Attention Flashcards
Name 3 key words relating to attention
Focalisation
trains of thought
concentration
give two things that the inattentional blindness activity demonstrates:
- demonstrates we have selective attention
- attention has a limited capacity
What is change blindness
e.g just because we are looking at something does not mean we are selectively attending to it
How is selective attention multisensory?
because we can selectively attend to three types of stimuli:
visual
auditory
tactile (touch)
What are the findings from Cherry’s experiment?
Subjects could not identify the language, meaning and context of the conversation they have been asked to ignore
The subjects could however identify the gender of the voice and physical attributes
What does Cherry’s experiment suggest in terms of when attention is processed?
This experiment shows that attention operates at an early stage in processing
Describe what an early selection diagram looks like
Attention occurs after ‘physical analysis’ and before ‘awarness and response;
Describe what a late selection theory lookms like
attention occurs at the ‘awarness and response stage’
Outline the spotlight model of attention by Posner 1980
when we see a cue, we orientate our visual attention towards this cue.
This enhances the visual processing of that particular cue
What are the two types of cues we orientate to, according to the spotlight model of attention by Posner 1980
- Endogenous: cue presented in the centre
- Exogenous: cue is on the outside.
Goal-driven attention
Endogenous
Stimulus driven attention
Exogenous
Both Cherry and Posner believe that attention occurs——- in the visual processing system
early
early attention theories believe that attention occurs ——— semantic processing, and late attention theories believe that attention occurs ——– semantic processing
1) Before
2) After
how can early selection theories be challenged?
BUT does not apply when we hear our name - we have not attended to this info previously yet we still attend
Give the methodology for MacKay’s (1973) experiment and what does it challenge?
Subjects took part in 2 streams simultaneously. In attended stream given sentence ‘they were throwing stones at the bank’ . in unattended stream either given the word ‘river’ or ‘money.’
This study challenges early selection theories- even if you don’t attend certain info, your brain still processes it
What was found in MacKay’s (1973) study? (the river/money study)
the word used in the unattended stream affected participants’ interpretation of the sentence.
This suggests that the ‘percieved unattended info’ was actually attended to
Why is an object-based selection challenging evidence for early selection theories?
attention may not operate over regions of space
what was the purpose of Egly et al’s (1994) study?
To distinguish spatial location from object location
it showed that attention occurs at regions of objects rather than regions of space
What are the findings of Egly et al’s (1994) study?
Subjects had slower reaction time when had to identify different object at different location
Why does Egly et al’s study contradict Posner’s spotlight theory?
Because Egly et al’s study suggests that attention operates within the objects location , whereas Posner’s theory suggests that attention operates within regions of location
Does the inhibition of return support location or object-based attention?
supports object based attention
What does the Load Theory state? (by Nillie Lavie)
States that the level of perceptual load determines the efficiency of selective attention
In Nillie Lavie’s load theory experiment, where was the faster reaction time observed?
Faster reaction time in congruent trials - when target and distractor are the same letter
In the load theory study, what does the high perceptual load condition support?
Supports early selection (attention taken up early)
this is because a lot of capacity is taken up for focusing on the target, therefore less attention is given on the distractor.
In the load theory study, what does the low perceptual load condition support?
supports late selection
as not all capacity is being used up, more attention is starting to play a role in the distractor.
