Attention, Memory, Cognition Flashcards
Divided Attention
Does not work well, individuals cannot actually focus their attention on two things simultaneously, so instead end up switching their attention between the two tasks
Deutch and Deutch’s Late Selection Theory
Places Broadbent’s selective filter after perceptual processes (all sensory information is assigned meaning)
sensory register> perceptual process> selective filter> consciousness
Selective Attention
Ability to maintain attention on something while being presented with masking/interfering stimuli
Exogenous/External clues
Capture our attention without us having to tell ourselves to look for them (i.e. bright colors, loud noises)
This is called the pop out effect
Driven by bottom up/ external events
Endogenous/Internal clues
Require internal knowledge to understand the clue and intention to follow it
For example, the cocktail party effect. Ability to concentrate on a single voice within a crowd or to respond to your name when it is called.
Inattentional Blindness
Failure to notice something in your visual field because attention is directed elsewhere
Change Blindness
Failure to notice something from previous to a current state in your environment
Broadbent’s Early Selection Theory (selective attention)
Information first goes to a sensory register, which stores all sensory information. Information is then sent to a sensory filter, which filters out information based on physical characteristics. It then moves through a perceptual process where meaning is assigned to the information, then to consciousness.
sensory register> selective filter>perceptual process> consciousness
Treisman’s Attenuation Theory
Replaces selective filter with an attenuator that allows attended information to be processed to a greater extent
Sensory register> attenuator> perceptual process> consciousness
Spotlight model of attention
Information is taken in by all five senses, but we don’t pay attention to all of it (selective attention)
Priming occurs when one stimulus affects a response to another, even if we are not aware of it
Resource Model of Attention
We have limited attentional resources and are easily overtasked if we try to pay attention to multiple things at once.
Factors affecting divided attention
Task similarity: it is harder to multitask when tasks are similar (listening to music vs an interview while writing a paper)
Task Difficulty: it is harder to concentrate on more difficult tasks
Practice: it is easier to focus on more practiced tasks
Information Processing Model of Memory
People get input from the environment, process it, and output decisions
Bottom up model
Assumes serial processing (but brain is capable of parallel processing)
Two type of sensory memory
Iconic: visual stimuli, lasts half a second
Echoic: verbal stimuli, lasts 3-4 seconds
Working memory (short term memory)
Sensory information that you are actually working with in that moment
Can hold 7+/- 2 pieces of information at a time
Where is visual information processed in the working memory? Auditory information?
The visuo-spatial sketchpad, the phonological loop
The central executive coordinates this information
Serial Position affect (primacy and recency effects)
Information presented first and last is most easily recalled
Episodic Buffer
Combines with phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad to give memories a component of time
Two types of long term memory
Explicit memories: declarative and conscious
Implicit memories: nondeclarative and unconscious (i.e. procedural memory)
Two types of explicit memories
Semantic (facts) and episodic (event related memories)
Autobiographical memory combines these two types of memory
Priming
Previous experience influences current interpretation of an event.
Positive priming speeds up processing, while negative priming slows it down
Encoding
Transferring information from working to long term memory
