classic attention research

Question 1

Cite two of the earliest researches on attention

Answer 1

Hermann von helmoltz 1856 - early spotlight model / covert attention

Wilhem Wundt 1879 - his student Kitchener “the law of early priority”

Question 2

how did classic research on attention began, cite one main researcher and his two studies/findings

Answer 2

CHERRY 1958 = The cocktail party effect; and dichotic listening/shadowing = showed easier processing for words linked to location, intensity, but not semantic

Question 3

early selection model influenced by cherry

Answer 3

Broadbent’s FILTER MODEL OF ATTENTION = attention as a bottleneck, sensory information is selected before reaching memory based on low level characteristics, then sent for higher level processing

Question 4

Findings by Sperling 1960

Answer 4

Based on Broadbent, he extended research on the visual field = did partial report experiments-> stimuli that was cued on physical properties was more easily recalled than when cued semantically.

Question 5

Critique of Broadbent and spotlight models and cite another model that was then proposed

Answer 5

These model are oversimplications. Treisman 1960 proposed a filter attenuation model of attention = unattended stimuli is not blocked but attenuated by the bottleneck. Treisman found semantic processing in dichotic listening, people were able to report messages from attended and unattended ear.

Question 6

LATE SELECTION MODEL = BY WHO AND DESCRIBE

Answer 6

Deutsch and Deutsch 1963 = proposed that semantic information is processed late and that stimuli is fully processed before being selectively attended to.

Question 7

Load account, who and describe

Answer 7

Based on earlier models, Allport 1994 proposed the load account, which integrates early and late selection views. Suggests that attention comprises of many attentional systems and functions.