Cognitive Psychology - Attention

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Attention

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The process of concentrating on specific features of the environment, or on certain thoughts or activities

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Selective Attention

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The ability to focus on one message and ignore all others

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Dichotic Listening

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different messages in both ears
told to listen to one ear
recall little from unattended channel

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Shadowing

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The procedure of repeating a message out loud as it is heard. Commonly used in conjunction with studies of selective attention that use the dichotic-listening procedure.

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Cocktail Party Phenomenon

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The ability to pay attention to one message and ignore all other messages

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Broadbent's Filter Model of Attention

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A model of attention that proposed that selective attention is achieved by a filtering out of unattended messages. Four stages: sensory store, filter, detector, short-term memory

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Early-selection model

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The filtering step occurs before the incoming information is analyzed to determine its meaning

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Broadbent's (1958) "split-scan" experiment

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An example of dual-channel research. Concluded that it is difficult to switch attention between channels. Analyzed human thought processes in terms of information being processed through a sequence of stages

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Basics of Moray (1959)

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Used dichotic listening to test Broadbent's theory
Presented listener with their name in unattended channel
1/3 participants detected it
Name had not been filtered and had been analyzed

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Effect of Moray (1959)

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Information presented to the unattended ear is processed enough to provide the listener with some awareness of its meaning

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Attenuation theory of attention

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Treisman's model of selective attention, that proposes that selection occurs in two stages. In the first stage, an attenuator analyzes the incoming message and lets through the attended message - and also the unattended message, but a lower (attenuated) strength.

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According to Treisman, the attenuator analyzes incoming messages in terms of:

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1) physical characteristics (pitch and speed)
2) language (how the message groups into syllables or words)
3) Meaning

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Dictionary Unit

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A component of Treisman's attenuation theory of attention. This processing unit contains stored words and thresholds for activating the words. The dictionary unit helps explain why we can sometimes hear a familiar word, such as our name, in an unattended message

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Late-selection Models

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A model of selective attention that proposes that selection of stimuli for final processing does not occur until after the information in the message has been analyzed for its meaning.

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Task Load

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How much of the person's cognitive resources are used to accomplish a task

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Flanker-compatibility task

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A procedure in which participants are instructed to respond to a target stimulus that is flanked by distractor stimuli that they are supposed to ignore. The degree to which the distractor interferes with responding to the target is taken as an indication of whether the distractor stimuli are being processed.

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Divided attention

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The ability to pay attention to a number of different things simultaneously

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Automatic processing

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A type of processing that occurs
1) without intention
2) using few cognitive resources

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Controlled Processing

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Processing that involves close attention.

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Schneider and Shiffrin (1977)

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Showed that controlled processing was need in the difficult, varied mapping condition of their experiment, even after extensive practice

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Change Blindness

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Difficulty in detecting changes in scenes that are presented one after another.

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Spotlight model of attention

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The model of visual attention that conceives of attention as having an effect similar to a spotlight that, when directed at different locations, increases the efficiency for which signals at that location can be processed.

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Precueing procedure

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A procedure in which participants are given a cue which will help them carry out a subsequent task.

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Colin Cherry's experiment in which participants listened to two different messages, one presented in each ear, found that people ________.

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could focus on one message and ignore the other one at the same time.

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Selection of the attended message in the Broadbent model occurs based on the ____.

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physical characteristics of the message.

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What experimental procedure would most likely be used in a study that tests the spotlight model of attention?

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precuing procedure

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The ability to pay attention to, or carry out, two or more different tasks simultaneously is known as ____.

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divided attention.

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Flanker compatibility experiments have been conducted using a variety of stimulus conditions. By definition, this procedure MUST include at least one target and one distractor. In ANY condition where we find that a distractor influenced reaction time, we can conclude that the distractor ______.

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was processed.

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The Stroop effect demonstrates what?

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how automatic processing can interfere with intended processing.

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The Stroop effect occurs when participants ___.

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try to name colors and ignore words.

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Automatic processing occurs ___.

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when tasks are well-practiced.

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Suppose twin teenagers are vying for their mother's attention. The mother is trying to pay attention to one of her daughters, though both girls are talking (one about her boyfriend, one about a school project). According to the operating characteristics of Treisman's attenuator, it is most likely the attenuator is analyzing the incoming messages in terms of ___.

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meaning.

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Unilateral neglect is a(n) _____ problem.

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attentional

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In Schneider and Shiffrin's experiment in which participants were asked to indicate whether a target stimulus was present in a series of rapidly presented "frames", divided attention was easier ________.

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in the consistent-mapping condition.