Unit 7 - Attention

Question 1

Selective Attention

Answer 1

The ability to focus on information or relevance and ignore information that is task irrelevant

Question 2

Divided Attention

Answer 2

The ability to concurrently attend and process information from different location in auditory, visual and somatosensory environments

Question 3

Early Filtering

Answer 3

Where stimuli is filtered at an early stage of processing (selected info is attended to). Between sensory and short term memory.

Question 4

Late filtering

Answer 4

Where information is selected after processing for meaning (all information is attended to). Happens between short term and long term memory.

Question 5

Lab Task used to assess selective attention

Answer 5

Dichotic listening task

Question 6

Bottom up processing

Answer 6

Stimulus driven; about the properties of the stimulus

ex. seeing your orange suitcase

Question 7

Top down processing

Answer 7

task or goal oriented

ex. playing where’s waldo

Question 8

Conditions in which older adults show a deficit in selective attention

Answer 8

Aging has greater interference with bottom up processing

Question 9

Effects of multitasking

Answer 9

Decline is posture when performing cognitive tasks; slower to cross when talking on phone; slower and more clumsy while walking and performing a cognitive task

** exception for tasks of past experience during multitasking

Question 10

Attentional Resource Model

Answer 10

Limited amount of attention to start; each task takes away a certain amount of attention; easy tasks take up less of the resource.

Question 11

Possibilities to why older adults have declines in divided attention

Answer 11

Allocation of attention isn’t as efficient; amount of attention to begin with is smaller