Attention Flashcards
selection
the act of attending to an object to select it apart from the unattended objects
automatic processes
are triggered involuntarily by external events and they trigger the “capture” of attention
They are assumed to operate fast, efficient and in a obligatory manner
controlled processes
guide attention voluntarily and consciously to objects of interest
They are assumed to operate more slowly as they are thought to require more cognitive
salient cues
cues that are more noticeable and lead to stronger and quicker association when paired with events
ex: the siren on an ambulance quickly gets your attention
spotlight model
your attentional spotlight focuses on only part of the environment at a time
cuing paradigms
they can be used to determine whether manipulating attention can influence behaviour
cocktail party effect
subjects were asked to listen to two different messages played on the same speaker at the same time
they were able to recall one message but not the other
filter model
out attention is filtered and only allows important information through
Broadbent’s dichotic listening paradigm
subjects were listening to two different messages on headphones (each ear had a different message) and they were told to shadow one message
they were able to answer questions about the shadowed message but did not even notice major changes (like different languages) in the other message
breakthrough
participants remember unattended information
ex: when you are at party having a convo with someone, you can hear your name from the crowd
Treisman’s Model
two filters - physical and semantic
set size
the number of items to search through
set size effect
increase in difficulty as set size increases
pop-out effect
when the object of a visual search is easily found, regardless of the set size
conjunction search
identifying a target that is defined by two or more features
ex: searching for a green T in an array of green and red Is and Ts
