Section 3 - Divided Attention

Question 1

What did Solomon and Stein (1896) find? (r6)

Answer 1

with extensive training, subjects are able to read and understand one story while writing orally dictated words from another story

Question 2

What was the importance of Allport, Antoni and Reynolds (1972) study on sight reading music and playing piano while shadowing a verbal message at the same time? (r6)

Answer 2

it was one of the first studies in the contemporary area, and Solomon and Stein results were replicated - some semantic analysis was being carried out on both stories at the same time,’, with enough practice, seemingly incompatible tasks can be completed and performed at the same time with little to no decrement in efficiency

Question 3

what is the effect of practice on dual-task performance? (r6)

Answer 3

attentional demands may decrease with extensive training to the point where performing both tasks at the same time does not exceed our attentional capacity

Question 4

what is the supporting data for the effect of practice on dual-task performance? (r6)

Answer 4

PET scan data - smaller increase in blood flow in affected brain areas when subjects performed well practiced tasks than new tasks (magnitude of blood flow to different regions corresponds to the amount of brain activity occurring there - more activity is shown by greater blood flow) ,’, more blood flow and brain activation for unpracticed tasks than practiced tasks

Question 5

how much practice makes perfect? (r6)

Answer 5

10,000 hours of practice is the minimum

Question 6

what is the most important determinant or expert task performance? (r6)

Answer 6

practice (more than innate ability even)

Question 7

what is an attentional resource? (r6)

Answer 7

a quantifiable unit of cognitive processing energy that is specific to attentional operations
- there is a limited amount of this resource at one time (limited pool)
- the extent to which we allocate attention to each task when performing 2 simultaneously can be controlled
- Wickens & Gopher, 1977 - visual tracking and identifying digits - results were directly related to amount of attention paid to them

Question 8

what does it mean to have visual analysis be impaired? (r6)

Answer 8

• cognitive processes are involved in another tasks and so this divided attention can be dangerous, causing more accidents while driving while talking on a phone
• flicker image technique produces change blindness (Richard et al., 2002)
• HUD - risk to be inattentionally blind to roadway info

Question 9

what is automatic processing? (r6)

Answer 9

when a motor task is practiced so well that it seems to require no attention to it at all (mediated by automatic processing), because as automatic processing develops, it allows us to perform routine activities without much concentration/effort ex. riding a bicycle

Question 10

what are controlled processes? (r6)

Answer 10

slower, effortful, something we are consciously aware of, and something that requires attention for execution

Question 11

is automatic processing gradual or immediate? explain. (Kahneman & Treisman 1984) (r6)

Answer 11

development of automatic processing is a gradual process, a continuum of different states of automaticity

Question 12

what are the different states of automaticity? (r6)

Answer 12

• Occasionally automatic: requires attention but can be carried out in the absence of attention
• Partially automatic: processing can be carried out in the absence of attention but is also facilitated when attended to
• Strongly automatic: when processing is neither facilitated by focusing attention nor is it impaired by diverting attention away from it

Question 13

what happens to controlled processing when automaticity increases? (r6)

Answer 13

there is a decrease in controlled processing - this is why we need to be less consciously aware of strongly automatic processing than partially automatic processing

Question 14

attending to strongly automated processes can inhibit performance. True or false? and explain. (r6)

Answer 14

true. attention may interfere with strong automatic movement
- ex, calling timeouts so players think about it more = more pressure and disruption of performance
- ex, despite feeling ill, pro athletes can still compete and do outstanding, because it may reduce the likelihood that attention will interfere with athletes strong automatic motor movements

Question 15

can reading become an automated task? (r6)

Answer 15

yes, cognitive tasks can become automatic with practice, even reading
- proof : stroop effect (1935), LaBerge and Samuels (1974)

Question 16

what is consistent mapping and its effects? (r6)

Answer 16

particular mapping of target items to distractor items, with the same set of targets and distractors being used (detection becomes automatic, so subjects could ignore distractors when searching for the new target items, and had to be unlearned in other situations)

Question 17

what is variable mapping and its effects? (r6)

Answer 17

target items and distractors are drawn from the same set so target on one trial could be distractor on next (automaticity only develops when there is consistent mapping between targets and distractors)

Question 18

what happens when a task performance becomes more automatic? (r6)

Answer 18

it also becomes more resistant to physiological effects that reduce attentional capacity

Question 19

what is a disadvantage of automaticity? (r6)

Answer 19

high practiced skills can be executed improperly - errors can happen because we aren’t paying attention to the critical decision points during the tasks performance (action slips)

Question 20

visual tasks can be performed more efficiently when combined with ______ tasks, as opposed to _____ tasks. (r6)

Answer 20

auditory tasks; visual tasks

Question 21

when does automaticity develop? (r6)

Answer 21

when there is consistent mapping between targets and distractors, not variable mapping

Question 22

what does the occurrence of action slips indicate? (r6)

Answer 22

the occurrence of action slips indicate importance of monitoring sequences of automatic processing

Question 23

what are 2 drawbacks of multitasking? (r6)

Answer 23

• inefficiency (extra effort involved makes you less productive)
• dangerous (car crashes from cell phone usage)

Question 24

what part of the brain is involved in focusing on a demanding task? what about if distracted? (r6)

Answer 24

the hippocampus (important to memory) - fMRI imaging proof; the striatum (involved in rote activities), resulting in more fragmented recollection and harder to retrieve

Question 25

what did the study about cognitive control in media multitaskers reveal? (r6)

Answer 25

heavy media multitaskers (HMM) are more susceptible to interference from irrelevant environmental stimuli and representations in memory
- they are less selective and = more affected by distractors
- less capable of filtering out irrelevant stimuli from environment and less capable of filtering out irrelevant representations in memory
- may have a greater tendency for bottom-up attentional control

Question 26

what happened with the lawyer and teh cigar over his expensive suit? (divided attention related) (L6)

Answer 26

the jury was distracted and so the lawyer won (and did this intentionally)

Question 27

explain one of the most important tasks on dual-tasks divided attention by Neisser (l6)

Answer 27

participant were reading at the same time as taking dictation (they were not good at it). they practiced for 85 hours, over 17 weeks, and gradually got better

Question 28

who labelled attentional resource model? and his explanation (l6)

Answer 28

Daniel Kahneman - thought that we have more resources available when our arousal level is higher

Question 29

what is the Yerkes-Dodson law? (l6)

Answer 29

there is a relationship between learning speed and shock intensity - medium arousal level is best, at really low or really high they don’t perform well

Question 30

explain the impact/effect of resources allocated to single process vs resources allocated to dual processes (l6)

Answer 30

resource pool has the same number or resources, but if you are doing 2 tasks, the resources need to be shared = 2 less bright lightbulbs vs 1 brighter lightbulb

Question 31

what is the filter model? (l6)

Answer 31

structural model, only allowing some to pass through (Broadbent’s model, trying to squeeze through a doorway)

Question 32

what is a resource model? (l6)

Answer 32

a capacity model (attentional resource - limited pool). can be single resource poo or multiple resource pools

Question 33

how to use ERPs to measure how we pay attention in different tasks. (l6)

Answer 33

ERPs allows us to measure a P300 wave elicited by auditory stimuli and a separate P300 wave elicited by visual stimuli

Question 34

automaticity is task-specific. True or false? (l6)

Answer 34

True

Question 35

if reading can become automatic, can comprehension become automatic? (l6)

Answer 35

no, comprehension of phrases can never become automatic

Question 36

who came up with the term deliberate practice? (l7)

Answer 36

Anders Ericsson

Question 37

who claimed that extraordinary talent is genetic? (l7)

Answer 37

Galton (1800s England), off a biased sample

Question 38

What did Sir Cyril Burt claim about IQ? (l7)

Answer 38

the “father” of educational psychology claimed that IQ is genetic, it is set at birth and exactly the same in separated identical twins

Question 39

do physical differences affect performance? (l7)

Answer 39

yes

Question 40

do child prodigies actually have inborn “natural ability? (l7)

Answer 40

no, their talent is more likely due to starting young with intense practice

Question 41

what is the story of the Polgar sisters and their father? (l7)

Answer 41

Lazlo Polgar wanted to prove you could train genis (opposite of galton) so he trained his 3 daughters to become chess champions, and he succeeded

Question 42

name 3 athletes or musicians that contributed evidence towards starting young with intense practice? (l7)

Answer 42

• Mozart : age 3 and had high-level instruction from his father
• Tiger Woods : had golf club in his hands well before 3 and had his father (high-level) teach him
• Williams sisters : father started teaching them before they were 5
• Wayne Gretzky : skating at 2 years old
• Sidney Crosby : similar to Gretzky
• Steve Nash

Question 43

how long would it take to reach 50,000 hours of practice? (l7)

Answer 43

5 hours per day would take more than 27 years

Question 44

what is the iceberg illusion? (l7)

Answer 44

what we see is the performance, which is only the tip above the water. what we don’t see is the 5 hours of practice everyday for years on end

Question 45

what part of practice actually matters to high skill-development?

Answer 45

the type of practice, not how long. (deliberate practice)

Question 46

explain Noel Tichy’s concentric circle diagram (r7)

Answer 46

inner circle - comfort zone, middle circle - learning zone, outer circle - panic zone. you can only make progress by staying in the learning zone, where skills and abilities are just out of reach.

Question 47

how many percent of guitarists quit within the first year?

Answer 47

90%
*deliberate practice requires extreme motivation and commitment

Question 48

why are older professors not always the best teachers? (l7)

Answer 48

mere repetition and going through the motions does not increase skill

Question 49

how can you minimize performance decline with age? (l7)

Answer 49

deliberate practice

Question 50

what is myelin and it’s importance? (l7)

Answer 50

myelin is the brain’s white matter
- more and more myelin is wrapped around the axon if axon is active a lot
- myelin is critical for learning, we can’t master a new motor skill without it

Question 51

what is Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DFI)? (l7)

Answer 51

is shows white matter tracts and when people have some sort of deficit. it can be used to monitor changes in density of white matter after someone practiced something to show increase in white matter

Question 52

myelin density is correlated with attention impairments. true or false (l7)

Answer 52

true

Question 53

why are younger people able to learn new motor skills (like juggling) faster? (l7)

Answer 53

younger people have a better ability to lay down and produce more myelin (white matter). as we grow our brain networks become more fixed

Question 54

what is the most important difference between deliberate practice and performing the task for real? (r7)

Answer 54

high repetition
1) choice of the properly demanding learning zone
2) amount of repetition

Question 55

what is deliberate practice? (r7)

Answer 55

effort of focus and concentration (makes it distinguishable). continually seeking those elements of performance that are unsatisfactory and then trying one’s hardest to make them better

Question 56

what seems to be the upper limit of deliberate practice? (r7)

Answer 56

four or five hours a day, frequently accomplished in session no longer than an hour to 90 mins

Question 57

isn’t deliberate practice just like work? (r7)

Answer 57

not at all, what we do at work is opposite to 1st principle (designed to make us better). it is not usually the second principle (highly repeatable). you don’t receive feedback, often enough (unlike 3rd principle). and its mentally draining but not because of the 4th principle (intense focus and concentration involved)

Question 58

can deliberate practice fully explain achievement? (r7)

Answer 58

no, life is too complicated for that

Question 59

what is the effect of continual deliberate practice? (r7)

Answer 59

avoid automaticity, always conscious

Question 60

revolution of myelin (r7)

Answer 60

Every human
movement, thought, or feeling is a precisely timed electric signal
traveling through a chain of neurons—a circuit of nerve fibers. (2)
Myelin is the insulation that wraps these nerve fibers and increases
signal strength, speed, and accuracy. (3) The more we fire a particular
circuit, the more myelin optimizes that circuit, and the stronger, faster,
and more fluent our movements and thoughts become.