Models of attention - A1

Question 1

What is attention in vague terms? (2)

Answer 1

• information is selected for processing
• some information is suppressed or not processed

Question 2

What is selective attention?

Answer 2

the ability to focus on that which is important to the task at hand while ignoring or suppressing task-irrelevant information

Question 3

What is the difference between structure and capacity models?

Answer 3

structure = how the brain is wired to work involving filters
capacity = a limited amount of attention is available

Question 4

What is Broadbent’s filter model? What type of model is it?

Answer 4

The information not attended to is filtered out before any processing
It is an early selection, structural model

Question 5

What did Cherry (1953) find in the dichotic listening task?

Answer 5

People reported the meaning of the speech that was attended and only the basic physical characteristics of the unattended speech

Question 6

Which model of attention is Cherry’s (1953) dichotic listening task supposed to support?

Answer 6

Broadbent’s filter model

Question 7

What is concluded from the dichotic listening task by Cherry?

Answer 7

selection is early, prior to processing

Question 8

What are 2 predictions from Broadbent’s filter model?

Answer 8

• all or nothing processing (attention can only focus on one thing at a time)
• dual tasking as actually switching between 2 tasks, which takes time and is inefficient

Question 9

What was found in the study where names were played in the unattended channel? (2)

Answer 9

• 30% of people noticed their name
• but they failed to follow the instructions that came after their name so it was the only thing from that channel that they attended to

Question 10

What was found in the study where words were pre-associated to electric shocks and played in the unattended channel? (2)

Answer 10

• there was a physiological response to them
• there was also this response to synonyms too

Question 11

What evidence did Treisman (1960) find for people paying attention to the unattended channel?

Answer 11

people will follow a coherent message across to this channel and switch where they are listening to

Question 12

What does Treisman’s modified model suggest?

Answer 12

the unattended information is not filtered out (like Broadbent’s model) but it is attenuated (toned down)
some information is ‘louder’ than others so it gets through (like your name)

Question 13

What type of model is Treisman’s modified model? (2)

Answer 13

early selection, structural

Question 14

What do late selection models of attention suggest? (2)

Answer 14

• all information is processed to the highest level
• selection occurs at the level of response/awareness (so the filter is just before you become aware of the information)

Question 15

What are 2 pieces of evidence that support late selection models?

Answer 15

• participants use the unattended channel to resolve ambiguous sentences (e.g. put out has 2 meanings)
• stroop tasks involve the full processing of both the colour and the word before you pick the right one

Question 16

What are 2 reasons why the unattended information may be remembered?

Answer 16

• the filter is leaky
• the filter is slipping (attention focuses on information it shouldn’t)

Question 17

According to Kahneman (1972), what is processing capacity dependent on? (2)

Answer 17

• the difficulty of the task
• the individual expertise on the task

Question 18

According to Kahneman (1972), what is task performance dependent on?

Answer 18

the allocation of capacity to the task

Question 19

What are capacity models?

Answer 19

the cognitive system has a limited amount of processing capacity and paying attention is the equivalent of investing energy

Question 20

What type of model is Kahneman’s (1972) model?

Answer 20

capacity

Question 21

According to Kahneman (1972), what is task allocation dependent on? (3)

Answer 21

• enduring dispositions (habits and preferences)
• momentary intentions (needs right now)
• evaluation of demands on capacity

Question 22

How does arousal levels affect attentional capacity?

Answer 22

too much = reduced focus, more irrelevant details noticed
too little = no real motivation
need a good balance to have the optimal capacity

Question 23

How do capacity models suggest that dual tasking works?

Answer 23

• it is doing 2 things at once
• there is a drop in performance on both tasks because the attentional capacity is split between them

Question 24

What is it called when dual tasking makes each task worse?

Answer 24

dual task decrement

Question 25

What are 2 pieces of evidence to support the existence of true dual tasking in capacity models?

Answer 25

• people improve over 6 weeks at reading something aloud and writing something at the same time
• there is dual task decrement with all combos of audio/visual stimuli

Question 26

What interesting thing did Treisman and Davies (1973) find when looking at dual task decrement with audio and visual stimuli?

Answer 26

the decrement was worse when the 2 tasks involved the same modality - modality specific resources

Question 27

What is the general gist of the perceptual load theory (Lavie)?

Answer 27

the system is limited (as in early selection) but will process all information until it runs out of capacity

Question 28

What does the perceptual load theory suggest about the type of selection?

Answer 28

you can have early and late selection within your system, depending on the demands of the attended stimuli

Question 28

What is inattentional blindness?

Answer 28

not noticing task irrelevant elements in the visual scene

Question 28

What did Lavie find when looking into compatibility effects (of distractors) with high and low perceptual loads?

Answer 28

• high load = lower compatibility effects
• low load = higher compatibility effects

Question 29

Why are compatibility effects different for high and low perceptual loads?

Answer 29

• low load = late filtering so you have a broader focus of attention, noticing the distractors
• high load = early filtering so distractors aren’t processed

Question 30

What study results support inattentional blindness?

Answer 30

participants don’t notice a box in the corner of the screen when completing rounds of another task in the centre of the screen

Question 31

What is the overall effect of increased perceptual load? (2)

Answer 31

• reduced compatibility effect
• increased inattentional blindness

Question 32

What was found in the study where the load on working memory (cognitive control process) was altered?

Answer 32

high WM load increases the impact of incongruency in the picture naming part

Question 33

How are high working memory and high perceptual loads different?

Answer 33

• high WM (active system) = increased interference
• high PL (passive system) = reduced interference