Attention 2 Flashcards
early selection theory
meaning of unattended stimuli = not identified/analysed
late selection theory
meaning of unattended stimuli = identified/analysed
identify 3 theories for why sometimes stimuli from irrelevant channels are identified
- leakage
- slippage
- spillover
Explain leakage
- this is where information from irrelevant channels ‘leaks’ through filter
- the selective filter doesn’t block the information, it attenuates
Explain slippage
- this is where we cannot focus on the relevant channels all the time
- if attention is not properly focused, attention will slip into irrelevant channel
Explain spillover
- too many attention resources trying to fit into relevant channel
- the leftover resources are then used by irrelevant channel
what is meant by relevant channels?
information that ppts is instructed to attend to the information presented
what is meant by irrelevant channel?
information that ppts is instructed to ignore
Outline Lachter et al. (2004) study into slippage
(supports early-selection theory)
- believed that there is no identification without attention
- supporting early selection theory
- suggested research contradicting early-selection theory did not have control for slippage
- this means it cannot be sure ppts did not pay attention to irrelevant channels
- Lachter reinterpretted previous studies
- concluded that Broadbent was correct in suggesting that there is no identification without attention
what is the own-name effect?
when individual recognises/processes their name when presented in the irrelevant channel
Outline Conway et al. (2001) study into own-name effect
- replicated study
- extended study to look into working memory as well
(how many stimuli can ppts hold at the same time - in one group 20% noticed their own name
- on another group, 65% recognised their name
the people with high working memory span tend to not notice their own name
In Conway et al. study, which group has a higher working memory?
the people with high working memory span tend to not notice their own name (so group 1 - 20%)
explain what ppts with high WM capacity means for attention
- ppts with high WM capacity better at controlling their attention
- less slippage
- attention resources are not dedicated to irrelevant channels
explain what ppts with low WM capacity means for attention
- ppts more likely to let information slip into irrelevant channels
what is channel-switching?
information/messages switches from ear to ear
how is slippage shown in channel-switching?
- ppts were able to identify info in irrelevant channel
- experiment can be quite confusing with messages switching between ears
- coherent sentences becoming incoherent suddenly is confusing
- could cause attention resources to be reallocated as they start to notice info in other channel that they are told to ignore
- reallocation of attention resources = form of slippage
What evidence from the replication of the electric shock condition study suggest about slippage
- most pronounced skin conductance changes in ppts who seemed to attend to irrelevant channel
- Evidence for this = when ppts failed to shadow what was in the relevant channel but able to recall some material from the irrelevant channel.
- If ppts attend to relevant channel and ignore irrelevant channel, they should not be able to recall any semantic information about what was in the irrelevant channel
Indicates that ppts let their attention slip.
What type of stimuli did Lachter et al. use when creating a task to investigate attention without identification?
visual stimuli
identify features of experiments that eliminate chance of slippage
- auditory stimuli are not suitable as experimenters do not have lots of control over what ppts listen to at a given time
- Visual stimuli - where based on the length of time you present stimuli for; you can control if ppts have a chance to acc look at them or not
- present some stimuli very briefly for 55 milliseconds so ppts could not perform attentional shifts towards them
- Argued that with this timing that it should not be possible that ppts slip and attend to the irrelevant channel which is now the irrelevant location
What is repetition priming?
where irrelevant stimuli is presented which can speed up the responses to the relevant stimuli (target)
the point of priming is to influence ppts response to subsequent stimulus
Outline Lachter et al. study into identification without attention
- if slippage = excluded, there can be no identification without attention
- visual stimuli used to exclude slippage
- to differentiate between relevant and irrelevant stimuli, use different location to present stimuli
- if prime word matches the target word the prime activates the concept stored in memory
- making it easier to indicate target word
- response to pseudo-word was not analysed
- but recorded to set up the concept
how is Lachter’s study different to classical repetition priming studies?
the prime words were presented in different locations
target word always presented in centre of screen
What are the four conditions of Lachter’s study?
- location: presented in same location as target or presented above target word
- word identity: whether word is the same or not
What were the results of Lachter’s study and what does this show?
There is no effect on reaction times if prime and target are in different locations.
Reinforcing exactly what Broadbent proposed; there is no identification without attention.