Unit 2 Selective attention

Question 1

What does the cocktail Party Problem demonstrate about selective attention?

Answer 1

It shows that we can focus on one conversation in a noisy environment while ignoring the others

Question 2

What are dichotic listening tasks?

Answer 2

Task where different messages are presented simultaneously to both ears, participants must focus on one message

Question 3

What does Broadbent’s Early Filter Model (1958) propose about attention?

Answer 3

Information is filtered based on sensory properties before it reaches higher levels of processing.

Question 4

What does Treisman’s Attenuation Model (1960) suggest?

Answer 4

Unattended information is weakened but not entirely blocked, meaning important stimuli can still be processed

Question 5

What is Deutsch & Deutsch’s Late Filter Model (1963)?

Answer 5

It proposes that all incoming stimuli are processed for meaning before being filtered, with only the most relevant stimuli becoming conscious.

Question 6

How does selective attention differ from divided attention?

Answer 6

Selective attention focuses on one task or stimulus, while divided attention allocates resources across multiple tasks/stimuli

Question 7

How does selective attention function like a bottleneck?

Answer 7

It limits the amount of information that can reach higher levels of serial processing

Question 8

What strategies can improve selective attention?

Answer 8

Reducing distractions, increasing task relevance, and setting clear goals.