Moray (classic study)

Question 1

What is attention

Answer 1

Attention is the ability to select specific information and reject unnecessary information we are constantly bombarded with

Question 2

Cherry’s theory of attention

Answer 2

There are channels of attention:
1) attended channel we focus on
2) Unattended channel of information we reject, barriers are put up called inattentional barrier

Question 3

Background of this study: Cherry’s research

Answer 3

Cherry wanted to research what could penetrate in attentional barrier and so he created a dichroic listening task where he found that many didn’t notice details of rejected message but certain cues could (ie name) theorised cocktail party effect

Question 4

Cocktail party effect

Answer 4

Hearing an affective cue (your name) can break inattentional barrier in place against rejected message

Question 5

Moray’s aim of the study

Answer 5

To test Cherry’s findings using a dichotic listening task to see if the cognitive process of switching ‘channels’ (rejected or attended) is accurate

Question 6

What is a dichotic listening task?

Answer 6

Playing 2 different passages into different ears
Where participant is asked to ‘shadow’ a certain ear (attended channel)
Other ear is rejected

Question 7

3 main experiments that took place

Answer 7

Experiment 1 = recognise words from rejected channel
Experiment 2 = recognise name from rejected channel
Experiment 3 = recognise numbers from rejected channel

Question 8

What was the wanted message in all experiments that participants would shadow?

Answer 8

A light piece of fiction

Question 9

What is shadowing?

Answer 9

Reading the passage aloud as it is being heard

Question 10

How were the messages standardised?

Answer 10

The loudness was 60db above participants hearing threshold for all messages
150 words/min (at same pace)
Same male speaker

Question 11

Apparatus of all experiments

Answer 11

A stereophonic tape recorder modified to give 2 independent outputs to each ear
Headphones with dichotic listening task

Question 12

Experiment 1 set up

Answer 12

The shadowed wanted message = in right ear with a piece of light fiction
The rejected message = a short list of words repeated 35 times in left ear

Question 13

What happened in experiment 1 immediately after participants shadowed the wanted message?

Answer 13

Completed a survey 30s after which had 21 words total:
7 from shadowed message
7 from rejected message word list
7 words similar to in shadowed message but not in either (control)

Question 14

Why was the control list of 7 words set up in experiment 1

Answer 14

Because it was to identify that participants had rejected words from unwanted message and identified words from wanted message rather than guessing

Question 15

Mena number of words identified in experiment 1from shadowed passage

Answer 15

4.9 out of 7

Question 16

Mean number of words identified in experiment 1 from rejected passage

Answer 16

1.9 out of 7

Question 17

Mean number of words identified in experiment 1 from neither passage/control

Answer 17

2.6 put of 7

Question 18

Sample used in experiment 1

Answer 18

Unknown number of students from Oxford University

Question 19

Conclusion from experiment 1

Answer 19

Despite words being repeated in unwanted message, participants recalled no words from it so in a situation where participants directs attention away from wanted channel, almost no information penetrates inattentional barrier set up

Question 20

Aim of experiment 2

Answer 20

To see if an affective instruction is strong enough to penetrate the inattentional barrier put up to rejected message

Question 21

What is an affective instruction?

Answer 21

An instruction telling participants to do something with their name in it

Question 22

Sample of experiment 2

Answer 22

12 participants from Oxford University (students)

Question 23

What was the set up in experiment 2?

Answer 23

A piece of light fiction in right ear as the shadowed passage
In the rejected message, there is a piece of light fiction with instruction embedded in the middle
Both contained instruction at start to look out for instructions in the middle

Question 24

How many trials did participants go through in experiment 2?

Answer 24

10 because each instruction in middle of rejected passage contained a different instruction to see which participants picked up on

Question 25

List of instructions in experiment 2

Answer 25

3 contained an affective instruction (began with name)
3 contained a non affective instruction
4 had no instruction

Question 26

Results for experiment 2

Answer 26

20/39 participants heard affective instruction
4/36 participants heard non affective instruction

Question 27

Conclusion for experiment 2

Answer 27

A person will hear an instruction which can break the barrier put up if it is affective (has name)

Question 28

Why did experiment 3 take place?

Answer 28

Because participants were given a warning to receive instructions in middle of the passage, so did it make affective due more powerful? Can you make a neutral cue become affective?

Question 29

Experiment 3 aim

Answer 29

To see whether numbers ( a neutral cue) were important enough to break inattentional barrier and be heard if given a pre warning to look out for numbers

Question 30

Experiment 3 set up

Answer 30

Light fiction in shadowed passage (wanted channel)
Light fiction in rejected channel with numbers dispersed throughout it

Question 31

Experiment 3 sample

Answer 31

14 students from Oxford uni
Split into 2 groups of 7

Question 32

Independent variable of experiment 3

Answer 32

The manipulation of instructions told to each group of participants:
One group told to look out for numbers
Other group told to recall shadowed passage after

Question 33

Dependent variable in experiment 3

Answer 33

Number of numbers recounted from rejected passage as a result of being told different instructions

Question 34

results of experiment 3

Answer 34

No difference in mean score of digits recalled between either group

Question 35

Conclusion of experiment 3

Answer 35

Numbers are not significant enough compared to your name to break inattentional barrier

Question 36

Final overall conclusions about diverting attention

Answer 36

When a person has 2 channels (1 rejected and diverted attention away, 1 attended to) none of the info of rejected message can penetrate the block

Question 37

Final overall conclusion about recalling repeated words from rejected passage

Answer 37

Not recalled in rejected message even if repeated

Question 38

Final overall conclusion about affective instruction

Answer 38

Your name is a powerful enough affective cue to break inattentional barrier

Question 39

Final overall conclusion about making a neutral cue important

Answer 39

It is very difficult or even impossible to make an affective cue important enough to penetrate block on rejected message