Learning Check 4

Question 1

According to Treisman’s feature integration theory, the first stage of perception is called the _____ stage.

Answer 1

preattentive

Question 2

Strayer and Johnston’s (2001) experiment involving simulated driving and the use of “hands-free” vs. “handheld” cell phones found that

Answer 2

talking on either kind of phone impairs driving performance significantly and to the same extent.

Question 3

The ability to pay attention to, or carry out, two or more different tasks simultaneously is known as

Answer 3

divided attention

Question 4

When a person is shadowing a message, he or she is

Answer 4

saying the message out loud

Question 5

The main difference between early and late selection models of attention is that in late selection models, selection of stimuli for final processing doesn’t occur until the information is analyzed for

Answer 5

meaning.

Question 6

Research on the use of cell phones while driving indicates that

Answer 6

the main effect of cell phone use on driving safety can be attributed to the fact that attention is used up by the cognitive task of talking on the phone.

Question 7

In Schneider and Shiffrin’s experiment, in which participants were asked to indicate whether a target stimulus was present in a series of rapidly presented “frames,” divided attention was easier

Answer 7

in the consistent-mapping condition.

Question 8

When Sam listens to his girlfriend Susan in the restaurant and ignores other people’s conversations, he is engaged in the process of ____ attention.

Answer 8

selective

Question 9

Controlled processing involves

Answer 9

close attention

Question 10

The use of an eye tracker can help reveal the shifting of one’s _____ attention.

Answer 10

overt

Question 11

Suppose two teenagers are vying for their mother’s attention. The mother is trying to pay attention to one of her daughters, though both girls are talking (one about her boyfriend, one about a school project). According to the operating characteristics of Treisman’s attenuator, it is most likely the attenuator is analyzing the incoming messages in terms of the

Answer 11

physical characteristics and meaning of the message.

Question 12

The Stroop effect demonstrates

Answer 12

how automatic processing can interfere with controlled processing.

Question 13

Automatic processing occurs when

Answer 13

tasks are well-practiced

Question 14

A high threshold in Treisman’s model of attention implies that

Answer 14

it takes a strong signal to cause activation.

Question 15

Dichotic listening occurs when

Answer 15

a different messages are presented to the left and right ears

Question 16

Illusory conjunctions are

Answer 16

combinations of features from different stimuli

Question 17

The cocktail party effect is

Answer 17

the ability to pay attention to one message and ignore others, yet hear distinctive features of the unattended messages.

Question 18

Broadbent’s “filter model” proposes that the filter identifies the attended message based on the

Answer 18

physical characteristics of the message.

Question 19

In Simons and Chabris’s “inattentional blindness” experiment, participants watch a film of people playing basketball. Many participants failed to report that that a gorilla walked through because the

Answer 19

participants were counting the number of ball passes.

Question 20

Flanker compatibility experiments have been conducted using a variety of stimulus conditions. By definition, this procedure must include at least one target and one distractor. In any condition where we find that a distractor influenced reaction time, we can conclude that the distractor

Answer 20

increased the cognitive load of the task