Attention and Performance Flashcards
What is attention?
1) An ability - focus on one of many incoming stimuli
2) Intentional - done on purpose and controlled
3) Is limited - attend to one thing means you lack attention to everything else
What happens when we move from many inputs to few outputs?
Lose information along the way
Countless stimuli enter in parallel
actions are emitted in serial fashion (3/sec)
Why do we need attention?
Because we receive about 45GB of info/ sec
Need to filter out useless information and focus on what is relevant
What is parallel processing>
Handling two or more streams of information at the same time
What is the stroop effect?
Competition between the response to the colour word and the ink colour
-shows parallel processing and that streams compete
What is the cocktail party effect?
Engrossed in one conversation in a noisy environment but automatically hear your name
-Shows parallel processing and that streams of info are being processed without explicit attention
What is inattention blindness?
When our attention is absorbed by one stimulus stream and as a result we are “blind” to other info
What is sustained attention?
After a period of time the task of concentrating on a single target of our attention becomes a progressively more difficult chore
What are the limits in response selection?
It is difficult to perform two very different tasks at the same time
Depends on whether the tasks are controlled or automatic
What is a controlled task?
IP that is voluntary, slow and sequential, attentionally demanding
What is an automatic task?
IP that is non-conscious, fast, parallel and low attention load
What is a Production Unit?
A group of subtasks that , through practice become automatically performed (reading)
Why do fakes work?
One person chooses to initiate
The other has to identify an react- when the programming is wrong there is interference when you try to stop and start another action.
What are the limits of movement?
Not a limit of identification
Not a limit of selection
But a limit of programming
What is psychological refractory period (PRP)?
The delay in responding to a second of two closely spaced stimuli
What is the double stimulation paradigm?
Interested in the stimulus onset asynchrony
Once you have started the programming response to the first stimulus you cannot program a response to the second stimuli that is greater than 100ms later.
What is grouping when talking about the double stimulation paradigm?
Both stimuli detected as a single event and organize a single, more complicated action
Testing the psychological refractory period (PRP)
Response is slowest to probes close to movement onset
Response also slows close to end of movement
Response to probe slowed down by any movement, more by small target movements
What are conclusions about the PRP?
Action demands attention
Different actions demand different amounts of attention
Some phases of action demand more attention than other phases
Where to focus attention during programming?
Internal focus: Own moving body and execution of movements
External focus: on external target like specific target of movement
What is arousal?
The level of activation of the central nervous system
What is anxiety?
Uneasiness or distress about future uncertainties; a perception of threat
What is the inverted U-principle?
The relationship of arousal and anxiety effecting performance
What is the “zone”
The region of arousal that give optimal performance
What happens if you have high-trait-anxiety?
You perform better under low arousal
What is narrow range of optimality?
When you have a small range when you perform the best
How are fine motor skills effected?
Perform better with low arousal
How are gross motor skills effected?
Performance is better with higher arousal
What is perceptual narrowing?
The narrowing of attentional focus as arousal goes up
What is cue-utilization hypothesis?
Explanation of low/high arousal effects on performance
What happens with a wide perceptual field?
Process lots of stimuli but not in great detail
What happens with narrow perceptual field?
Can be inefficient because each stimuli get processed too much
What does it mean to choke?
When performers change their normal routine or fail to adapt to changing situation resulting in failed performance
