Cog Psych- Chapter 4: Attention

Based on Daniel Simons, explain how it is possible that you did not notice that a different person was now part of your conversation in the party scene described at the beginning of the chapter.

"Change blindness" the inability for ones brain to notice big changes when focusing on something else

Broadbents study theory

"Dichotic listening" only hear through one ear ALTHOUGH Cocktail party effect can happen which uses the computation approach which led to 2nd approach

Late selection study theory

"Selection in space" - how do we select what we are looking for (fixation point - RT - cue)

Spotlight metaphor

-Top-down info help set spotlight (set particular level of detail *reading a book) -Processing other levels is SLOWER - Efficiency enhanced within beam (Spotlight *up efficiency *down --- spotlight *down efficiency *up)

Attenuation Theory (Treisman)

-certain messages weakened BUT NOT entirely based physical properties

Filter approaches

1. Broadbent's filter theory 2. Treisman's attenuation theory 3. Late selection (Deutsh & Deutsh Theory)

Difference Aspects of Attention

1. Inattentional blindness 2. Change blindness 3. divided blindness 4. Automaticity

Broadbents filter theory

3 main points -Physical charateristics for selection -Other messages lost -Only one message passes selective filter

change blindness

75% failing to notice changes in the environment 69% feel people are starting at them

Late selection Theory

All processed BUT filtering process occurs in response selection Attention as a limited resources 1. As a spotlight 2. As a mental capacity

How do we define attention?

Attention can be difficult to define because it overlaps with many other cognitive processes. One proposed definition is the focus of our consciousness to the exclusion of other things.

What description of attention have helped researchers study attention?

Attention has been described as a filter, a spotlight, a limited mental capacity, and as feature glue

Attention Focus Filter Top-down Bottom-up

Attention- limited Focus- "Mental spotlight" Filter- selective Top-down- prior knowledge Bottom-up- sticks out

How does our automatic processing affect what we pay attention to?

Automatic processing can interfere with an attentional task, as it does in the Stroop task. However, according to Treisman's model and Schneider and Shiffrin's model, automatic processing can also aid in cognitive tasks by either preparing our attention or requiring less attention as tasks become more automatic

What are the similar aspects in Treisman's feature integration model and Schneider and Shiffrin's (1977) description of attention?

Both models contain conscious and automatic processes that support attention.

attention excludes irrelevant stimuli to allow one to focus on the relevant aspects of the environment

Filter model

Why is it easier for research subjects to complete a Stroop task if they are unfamiliar with the language the task is presented in?

If reading that language is not an automatic process for the subject, then the language will not interfere with color naming.

Not noticing a change in the environment from moment to moment is called ______.

Inattentional blindness

Attention of mental capacity

Kanhemein - Capacity model - Dual task method - people did worse in dual task condition - found that attention has a capacity and has a feature binder

Attenuation study theory

Studying with music or TV on, would depend

What environment factors have been found to influence our attention abilities?

The current limits on mental resources influences our attention abilities. Arousal states can affect the capacity of our mental resources. The difficulty of a task and our interest in task can also affect our attention abilities.

How do researchers study what someone is and is not paying attention?

There are multiple methods described in this chapter. One task involves a target search to determine the ease of this task and the amount of attention it requires. Another method involves two tasks with interference on these tasks measured as someone performs them together versus separately.

divided attention

ability is limited, impacts how much we can process at a time 8 sec change b/t the two during a change

attention reduces the strength of irrelevant stimuli in the environment

attenuation model

Automaticity

automatic processing: processing not controlled controlled processing: processing due to an intention

Explain how tasks that initially require controlled attention can become automatic.

by practice

Stroop Effect

congruent task - when word matches the color incongruent task- word & color do not match *takes longer

Suppose you were a researcher who wanted to study attention capture of warning signals in aircraft that occur when pilots are focused on another task (e.g. landing a plane) Describe how you might design such a study using methodologies described in this chapter.

dual task model

In a study, subjects are asked to perform an arithmetic task while also attempting to remember lists of words for later recall. The researchers in this study compared the performance on the memory task with and without the accompanying arithmetic task to determine if the arithmetic task interferes with one's performance on the memory task. This study used the _______ methodology to study attention abilities.

dual-task

In a study, subjects must perform math problems while also trying to remember lists of words for later recall. Researchers compare the performance on the memory assignment with and without the accompanying math problems to determine if those calculations interfere with performance. This study uses the ______ methodology to study attention abilities.

dual-task

inattentional blindness

failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere -- monkey illusion video

attention binds aspects of a scene together to identify objects

feature-integration model

Attention bottleneck

how we filter

At a party, you become distracted and fail to notice that someone standing next to you has left and another person has replaced her. This scenario is an example of ______.

inattentional blindness

Not noticing a change in the environment from moment to moment is called ______.

inattentional blindness

Schneider and Shiffrin's (1977) experiments showed that when the targets and distractors were ______, the task became automatic for the subjects.

of the same type

Schneider and Shiffrin's (1977) experiments showed that when the targets and distractors were _______, the task became automatic for the subjects

of the same type

Tasks that initially require controlled attention can become automatic with ______.

practice

In Treisman and Gelade's (1980) experiments on visual search for a target, the target in the _______ condition seemed to pop out of displays

single-feature

In Treisman and Gelade's (1980) experiments on visual search for a target, the targets in the ______ condition seemed to pop out of the displays.

single-feature

attention is the focus of consciousness and can be moved around in the environment

spotlight model

In stroop study (1935) on automatic processing in attention, he found that participants took less time to name colors when the word and color were_____ and more time when they were _________.

the same; different

According to the cocktail party effect, you are most likely to hear ______ amid several noisy conversations.

your name