CHAPTER 4 - Attention Flashcards
What are the two types of information processing models?
- Early selection model
- Late selection model
what is selective attention?
The ability to focus on specific stimuli or locations.
ex: focusing on math homework while ignoring the people talking.
Donal Broadbent created which model of attention?
An early selective model because the filter eliminates the unattended information right at the beginning of the flow diagram
How is Broadbent’s model of attention separated? (3)
- Sensory memory
- Filter
- detector
what is sensory memory in Broadbent’s model of attention?
sensory memory = holds information for a fraction of a second and transfers to filter
what is the filter in Broadbent’s model of attention?
Filter = identifies the message that is being attended to based on its physical characteristics (tone of voice, pitch, speed of talking, and accent)
ONLY lets attended messages pass through to the detector in the next stage.
All other messages are filtered out.
what is the detector in Broadbent’s model of attention?
Detector = processes information from the attended message to determine higher-level characteristics of the message, such as meaning. The detector processes all of the information that enters because the filter lets only the important information pass through.
The dear aunt jane experiment that takes meaning into account is an example of which type of processing? (bottom-up or top-down? )
top-down processing
what is the difference between Broadbent’s filter model of attention and Treisman’s attenuation model of attention?
Treisman attenuation model of attention is separated into 2 stages AND she replaces Broadbent’s filter with an attenuator.
What is the attenuator in Treisman’s attenuation model of attention responsible for? (3)
The attenuator analyzes information in terms of
1. physical characteristics - high-pitched, low-pitched, fast or slow
2. language - how the message groups in syllables or words
3. meaning - how sequences of words create meaningful phrases.
why has Treisman’s model been called the “leaky filter” model?
because at least some of the unattended messages gets through the attenuator
what is the second stage in Treisman’s model?
the dictionary unit
what is the dictionary unit responsible for?
contains words, stored in memory, each of which has a threshold for being activated (name = low threshold, rutabaga = high threshold)
what is the difference between early and late models of attention?
late selection models of attention propose that most of the incoming information is processed to the level of meaning before the message to be further processed is selected
What is the definition of perceptual load?
the difficulty of the task.