Attention, STM, LTM Flashcards
Attention
the ability to focus on specific stimuli
Dichotic Listening Experiments
presenting different stimuli to the left and right ears in order to study how attention works
Broadbent’s Filter Model of Attention
messages come through sensory memory, filter then determines what message is attended to
Treisman Attenuation Model of Attention
early selection attention model where attended message passes through at full strength and unattended messages are weakened.
Similarity between Broadbent and Treisman models
filtering/attenuation of unattended messages happens before meaning is processed
What is the difference between early and late selection models of attention? Which is correct?
early selection models propose that the desired message is selected early and other are filtered out/weakened
late selection models propose that info is processed to the level of meaning before the message to be further processed is selected
both are corrected depending on type of task and type of stimuli
What is processing capacity?
how much information someone can handle, sets a limit on ability to process incoming information
-bandwidth
What is perceptual load?
difficulty of a task
-amount of bandwidth used
Why do distracting stimuli cause a bigger hit to performance on easy tasks than hard tasks?
load theory of attention - low load tasks use fewer cognitive resources, leaving more resources available for processing unattended task-irrelevant stimuli
Schneider & Shiffrin’s divided memory experiment
Participants perform two tasks simultaneously. 1) hold info about target stimuli in memory. 2) pay attention to a series of distraction stimuli to determine if target is present.
Initially participants success was ~55%
After 900 trials: accuracy reach 90%
What did divided memory experiment tell us about the effect of practice on divided attention?
We aren’t good at dividing attention, but practice dramatically improves ability.
At ~600 trials, participants reported feeling more automatic processing
When does practice lead to a large improvement in performance when dividing attention? When are benefits limited?
Simple tasks are capable of large improvements in divided attention performance. Benefits of practice are limited for harder tasks.
Why doesn’t a handsfree system significantly reduce driving impairment?
talking on the phone takes up cognitive resources that would otherwise be used for driving. impairment is due to divided attention
What is the binding problem?
problem of explaining how an object’s individual features become bound together
Feature Integration Theory
an approach to object perception developed by Treisman that proposes a sequence of stages in which features are analyzed and then combine
How does ventral attention stream contribute to attention?
controls attention based on salience of stimuli (bottom-up processing)
-more likely to pay attention to loud sound, bright color
How does dorsal attention stream contribute to attention?
controls attention based on top-down factors, such as what we are expected to be important or directed towards things that seem out of place
-pot v. printer on the stove, look at printer more
How does executive attention network contribute to attention?
responsible for executive functions such as controlling attention, inhibiting certain responses, and selecting between conflicting responses
Inattentional blindness
people are unaware of clearly visible stimuli if they aren’t directing their attention towards them
-gorilla
Change blindness
difficulty in detecting changes in similar but slightly different scenes presented one after another
Define or give an example of each of the 3 systems of memory in the modal model.
sensory memory - brief storage of perceptual information
short term memory - rehearses information, uses info, and stores things in long term memory
long term memory - long duration retention of stored information
