Ch 4.1-4.3 Flashcards
Selective attention
process where one input is attended to while the rest are tuned out
focusing our conscious awareness on a particular stimulus or group of stimuli
Why is selective attention necessary?
Because we do not have the capacity to pay attention to everything in the environment
resource model suggest that we have limited capacity to pay attention and so we must devote our resources carefully
Dichotic listening set up
one way to study selective attention
person wears headphones and each ear hears a different dialogue
individual is instructed to listen to info coming into 1 ear, called the attended channel and ignore input of the other ear, the unattended channel
Observation from dichotic listening experiment
people are able to remember some of the message from the attended ear but lose almost everything from the unattended ear
same observation is made with visual stimuli ; when people are told to focus on one visual aspect, they may miss other visual details
Daniel Broadbent`s impression of the brain
processing system with limited capacity and sought to map out steps in creating memories from raw data
Broadbent filter model of selective attention
inputs from environment first enter a sensory buffer
one of inputs is selected and filtered based on physical characteristics of the input ( ex. sensory modality) ( a selective filter exists which is based on physical properties of the sensory input)
other sensory info stays in sensory buffer briefly, but then quickly decays
at this point, the info is still raw data that has just been filtered, it is not yet transformed
next the info enters short term memory storage, where semantic ( meaning making) processes occur
What is the purpose of the thereotical filter in Broadbent`s model?
keep us from being overwhelmed or overloaded with info
Broadbent`s theory and he dichotic listening task
only info from the attended ear is allowed thru
if input in the sensory buffer does not go thru the filter, the theory proposes that it remains briefly and then quickly decays and dissapears
Cocktail party effect
Phenomenon in which we are able to catch information of unimportance from previously unattended channels
cocktail party effect and filter model of attention
effect not accounted for by the filter model
thus, adaptations were made of he model which suggests that the info from the unattended ear is not completely tuned out, but dampened
Anne treismans attenuation model
can be seen as a revision of Broadbent’s theory
tried to account for cocktail party effect
believed that rather than a filter, mind has an attenuator which works like a volume knob and turns down unattended sensory input
Difference between attenuation model and filter model
rather than eliminating the other sensory input using a selective filter, the attenuation model has an attenuating filter in its place, which allows for some of the other sensory input to pass throughother aspects are the same
Broadbent model ( arrow diagram)
inputs- sensory store- sensory filter ( based on physical properties of the sensory input) - higher level processing - working memory
Treisman model ( arrow diagram)
inputs- sensory store- attenuating filter ( based on physical properties of the sensory input) - higher level processing - working memory
Selective priming
another explanation for cocktail party effect
suggests that people can be selectively primed to observe something, either by encountering it frequently or having an expectation
if one is primed to observe something, one is more likely to notice when it occurs
more sth is primed, more we pick it up despite distractions
Spotlight model
spotlight is a beam that can shine anywhere within an individual s visual field
beam describes the movement of attention , which precede the corresponding eye movements
shifting of attention requires us to unlock the beam from its current target, move the focus and lock onto a new target
priming
an implicit memory effect where exposure to one stimulus influences response to another stimulus
binding problem
problem of how different aspects are assembled together and related to a single object, rather than something else in the visual field
solution to binding problem
visual attention
if our visual attention is on a particular object such as a cup then the feature detectors input of shape, color, etc will be related to the object it is attended to
when people are distracted while viewing 2 items, they may have issues with binding , the color of one object may be attributed to the other
divided attention
concerns when we are able to perform multiple tasks simultaneously
resource modality of attention
have limited pool of resources on which to draw when performing tasks , both modality- specific resources and general resources
when are tasks not accomplishable at the same time
if the resources required to perform multiple tasks simultaneously exceeds available resources to do so
Three factors associated with performance on multi tasking
task similarity
task difficulty
task practice
task similarity
two similar tasks use the same modality for processing so they would interfere with each other
therefore, the more similar the two tasks are, the more difficult they would be to perform together