unit 3: attention Flashcards
Attention
The means by which we actively process a limited amount of information & ignore other information
Characteristics of attention
-limited capacity
spotlight vision for vision
gateway metaphor for audition
-we flexibly shift attention from one thing to another
-we have voluntary control (intentional)
-can be active (driven by goals, knowledge, expectations) or passive (stimulus-driven)
Active Visual Attention
space-based attention: particular location
object-based attention
Attentional capture
Attention involuntarily drawn to something (unintentional, automatic)
Inattentional blindness
Failure to notice obvious objects, events, or changes because attention is elsewhere
Change blindness
Failures to notice changes
Selective attention
focus on one input and ignore others; quality at the expense of quantity of input
Divided attention
focus on multiple inputs simultaneously; quantity at the expense of quality
Dichotic listening task
-Two messages are presented simultaneously
-Selective attention to only one
-Goal: to see what info gets processed
Speech shadowing
-echo or repeat one of the messages (attended)
-ignore the other message (unattended)
-from the unattended ear, participants could tell human voice or noise and gender of the voice but not content/meaning
Early selection theory
-All info reaches sensory memory
pre-categorical (not yet processed for meaning)
-Only attended info reaches working memory
processed for meaning
-Selection occurs while info is still in sensory store
attended ear: processed for meaning
unattended ear: processed for sensory info
Late selection theory
-All info reaches sensory memory
-All info is processed for meaning
-All info gets identified, but it may not reach phenomenal consciousness
-All information can influence a response
-the response stage is where bottleneck occurs
Challenges to early selection
-cocktail party phenomenon
-dichotic listening task (name and curse words)
-city names and shocking
-mid-sentence switch
Multimode theory
Attentional mode as a strategic, flexible choice
early-selection mode: unattended information filtered at a early stage of processing
late selection mode: unattended info filtered at a later stage of processing
Early filtering costs
less demanding
but may miss out on processing of some important current info
Late filtering costs
requires more mental effort
may hinder quick processing of info that continues to come into the sensory system
Attention as a Capacity
-Attention is a limited resource
allocated based on demands
-there are costs involved (attending to one thing at the expense of another)
-two (or more) tasks can be done simultaneously (dividing attention) if they don’t empty the pool
What’s a major criticism of the capacity explanation of attention?
Capacity is more descriptive than explanatory
Beware of circular reasoning:
using a concept (capacity, i.e., having limited resources) to explain a phenomenon (difficulty with divided attention).
and also using the phenomenon (difficulty w/ dividing attention) as evidence of the concept (capacity).
What are the characteristics of automaticity?
-attentionally efficient (less attentional capacity required)
-less intentional, less able to consciously control
What is meant by automaticity?
The ability to perform a task with little or no attention
What’s the basic idea behind the Increased Speed account of automaticity?
a quantitative account
automatic and non-automatic processes are the same, but automatic has become a lot faster
241 x 7 =
What’s the basic idea behind the Instance-based account of automaticity?
a qualitative account
with practice, shift from using algorithm to retrieval-based solutions
A + 4 = C (t/f?)
What is the Stroop effect? How does it demonstrate automaticity?
-the tendency to take longer to name the color of a word when it’s written in a different color than the word’s meaning
-there is interference with automatic reading process and naming the color
What are action slips? When are action slips most likely to occur?
absentminded actions that are often the result of automatic processing
Occur when you have low levels of conscious monitoring
when you’re tired, stressed, or doing many things at once
capture error
a well-practiced (but unintended) action takes over because the initial sequence is similar
associative activation error
a related (but incorrect) automatic process is activated
data-driven error
external events trigger an automatic response
loss-of-activation error
forgetting what you wanted to do
description error
doing the right action, but with the wrong object
