Moray's Study Flashcards
Which key theme does Moray’s study link to?
Attention
What is the background for Moray’s 1950s study on attention?
In the early 1950s there were problems faced by air traffic controllers
At the time the controllers received messages from many different pilots over one loudspeaker in the control room, hearing the intermixed voices of many pilots over ONE loudspeaker the controllers task was very difficult (had man near collisions).
This became known as the ‘cocktail party effect’
Who came up with the ‘cocktail party effect’?
Colin Cherry
What is the cocktail party effect?
It suggests whilst in a place full of information (like a party) we can automatically pay attention if someone says our name - even if we weren’t listening to them before.
What is dichotic listening?
Involving the simultaneous stimulation of both the left and right ear by using different sounds
What is shadowing?
When participants listen to 2 dichotic stimuli (spoken) and are instructed to listen to one stimuli and repeat it aloud (verbally)
Whats an affective instruction?
A command which contains the participants name
What were the overall aims of the study?
- To rigorously test Cherry’s findings on attention
- Investigate what types of messages would penetrate an attentional barrier/’block’ and be paid attention to by the participants
What apparatus/equipment is necessary for a dichotic listening task?
- Rejected and Shadowed passages
- Benrell mark VI tape recorder with twin outputs
- Headphones
- Affective cue
- List of words
How many experiments did Moray carry out?
3
What was the sample used in experiment 1 of Moray’s study?
Undergraduate students and research workers of both genders at Oxford University
What is the procedure for experiment 1 in Moray’s study?
- Participants had to shadow a piece of prose they could hear in on ear (attended message)
- In the other ear was a list of simple words which was repeated 35 times (rejected message)
- At the end of the experiment they completed a word recognition task where there were 7 words from the shadowed message, 7 words from rejected message and 7 from neither message
- The participant then chose the words which they recognised
What did the participants do at the end of the experiment?
A word recognition task called list 21
What were the results for experiment 1?
The mean words recognised;
- 4.9 SHADOWED
- 1.9 REJECTED
- 2.6 NEITHER
What was the mean number or words recognised from the shadowed passage in experiment 1?
- 4.9
What are the conclusions of experiment 1 in Moray’s Study?
Participants are much more able to recognise words from shadowed passages
- Almost no words from the rejected message were able to break the attentional barrer/block
What was the aim of the experiment 2 in Moray’s study?
To tests whether an affective cue would penetrate the ‘block’ and be paid attention to
What sample was used in experiment 2 of Moray’s Study?
12 participants
Undergraduate students/research workers from Oxford University
Both genders
What was the independent variable for experiment 2?
- Whether an instruction within a rejected message was preceded by the participants name (affective cue) or not (non-affective cue)
What is the dependent variable for experiment 2?
- Whether participants were more likely to hear an instruction in a message they’re not paying attention to if it is preceded by their name
- This was operationalised by whether they reported hearing the instruction or whether they actually followed the instruction.
How was the dependent variable for experiment 2 operationalised?
By whether they reported HEARING the instruction of whether they actually FOLLOWED the instruction
What is the procedure for experiment 2 of Moray’s study?
- Participants were presented with a dichotic listening task with two passages of light fiction in either ear
- Both passages that the participant heard contained an instruction at the start and then another instruction within them
- Both passages were read in a steady monotone voice at a pace of about 130 words per minute by a single male voice
- They each shadowed 10 passages of light fiction (experiencing the same ten passages in the same order- repeated measures design
- They were told the aim was for them to make as few errors as possible when shadowing the passages
Which of the ten passages contained an affective instruction?
Passage 3, 7 and 10
Which of the ten passages contained a non-affective instruction?
Passage 1, 5 and 8
What were the results of experiment 2?
Number of times the instruction was PRESENTED in the ‘rejected’ passage
AFFECTIVE = 39
NON-AFFECTIVE = 36
Number of times the instruction in the ‘rejected’ passage was HEARD
AFFECTIVE = 20
NON-AFFECTIVE = 4
What is the conclusion for experiment 2 in Moray’s study?
- Participants were far more likely to hear instructions that were affective than non-affective
In which passages were the participants given a warning at the start to expect instructions to change ears?
Shadowed passages
What was the effect of being given a warning at the start of the passage to expect instructions to change ears?
Higher chance of hearing the instructions
How did experiment 2 lead towards experiment 3?
Moray wondered how much of a difference being given an instruction right from the start about what to listen out for in a rejected message
To see if any other type of stimulus would break through the attentional barrier (eg. Numbers/digits)
What was the aim of experiment 3?
To find out the effect of the order of instructions and stimulus would have on identifying material within a rejected message
What sample was used in experiment 3?
2 groups of 14 people
Undergraduate students and research workers of both genders from Oxford university
What was the condition which each group experienced?
Group 1 - Told they would be asked general questions about the shadowed passages
Group 2 - Today specifically to remember as many digits as possible from the rejected message ear
What was the design of experiment 3?
Independent measures
What was the dependent variable for experiment 3?
The number of digits they heard in the rejected message
What was the procedure for experiment 3?
- Partcipanrs were presented with a dichotic listening task and had to shadow one of them
- In the message spoken digits were said out loud towards the end of the message
- Sometimes numbers were present in both the shadowed and rejected message
Why were digits chosen for experiment 3?
They are fairly NEUTRAL
What were the results from experiment 3?
There was no significant difference between the number id digits recalled by group 1 and group 2
What is the conclusion for experiment 3?
The order of instructions and numbers are not important enough to break the attentional barrier
What 3 conclusions did Moray draw?
- Almost non of the verbal content from a rejected ear message penetrates a block when attending to another message
- Important messages like names ‘affective cue’ can penetrate an attentional barrier
- Order of instructions and digits are not important enough to break the attentional barrier and be attended to
- Supports Cherry’s ‘Cocktail party effect’ research and has useful application for air-traffic controllers and pilots names
How is Moray’s study ethically correct?
- Confidentiality. Don’t know the names/personal info. of participants
- Consent - given by participants
- Protection from harm - not under any stress
- Fully debriefed - lab experiment
How is Moray’s study ethically poor?
- Participants partially decieved in experiment 2 - weren’t told the true aim of the study
- Therefore no INFORMED consent
Evaluate ethnocentrism of Moray’s study?
Only used participants from Oxford University (class bias - rich and intelligent attend the uni)
Not representative of others cultures worldwide as different languages (not English)
Evaluate the internal reliability of Morays study?
It was a lab experiment so high controlled experiment which is easily replicable
May have demand characteristics in the list 21 task as they give an answer they think they’re supposed to give
Evaluate the external reliability of Moray’s study?
Low/small sample of 40 people in the last two experiments
Evaluate the internal (construct) validity of Moray’s study?
- Independetn measures design controls for participant variables
- Successfully measured the effects of types of messages and whether they penetrate an ‘attentional barrier’
- Demand characteristics in 21 list task as participants guessed words
Evaluate the population validity of Morays study?
- Highly intelligent sample from Oxford University
- Only English speaking people
NOT EASILY GENERALISABLE
Evaluate the ecological validity of Morays study?
- Wouldn’t experienced situation do dichotic listening with headphones on a day to day basis
- Different stimuli in either ear and shadows is not a common experience
What was the pre-test used for?
Loudness of each message calibrated to 60 db above hearing level
