Human memory has long been a topic of interest to philosophers and scientists, and memory as we scientifically know it today has only been recently established. In fact, the study of human memory dates back to the time of Aristotle. In his book De
Anima, Aristotle introduced the concept of tabula rasa - blank slate - as the nature of our minds at birth. He theorized that when we are born, we are devoid of any knowldege or experience - that our minds are completely empty. Memory then, for him, is like etching words on an empty tablet, sometimes referred to as the
“storehouse metaphor”.
In those times, it was generally accepted that there were two forms of memory -
“natural memory” and “artificial memory” (Yates, 1966). Natural memory is the …show more content…
Distraction, as defined by North (2011), is an event that causes a lack of attention leading to the inability to concentrate on the task at hand. Attention is closely linked to working memory, as it is believed that maintaining items in working memory are atttentionally demanding, as seen in an experiment by Baddeley (1986) in the impairment in comprehension, learning, and reasoning of participants when handling memory loads (as cited by Fougnie, 2008).
However, the effect a distraction has on attention and task-performance greatly depends on the nature of both the distraction and the task, specifically the level of the memory load and the type of information it is (Lavie, 2010). Many psychologists have put forth their models and theories centering around this idea. Christopher Wickens’
(1981, 1984, 2002) Multiple Resource Theory suggests that the same types of information use up the same attentional resources, implying that performing two cognitive tasks that are of a similar type of information is more impairing than performing two dissimilar tasks. Similarly, the Selective Interference Theory (Logie,
Zucco, & Baddeley, 1990; Myerson, Hale, Soo Hyun, & Jenkins, 1999; …show more content…
A similar study was conducted by Emberson, Lupyan, Goldstein, and Spivey
(2010), wherein they studied the effects of one-sided conversations in cognition.
Participants were given a computer task and were asked to ignore either a dialogue, monologue, or one-sided conversation. Results showed no difference in number of errors in the computer task when comparing the dialogue and monologue. The one-sided conversation, however, led to significantly more errors than the other conditions and was also rated by participants as greatly distracting.
In a more structured form than Emberson’s and Monk’s experiments, Galvan,
Golley, & Vessal (2013) found that while the one-sided conversation was significantly more distracting than normal conversations, it did not have an effect on their participants performance on the anagram tests that were prepared for them. These results were backed by an older study by Lavie (1995) where distractors were found to have a larger impact on easy tasks than difficult tasks. Lavie theorized that because easy tasks required less attentional resources, they were free enough to be greatly distracted, while harder tasks had greater attentional demands, requiring more
Anima, Aristotle introduced the concept of tabula rasa - blank slate - as the nature of our minds at birth. He theorized that when we are born, we are devoid of any knowldege or experience - that our minds are completely empty. Memory then, for him, is like etching words on an empty tablet, sometimes referred to as the
“storehouse metaphor”.
In those times, it was generally accepted that there were two forms of memory -
“natural memory” and “artificial memory” (Yates, 1966). Natural memory is the …show more content…
Distraction, as defined by North (2011), is an event that causes a lack of attention leading to the inability to concentrate on the task at hand. Attention is closely linked to working memory, as it is believed that maintaining items in working memory are atttentionally demanding, as seen in an experiment by Baddeley (1986) in the impairment in comprehension, learning, and reasoning of participants when handling memory loads (as cited by Fougnie, 2008).
However, the effect a distraction has on attention and task-performance greatly depends on the nature of both the distraction and the task, specifically the level of the memory load and the type of information it is (Lavie, 2010). Many psychologists have put forth their models and theories centering around this idea. Christopher Wickens’
(1981, 1984, 2002) Multiple Resource Theory suggests that the same types of information use up the same attentional resources, implying that performing two cognitive tasks that are of a similar type of information is more impairing than performing two dissimilar tasks. Similarly, the Selective Interference Theory (Logie,
Zucco, & Baddeley, 1990; Myerson, Hale, Soo Hyun, & Jenkins, 1999; …show more content…
A similar study was conducted by Emberson, Lupyan, Goldstein, and Spivey
(2010), wherein they studied the effects of one-sided conversations in cognition.
Participants were given a computer task and were asked to ignore either a dialogue, monologue, or one-sided conversation. Results showed no difference in number of errors in the computer task when comparing the dialogue and monologue. The one-sided conversation, however, led to significantly more errors than the other conditions and was also rated by participants as greatly distracting.
In a more structured form than Emberson’s and Monk’s experiments, Galvan,
Golley, & Vessal (2013) found that while the one-sided conversation was significantly more distracting than normal conversations, it did not have an effect on their participants performance on the anagram tests that were prepared for them. These results were backed by an older study by Lavie (1995) where distractors were found to have a larger impact on easy tasks than difficult tasks. Lavie theorized that because easy tasks required less attentional resources, they were free enough to be greatly distracted, while harder tasks had greater attentional demands, requiring more