attention Flashcards
(78 cards)
what does it mean by attention is goal directed
attention is deployed to achieve something e.g. finding someone in a crowd
how does attention vary in effort
- it can be very easy or more difficult
what is an example of a serial search
where’s wally
visually similar distractors
how can attention be shifted
the spotlight metaphor
what is the spotlight metaphor
attention can be directed to a particular point of focus
how can we shift attention
- scanning from left to right
- in visual search, attention and eye movements are often coupled but you can shift attention without moving eyes
how can attention be zoomed
the zoomed lens metaphor
how is attention selective
- attention as a filter
- e.g decide to focus on one convo at a party, ignoring another so filtering out other things
- attending to one thing
how is attention limited
- attention as a resource
- difficult to listen to 2 people at the same time
- limited
how can attention be captured
- you control your attention
- attention will be captured by things that are similar even if not intended
how can attention be divided
- between modalities e.g. listening to one thing and looking at another
when did modern research into attention start
1950s
why is it referred to as modern research
- follows a paradigm shift from behaviourism to cognitivism
- cognitive revolution
who is the founding father of modern attention research
Donald Broadbent (1926-1993)
what did broadbent find particularly interesting
air-traffic control as it’s attention-demanding
how did broadbent 1952 research whether we can understand 2 simultaneous messages
- presented pps with a grid with 5 locations, symbols placed in some locations
- presented a stimuli- played through head phones simultaneously
- messages had instructions e.g. is there a heart on condition 1
- had various conditions - e.g. only answer 1 question and ignore the other
what results did broadbent get from his research
only 50% of the questions were answered correctly
how did cherry 1953 research how we listened to 2 messages simultaneously
- the cocktail party problem
condition 1 - 2 messages same speaker played to both ears
- repeat one message and ignore the other
- found task was very difficult but possible after many repetitions
condition 2 - 2 messages by same speaker but played to different ears
-dichotic listening
what did cherry 1953 find
- easier to be able to attend to 1 ear
the irrelevant message - no words or semantic content reported
- change in language not noticed
- reversed speech was sometimes recognised
- change from male to female or to pure tone was recognised
- suggests basic physical stimulus characteristics are processed
what is the selective filter in broadbents filter theory
identifies information for further processing
- the filter uses physical stimulus properties as the basis for slection
what is the STM store in broadbents filter theory
- info from multiple sensory inputs enters STM store
- aka sensory register, immediate memory, iconic/echoic memory
- processed physical stimulus properties e.g. location and pitch
what is the limited capacity channel in broadbents filter theory
- a serial processor
- can only process one thing at time
- current term is the focus of attention in working memory
what is the order of broadbent’s filter theory
- senses, STM, selective filter, limited capacity channel
what is broadbent’s filter theory referred to as
early selection theory