Ch.5 Flashcards
Attention is the process of concentration and m_ _ on sensory or mental events
mental effort
Attention has a _ capacity, depending on the circumstance
limited
e.g., items at once/multi-tasking vs other things
Attention varies along certain d_
dimensions
what controls attention is based on:
what is captured out in the environment is _ attention
vs.
when we decide what to direct our attention to is _ attention
exogenous vs.
endogenous attention
Exogenous attention is _l, requiring _l processes
external to external
endogenous attention is only internal attention
false - internal or external (you can pay attention to what is happening external to you as well as internal)
Looking at what you’re paying attention to, and everyone knowing you’re paying attention to it is _ attention
overt
tied to visual attention
_ attention is when you are attending something, but others don’t know what you’re paying attention to. Or, you are attending something but intentionally focusing on something that isn’t visible to others
covert
eavesdropping, not typically associated with visual
Is there a connection between exo-endo attention and overt-covert attention?
yes
Endogenous attention can be overt or covert, whereas exogenous attention is mostly _
overt
Automatic attention requires more/less attention
less
_ stimuli have something that stands out, which drives attention
salient
These are ex of stimulus saliency (mostly visual):
motion
colour
_
contrast
orientation
brightness
Anything that is similar/different will likely capture your attention
different
Attention can be driven by other important information or present/past experiences
past experiences
Are attention and consciousness synonymous?
no, but they are similar
Can attention and consciousness be separated?
not sure
_ is an example of attention without conscious [looking for a specific task/method, not just automatic attention, for ex]
priming
e.g., dog drools when a bell rings (if primed to do so, normally because of food), so that is an automatic type of attention-grabbing which is not conscious
T or F: do examples exist of consciousness without attention?
true - few exist, but priming is a good one
_ blindness: when you fail to attend a change, and don’t notice what’s happened
change blindness
The experiment of someone asking you a question down the street, and then being switched with someone else for which we don’t notice the change, is called _ blindness, i.e., attending the _ (same word)
change
We notice instances of change when there is differences in:
age
gender
_
attractiveness
race, although not always
The monkey business illusion involves 3 people in white t-shirts and 3 people in black t-shirts passing balls, and a guy in a gorilla suit. Participants are asked to see how many basketball passes happen for those in white. Participants tend to not notice a few things: the gorilla suit, the change in the background colour, and that one person wearing a black t-shirt leaves when the gorilla arrives. This video illustrates _ blindness
inattentional
Whether or not there is a change is the difference between change blindness and _ blindness
inattentional blindness
The colour change in the monkey business illusion is an example of _ blindness
change
Filtering out information to focus on certain attention is _ attention
selective attention
e.g., studying requires selective attention, otherwise I’d be willingly focusing on my phone, the sunny day, etc.
_ theories of attention believe attention acts like a bottleneck that only lets some information through at a time
filter
The attentional filter selects attended information for _ and filters out everything else
processing
… were the first theories of attention every proposed
filter theories of attention
The early theories of attention used _ and hearing tasks
listening; hearing
The _ listening task involves an unattended message heard with stereo headphones with different messages in each ear simultaneously, with a selected attention task
dichotic
The _ phenomenon involves selectively attending information
cocktail
People are good at paying attention to messages from _ _ only for the dichotic listening task
messages in one ear only - people are good at selectively attending
For the dichotic listening task, people noticed _ information in unattended ear
sensory, NOT semantic/meaningful info
e.g., computer sound, woman’s voice etc.
Results of the dichotic listening task led to Broadbent’s _ _ filter model
early selection
Broadbent’s early selection filter model involves:
1. input
2. sensory _
3. filter
4. detector
5. long-term memory
sensory memory
One exception in the dichotic listening task that one was able to recognize (meaningful info) was if…
one’s name was mentioned
If one hears “dear…6…Jane” in one ear, and “7…Aunt…9”, they followed a meaningful message in the unattended ear, suggesting that…which goes against Broadbent’s early selection model
meaningful info is still followed when focusing on dichotic listening tasks, which goes against Broadbent’s early selection filter model
Participants will focus on what they’re meant to report, but when they hear switches (jumbled numbers and words that flip to another ear of jumbled numbers and words) they find they…
follow meaning, not strictly what is in the individual/separate ear
The theory that followed the problems found with Broadman’s model is _ _ model
Triesman’s attenuation model (it follows Broadman’s early and late selection models)
According to _, whatever you’re supposed to be attending will follow through the attentional filter in a high intensity, whereas everything else will be at a low amount
Triesman (attenuation model)
Triesman’s attenuation model involve 3 steps:
- attenuator
- _ _
- memory
dictionary unit
In Triesman’s attenuation model, what we end up being aware of is the intensity of the signal, and the threshold of the meaning that gets picked up by the _ _
dictionary unit
If there is a signal that is really intense at Triesman’s attenuation model that is higher than the level in the dictionary unit, then information will/not be processed, whereas if it is lower, it will/not be processed
will be processed;
will not be processed
_d stimuli that is very intense will go through the filter at a higher intensity in the Triesman’s attenuation model than attended stimuli, particularly if it’s more important, including task demands at a low rate
unattended
Triesman’s attenuation model incorporates
regular selected attention
In how we _ important/context-relevant info
Process
What was the independent (manipulated) variable of the experiment (different words to recite when different-coloured dots flashed at the same time)?
a. rate of presentation of the dots
b. amount of attention available
c. colour of the dots
d. type of words
e. 2 or more above…
e. 2 or more above - b and c!
b. amount of attention available
c. colour of the dots
What was the independent (manipulated) variables of the experiment (different words to recite when different-coloured dots flashed at the same time)?
b. number of correctly identified red dots
c. number of correctly answered match questions
d. number of correctly recognized words
e. 2 or more above…
d. number of correctly recognized words
Was this multi-trial experiment (different words to recite when different-coloured dots flashed at the same time) a between- or within-subjects design?
a. between-
b. within-subjects
c. I don’t remember / I never learned that
d. between and within-
d. between and within-
2 designs, therefore both - 1st design subjects split in two conditions, whereas the second was multiple questions for individuals (within)
In order to investigate whether there is a difference in memory between people who had full attention (group B) and those who were in the dual-task condition (group A), which statistical test(s) should we use (different words to recite when different-coloured dots flashed at the same time)?
a. independent samples t-test
b. paired-samples t-test
c. analysis of variance (ANOVA)
d. I don’t remember
e. 2 or more of the above…
e. 2 or more of the above…
independent samples t-test
analysis of variance (ANOVA)
If having 2 tasks and one requires more attention and the other less, then…
allocate attention to primary, and then if there’s time left, do the secondary task
According to divided attention capacity theory, more cognitive load = more _ _ used
attentional resources
Do we have some control over how we allot attentional resources?
yes
T or F: we have a fixed amount of attentional resources that we can use to perform mental work
true
The Flanker compatibility task demonstrates attention ‘spill over’ with _ load tasks (screen shows o’s and x’s, and the odd ‘n’)
low
participants were distracted in the low load task (took more time in response compared to compatible flankers in the high load task) because of the n, whereas in the high load having the ‘n’ isn’t very noticeable considering there are a lot of different letters
If you’re studying something that isn’t very difficult, then the resource theory of divided attention suggests that one would be less/more likely to be distracted
more likely because there is extra cognition available to be used elsewhere, whereas difficult stuff requires all of one’s attentional resources
According to capacity theories of attention, with practice, controlled processes can become _
automatic
According to capacity theories of attention, automatic processes require parallel/serial tasks whereas controlled processes require parallel/serial tasks
parallel;
serial
According to capacity theories of attention, automatic processes do/not require attention, whereas controlled processes do/not require attention
do not;
do
According to capacity theories of attention, automatic processes can/not be modified once started, whereas controlled processes can/not be modified once started
cannot - automated means things are done like normal, requiring conscious control to change (which wouldn’t make it automatic)
can - under conscious control
The task that requires naming colours that are written in coloured ink that is different than what is listed is called the _ task. It takes people longer to do the incongruent trial than the congruent trial (yellow is written in yellow)
Stroop task