularly
in digital platform capitalism, harness user engagement by strategically
shaping attentional patterns. These platforms utilize advanced AI and massive
data analytics to enhance user engagement, creating a cycle of attention
capture and data extraction. We review contemporary (neuro)cognitive theories
of attention and platform engagement design techniques and criticize classical
cognitivist and behaviourist theories for their inadequacies in addressing the
potential harms of such engagement on user autonomy and wellbeing. 4E
approaches to cognitive science, instead, emphasizing the embodied, extended,
enactive, and ecological aspects of cognition, offer us an intrinsic normative
standpoint and a more integrated understanding of how attentional patterns are
actively constituted by adaptive digital environments. By examining the
precarious nature of habit formation in digital contexts, we reveal the
techno-economic underpinnings that threaten personal autonomy by disaggregating
habits away from the individual, into an AI managed collection of behavioural
patterns. Our current predicament suggests the necessity of a paradigm shift
towards an ecology of attention. This shift aims to foster environments that
respect and preserve human cognitive and social capacities, countering the
exploitative tendencies of cognitive capitalism.

通过批判地分析 “注意力经济” 在认知科学和技术 - 政治经济学框架下的应用于人机交互，本文探讨了当前商业模式（尤其是数字平台资本主义）如何通过战略性地塑造注意力模式来利用用户参与度。这些平台利用先进的人工智能和大规模数据分析来提高用户参与度，从而形成注意力捕获和数据提取的循环。通过回顾当代（神经）认知理论、平台参与设计技术并批评经典认知主义和行为主义理论因其在解决此类参与对用户自治和幸福潜在危害方面的不足而受到批评。认知科学中的 4E 方法强调了认知的融入性、扩展性、自我激活性和生态性方面，为我们提供了内在的规范立场和更全面的理解，该理解认为适应性数字环境主动地构成了注意力模式。通过研究数字环境中习惯形成的不稳定性，我们揭示了威胁个人自治的技术 - 经济基础，将习惯从个体中剥离，并成为由人工智能管理的行为模式集合。我们目前的困境表明需要向关注生态学的范式转变，该转变旨在培养尊重和保护人类认知和社会能力的环境，以抵制认知资本主义的剥削倾向。