Automaticity

Question 1

What is automaticity?

Answer 1

(Schneider & Shriffin, 1977) refers to automaticity to when a process becomes so familiar one no longer needs to pay attention to it

Question 2

Describe an automatic task

Answer 2

Automatic tasks must occur without intention, conscious awareness or interfere with other mental activity

Question 3

What influences automaticity

Answer 3

The more practice we gain the less attention we have to allocate to that given task

Question 4

Example of automaticity

Answer 4

(Posner & Snyder, 1975) driving is a complex real- world automatic task- however sometimes controller processing is needed (if in an unfamiliar setting)

Question 5

What is controlled processing?

Answer 5

Controlled processing requires our mental effort and conscious attention, it often had a limited capacity
Serial processing is an example of controlled processing as it requires our focused attention

Question 6

How does the stroop test (Stroop, 1935) reflect automaticity?

Answer 6

The distinction between automatic and controlled tasks are supported by the stroop effect, simple features such as colour and shape are detected automatically, however combined, it needs more directed attention
Interference in serial verbal reactions in the stroop test comes from when it takes longer to name ink colors of incoherent words (74%)
Speech of processing: words are read faster than colour is named
Selective attention: colour’s require more of our attention

Question 7

Experimental evidence of automaticity?

Answer 7

Spelke et al. (1976) experiment required two students to spend 5 hours a week training at performing two tasks simultaneously
At first participants found this difficult and comprehension suffered, however after 6 weeks, they performed the two tasks quickly and efficiently= automatic

Question 8

What year was Schnider and Shiffins study formed?

Answer 8

1977

Question 9

Describe Schnider and Shriffin (1977) visual search task

Answer 9

The visual search task studied factors that affected the transition from controlled to automatic
Participants were required to search for a specific target item amongst a series of presented displays, each frame the participants had to state yes or no to whether target had appeared- reaction time and accuracy was measured- the mapping of targets was manipulated

Question 10

What were the findings of Schnider and Shiffins (1977) visual search task?

Answer 10

Consistent mapping identified 95% accurately in 70ms whereas the varied mapping group in 210ms

Question 11

Name some positive evaluation points for automaticity

Answer 11

It has shaped some of the research into dyslexia
Vast amount of supportive research
Automatic responses to stereotypes- evolutionary purpose (adaptive?)

Question 12

Attentional limits to automaticity include…

Answer 12

Action slip (Reason, 1972)
Absent-minded errors
Attentional lapses

Question 13

Negative evaluation of automaticity

Answer 13

Unclear whether automaticity results from speeding up of processing or a change in the nature of the tasks themselves

Question 14

Alternative view of automaticity

Answer 14

Neisser (1976) Schema theory- automatic tasks performed more efficiently due to the existing schema more established and therefore shortcuts of interpreting information can be made due to its familiarity

Question 15

Strategies for improving automaticity

Answer 15

Practice!

Counter strategy- treating words as a foreign language in the stroop test

Question 16

What is the Instance Theory?

Answer 16

Logan assumed each time a problem is solved, a new instance is stored in the memory
Skills become increasingly automatic as more instances are stored in memory
Separate memory traces are stored away each time a stimulus is encountered and processed

Question 17

How does the instance theory establish automaticity?

Answer 17

Practice with the same stimulus leads to storage of information and knowledge, which means memory traces become stronger, therefore the more instances produces rapid retrieval when relevant (needle in a haystack)
The absence of practice requires thought, rules and effort

Question 18

Who proposed the Instance Theory and When?

Answer 18

Logan (1988)

Question 19

What did LaBerge (1975) propose about automaticity?

Answer 19

Automaticity Is the processes which permits an event to be immediately processed into the LTM- even if attention is employed elsewhere