(cognitive) Attention Flashcards
week 12
Describe what attention is:
A state in which…
…and the central nervous
A state in which cognitive resources are focused on certain aspects of the environment rather than on others, and the central nervous system is in a state of readiness to resond to stimuli.
We are limited information processors. Which answer best defines what that means?
- the type of information we are able to process is limited.
- we are limited in the cognitive resources we can draw on (mental energy).
- we are limited in the types of information we can process at once, ie auditial, visual, sensory.
We are limited in the cognitive resources we can draw on (mental energy).
Attention stops our system from being overladed.
Which of the following is NOT a basic function of attention?
1. Visual search
2. Attenuation
3. Divided attention
4. Selective attention
- Attenuation
The 4th basic function of attention is Signal Detectiona and Vigilance
What is visual search?
Actively searching for a stimulus.
Give an example of visual search.
Looking for a friend in a crowded room
Looking for a seat in a lecture theatre
Looking for a specific book in a library
Which two findings was Feature Integration Theory (Treisman & Gelade, 1980) looking to explain?
1. For targets that differ on two or more dimensions (shape/colour), the number of distractors effects the search time.
2. Reaction time to targets with multiple dimensions decreases linearly the more dimensions there are.
3. For targets that differ on one dimension (shape), the amount of distractors makes no difference to search time.
1 and 3
For targets that differ on two or more dimensions the number of distractors effects the search time.
For targets that differ on only one dimension, the amount of distractors makes no difference to search time.
Describe the findings of Feature integration theory
Reaction time in feature searches:
Reaction time in combination searches:
Reaction time in feature searches is independent of set size, the target pops out at us. FIT explains that feature searches are relatively effortless as the features are processed automatically withuout conscious attention.
For reaction time in combination searches, reaction time is dependent on set size. There is a linear increase in search time with increased distractors. If having to process 2+ features requires focused attention and takes more effort.
Challenges to feature integration theory made by Duncan & Humphreys (1989)
Suggested we may automatically allocate some attention to the distractors even in feature searches as when pps were asked to search for an L amongst Ts, it took them longer when the orientation of the Ts was mixed.
What is selective attention?
a. Consciously attending to something over and above other information.
b. Selectively turning your attention on and off.
a. Consciously attending to something over and above other information.
Dichotic listening task, introduced by Broadbent (1952)
PPs wear headphones and listen to two messages, one in each ear, at the same time. PPs asked to repeat back just one of the messages (shadowing). Generally very good at repeating it back.
Very little info attained from non-shadowed message, couldn’t recall any of the words, even when repeated, didn’t notice when language changed from English to German. However, did notice if the gender of the voice changed or if there was a tone rather than a word.
What did the dichotic listening task show
It showed that if not attended to, our mind doesn’t process the words that are heard but not understood. So, we process the gender for example, but not the semantics of the sounds.
Filter theory (Broadbent,1958)
Suggests that we filter out information based on physical characteristics, and that this takes place right after stimuli have been registered by our senses and before any higher-level perceptual processing has taken place.
This theory falls short of the ‘cocktail party effect’ (Cherry, 1953)
the cocktail party effect, Cherry (1953)
If you are at a party and there is constant noise and converstion around you, you can selectively pay attention to the person you are talking to and filter out the rest. However, if someone says your name or something relevant to you, you notice it and your attention is drawn to it.
Attenuation model (Treisman, 1964)
Designed to account for attentional ‘breakthroughs’; filter theory needed to be revided to account for some processing of information that was being filtered out.
Attenuation refers to information not being filtered out completely, but few cognitive resources being allocated to it.
The information being focused on gets ‘priority’ and the majority of the cognitive resources available. However even if only partially processed, some stimuli can still break into consciousness.
Information that is meaningful (our name) may have a low threshold, meaning it only needs a small number of cognitive resources to come into consciousness.
Inattentional deafness
Introduced by (Molloy et al., 2015)
It showed that when visual load is high, tones are less likely to be detect. This occured at a cortical level (responses in associated brain areas) as well as at a behavioural level. The implication is that some resources are shared between visual and auditory attention meaning the two interact.
