Basic Psychology- Information Processing and attention

Question 1

Selective Attention

Answer 1

Choosing certain stimuli in the environment to process while ignoring the rest. Eg turn down radio when looking for a particular road.

The ability to avoid distractions from internal or external cues and maintain a behavioural
or cognitive set in the face of competing stimuli

Stroop test and letter cancellation tasks can test selective attention

Question 2

Divided attention

Answer 2

Attending to multiple sources of information at once.
eg watching TV while studying

This is the highest level of attention and it refers to the ability to respond simultaneously to
multiple tasks or multiple task demands. It is much more difficult to achieve within same
modality (e.g. visual) as it is between different modalities (visual and auditory)

Question 3

Broadbent

Answer 3

Selective filter model.
1st model of attention. early selection model.
like a sieve.

messages»>sensory memory (hold incoming info for fraction of second)»>filter (based on physical characteristics eg tone)>detector (receives attended message that has got through the filter. then processes higher level characteristics eg meaning)>to memory (ST then maybe to LT)

dichotomy experiment- left and right ear. struggle to remember what is said in shadowed ear. either one side or other. however dear aunt jane 7 people remember the words. therefore meaning processed earlier than broadbent suggests. can switch between channels.

Question 4

Treismans attenuation theory

Answer 4

Selection occurs at 2 stages (as opposed to broadbents 1)
aka leaky filter model (as can explain dear aunt jane as the unattended message is weaker but still present as opposed to completely filtered out)

messages»>attenuator( analyses info heirarchy 1. physical characteristics, 2. language, 3. meaning)»__dictionary unit (words have different threshold to be activated eg name requires less attention to notice)&raquo_space;to memory

Question 5

Late selection model

Answer 5

Selection does not occur until meaning has been processed.

eg they were throwing stones at the bank. unattended ear hears money or river then asked to chose closest meaning.

Question 6

Sustained attention

Answer 6

Sustained
attention
The ability to maintain a consistent behavioural response during continuous and repetitive
activity. Also called as vigilance or concentration

Question 7

Focused attention

Answer 7

The ability to perceive individual items of information (respond discretely to the specific
modality of stimuli).

Question 8

Alternating attention

Answer 8

The ability of mental flexibility that allows individuals to shift their focus of attention and
move between tasks having different cognitive requirements

Question 9

Automaticity:

Automatic vs Controlled processing.

Answer 9

o Automatic processing:
 Does not require conscious attention
 Unaffected by capacity limits
 Difficult to modify
 E.g. driving a car or listening to the radio
o Controlled processing:
 Requires attention
 Heavy demands
 Slow and capacity limited
 E.g. reading this notes!

Question 10

Open and Closed Loop control

Answer 10

Closed loop control: when we first learn a task it is under conscious attention system. When we
become skilled at it, open loop control takes over. Open loop is controlled by automatic motor
processes. It is fast and allows conscious attention to be diverted to other activities.

Question 11

What have studies of attention in schizophrenia shown?

Answer 11

Studies of attention in schizophrenia suggest that there is an underlying attentional abnormality for those
with a genetic predisposition for psychosis. The overall reaction time is much slower in patients with
schizophrenia and their relatives; sustained attention, distraction, verbal memory and controlled
processing are also affected.

Question 12

Pigeon Holing

Answer 12

o Later Broadbent revised the early selection filter theory and stated that apart from filtering,
pigeon-holing can also take place.
Pigeonholing is similar to filtering but selection is not based on physical characters; it is based on
categorization.
o E.g. if one is asked to attend to the names of animal (a category) from many stimuli, this will take
place irrespective of physical characters such as volume, pitch etc

Question 13

What is the cocktail party effect and what type of attention is it related to?

Answer 13

Cocktail party effect: It is a concept related to selective attention. It is a term used in early attention
research ‘to describe the ability of people to be able to switch their attention rapidly to a nonprocessed message’. The cocktail party effect shows that certain types of stimuli can elicit switching
between messages e.g. the physical location of the speaker, the pitch of the voice or the use of
familiar stimuli such as the listener’s name. (Lunch-queue effect)