Attention Flashcards
What is the definition of “attention?”
taking in information and determining what is important for perceptual processing
What are the different types of attention?
selective attention and divided attention
What is “selective attention?”
focusing attention on 1 stimulus at the exclusion of other stimuli (ie attended channel and unattended channel)
What is the Broadbent Filter Model of Selective Attention?
all of the information within your environment enters your “sensory register,” but only 1 input is selected and filtered
the remaining info remains briefly before decaying
the theory is that this keeps us from being overloaded and overwhelmed with information
What is the cocktail party effect?
when information of personal importance from previously unattended channels catches our attention
What was Deutsh and Deutch’s Theory of Late Selection Theory?
you register and assign everything meaning, but your selective filter determines what is sent to your conscious awareness
What is the Attenuation Theory?
proposed by Anne Treisman, who states that the mind has an attenuator that works much like a volume knob - it can “turn down” unattended sensory input rather that eliminating it
What is the concept of “selective priming?”
this idea suggests that people can be selectively primed to observe something, either by encountering it frequently or by having an expectation
*while sitting at a family Thanksgiving dinner, you may be at one end of the table talking to you cousin, but perk up when you suddenly hear your Grandmother say your name. Because you have heard your name frequently throughout your lifetime, you are primed to pick it out amongst loud conversations.
What is the “spotlight model?”
this is the idea that visual attention is like like a beam of light that can be shifted anywhere within an individual’s visual field
*this concept focuses on the movement of ATTENTION, not the physical movement of the eyeballs
What is the “binding problem?”
how different aspects are related to a single object, rather than something else in our visual field
*when people are distracted while viewing 2 items, they may have issues with binding - the color of 1 item gets attributed to the other
What is the resource model of attention?
this theory states that we have a limited pool of resources on which to draw when performing tasks
What are the 3 factors associated with being able to successfully multi-task?
- task similarity
- task difficulty
- task practice
Selective attention is a _____process
Either / or
Divided attention is a _____ process
Both / and
What is “shadowing?”
a type of cognitive testing used to study attention
