Attention Pt.1 Flashcards
Selective Attention
- The capacity to concentrate on the
relevant characteristics of a
stimulus - Ignoring relevant information
Cocktail Party Effect
- Selective Attention filters out stimuli
not being attended to - Attention focuses cognitive
processing resources on a particular
target
Early Selection Models of Attention
The theory proposed by Donald Broadbent
- Suggest that information is filtered
and selected for attention at a very
early stage of processing, based on
basic physical characteristics like
pitch or color, before deeper
semantic analysis occurs
Attention of Specific Objects
- In shadowing experiments, subjects
must focus on just one of two or
more simultaneous stimuli - In divided-attention tasks, subjects
are asked to process two or more
simultaneous stimuli- These tasks show that attention is
a limited resource
- These tasks show that attention is
- Our attentional spotlight shifts
around the environment,
highlighting stimuli for processing
Cherry: 1953 (Dichotic Listening Paradigm)
- Showed that participants were able to selectively focus on one spoken message while ignoring another presented simultaneously
Neville Moray’s Experiment (1959)
- Investigated whether a person’s
attention can be diverted through
the use of hearing their name, even
when concentrating on another task
Attentional Bottleneck
- Works as a filter to select only the
most important stimuli for
processing - Early-selection model of attention-
filtering occurs at the sensory level
and non-attended information
never reaches higher-order
cognitive processes- However, some unattended
stimuli are processed and may
even capture attention
- However, some unattended
Donald Mackay’s Experiment (1973)
- Focused on how comprehension, memory, and language production change with age.
Late Selection Model
- Theory proposes that information is
selected for further processing only
after it has been fully processed for
meaning
Symbolic Cueing Tasks
- Measure reaction time for noticing
the appearance of a specific target
preceded by a symbolic cue:- Valid cues indicate where the
target will appear - Invalid cues point the wrong way
- Neutral cues don’t provide any
hint - Subjects learned to shift their
attention in the cued direction,
without shifting their gaze
- Valid cues indicate where the
Models of Attention
- Late-selection model suggests the
bottleneck occurs later after
substantial unconscious processing
has occurred - Current models incorporate early
and late-selection techniques
Overt & Covert Attention
- Overt attention occurs when the
focus coincides with the sensory
orientation - In converting attention the focus is
independent of sensory information
Reflexive Attention
(Also known as exogenous attention); it is the involuntary reorienting of attention toward a sudden or important event
- Bottom-up processing; controlled
by lower-order sensory inputs,
rather than by voluntary,
conscious processes
- A peripheral spatial cutting task
uses a simple sensory stimulus,
such as light in the location in which
the attention is to be drawn
following an interval of time
- Due to inhibition of return, longer
intervals interfere with the processing of
valid cues
* Voluntary and reflexive attention are the complement
Eye Tracking
Cameras record where the participant is looking
- We move our eyes around to use
the fovea (region of highest
acuity for looking at whatever
interest us
Perceptual Load
The immediate processing demands presented by a stimulus; determines how much of our perceptual resources are used
