3- How do we Select Attention? Flashcards
What are the three considerations when looking at how we select attention?
When to select?
To what extent?
Based on what?
What is the early vs late selection debate?
Do we decide to keep/focus on early or late information?
What is the main type of study to study auditory attention?
Dichotic listening
Who proposed the dichotic listening study?
Cherry, 1953
What happens in the dichotic listening task? (3 points)
- Different information goes into each ear
- Person is asked to focus on left or right input
- Asked to verbally repeat the input so that the experimenter knows whether or not information is being attended to
What is the cocktail party effect?
We are able to focus on certain aspects of a situation and ignore background information
What does the cocktail party effect show?
That we can apply selective attention
Who proposed the early filter model?
Broadbent, 1958
What does the early filter model propose?
Only specific information is selected for processing
What does the early filter model suggest happens to attended to information vs unattended information?
Attended to information can continue to higher-level processing and unattended information is lost
What does the early filter model say selection is based on?
Physical properties
Which information goes to the sensory store in the early filter model?
Both attended and unattended information
What happens in the sensory store?
Sounds are registered and transformed into electrochemical energy
What issues are there with the early filter model? (3)
- Unattended yet highly familiar information can slip past the filter
- Can’t always explain every situation
- Attention might not be allocated in an all-or-none way
Who proposed the attenuation model?
Treisman, 1964
How is the attenuation model different from the early filter model?
Attention is not all-or-none- different pieces of information have varying rates of processing
How is the attenuation model similar to the early filter model?
Selection is still based on physical properties
What 2 other aspects does the attenuation model suggest selection is based on?
Familiarity or relevance
What does the attenuation model suggest happens to the unattended message?
We don’t get the full message of an unattended message
What information does the attenuation model say gets to be processed semantically?
Attended information
What are the issues with early selection models? (2 points)
- Even unattended messages can be processed to the level of meaning
- Attended information can be affected by the unattended information that the models don’t account for
Where do late selection models argue that selection happens?
At the level of memory
When is information semantically processed according to late selection model?
Before attentive selection takes place
Who proposed the Late Selection Model?
Deutsch and Deutsch, 1963
What is the criticism of all information being processed deeply first?
Could be wasteful
How do we select our response?
Based on the attended information
What happens when we have multiple stimuli?
They can all be processed to a deep level
What is the task used to study subliminal priming?
Cross judgement task
Who proposed the cross judgement task?
Mack and Rock, 1998
What happens in the cross judgement task?
- A word is presented in one of the quadrants very fast
- Participants were given a primary task to judge line lengths of quadrants
Did participants detect the brief word in the cross judgement task?
Mostly not
Why didn’t participants detect the word most of the time in the cross judgement task?
Because they are trying to pay attention to the primary task
When were participants better able to find the word?
When given 5 alternatives better than chance
Are we still processing peripheral information when there is a primary task?
Yes
What are the 3 reasons that models of selective attention differ?
- When selection occurs
- Whether allocation is all-or-none
- Whether unattended information is processed at the level or physical property or also meaning
How may attention differ from all existing models?
Attention may be more flexible and depends on the situation
