Unit 2 - Classic Cognitive Core Studies Flashcards
What is the background to Moray’s Attention Study?
Colin Cherry realised when deep in conversation, if you hear your name it draws your attention - cocktail party affect
What does dichotic listening mean?
Hearing different sounds in each ear
What does shadowing mean?
Focusing attention to what you can hear in only one ear and then verbally repeating it out loud
What is an affective instruction?
An instruction with an affective cue that had a strong meaning to you (name)
ie. “John Smith, change to your other ear now”
What is a non - affective instruction?
An instruction that did not begin with the participants name
ie “Change to your other ear” or “You can stop now”
What was the aim of experiment 1 from Moray’s study?
To test Cherry’s findings on attention “more rigorously”
What apparatus did Moray use in all 3 experiments?
Brenall mark IV stereophonic tape recorder
- modified with two twin amplifiers with two independent outputs
What sample did Moray use in experiment 1?
Undergraduate students and research workers of both genders at Oxford University
Outline the procedure of Moray’s first experiment?
- First message was a passage of prose (the attended message) and always read by a male speaker
- The participants always had to shadow one message
- In the other ear, there was a list of simple words repeated 35 times (rejected message)
- At the end asked to complete a recognition task:
- shown a list of 21 words with 3 unknown categories
- 7 from shadowed passage
- 7 from rejected passage
- 7 were similar words but not in either (control)
What were the results from Moray’s first experiment?
From shadowed message - 4.9 words
From Rejected message - 1.9 words
From control - 2.6 words
What did Moray conclude from his first experiment?
- Participants are much more able to recognise words from the shadowed passage.
- Almost non of the words from the rejected message are able to break the ‘inattentional barrier’
What was the aim for Moray’s second experiment?
To try and break the inattentional barrier using an affective cue
What was the IV from Moray’s second experiment?
Whether an instruction within the rejected passage was preceded by the participants name (affective cue) or not preceded by the participants name (non - affective cue)
What was the DV from Moray’s second experiment and how was it operationalised?
Whether participants are more likely to hear an instruction in a message they’re not paying attention to if it is preceded by their name
Operationalised by reporting if heard instruction or actually shadowed the instruction
Outline the procedure of Moray’s second experiment
- Two passages of light fiction were heard in each ear
- Ten paassages heard contained an instruction at the start and then another 6 within them
- Both passages read in a steady monotone voice by a male at about 130 words per min
- Three passages had affective instructions and seven didn’t
- They each shadowed the passages of light fiction
- They experienced the same ten passages in the same order (repeated measured design)
- Told the aim was to make as few mistakes as possible when shadowing the passages
What were the results from Moray’s second experiment?
Affective instructions in rejected passage = 39
- no. of times it was heard = 20
Non - affective instructions in rejected passage = 36
- no. of times it was heard = 4
What did Moray conclude about his second experiment?
- Less than 1% chance probability the results were due to chance
- Name broke through ‘block’ on rejected message - supports claim
- When given a warning to expect to change ears there was an increase in mean frequency in hearing instructions in rejected message
How did Moray’s second experiment lead to his third experiment?
It tested his theory of giving a pre-warning to participants
What was the aim of Moray’s third experiment?
To see if digits were as important as your name and to see if would break the block on the rejected message
What was Moray’s sample in the third experiment?
2 groups of 14
What was the experimental design of Moray’s third experiment?
Independent measures design
What was the IV of Moray’s third experiment?
The manipulation of the instructions given to ‘set’ the two groups of participants:
- One group told they were going to be asked about the shadowed messages at the end
- Other group told to remember as many digits as possible
What were the DV’s of Moray’s third experiment?
- Amount of digits remembered by 1 group
- Amount of Q’s answered correctly in shadowed passage by other group
Outline the procedure of Moray’s third experiment?
- 2 x 14 were asked to shadow one of the two simultaneous dichotic messages
- In some messages digits were put in the message at the end, in both messages or only one. Some messages had no digits (control passage)
What were the results from Moray’s third experiment?
Showed no difference in the mean scores of digits recalled correctly between the two ‘set’ conditions
What did Moray conclude from Moray’s third experiment?
The numbers (unlike the persons name) are not important enough to break through the block on the rejected message
What did Moray overall conclude about all his experiments?
- In a situation where subject will direct his attention to one ear and rejects a message coming to the other ear, almost none of the verbal content can penetrate the block set up
- A short list of simple words as the rejected message will show no trace of being remembered even when repeated several times
- Subjectively ‘important’ messages like a person’s name will penetrate the block set up, so participant will instructions
- Very difficult to make ‘neutral’ material important enough to break through block in dichotic shadowing
What ethics did Moray uphold?
Moray’s study was conducted ethically as the experiments did not put stress on participants