PSY 200 Exam Two

StrayerandJohnston's(2001) experiment involving simulated driving and the use of "hands-free"vs."handheld" cell phones found that:

talking on either kind of phone impairs driving performance significantly and to the same extent

The experiment in which participants listened to two different messages, one presented in each ear, found that people:

it could focus on one message and ignore the other at the same time

Filter: Broadbent's filter Model of attention.

Identifies attended message based on physical characteristics Only attended message is passed onto the next stage

Lan has no idea what she just read in her test because she was thinking about how hungry she is and what she is going to have for dinner. This is a real-world example of: A. the early-selection model of attention B. attentional lapse C. inattentional blindness D. the cocktail party phenomenon

Inattentional blindess

Sensory Memory

Initial stage that holds all incoming information for seconds or fractions of a second. The retention, for brief periods of time, of the effects of sensory stimulation. Information decays very quickly Holds large amount of information for a short period of time

Memory: Broadbent's filter Model of attention.

Receives output of detector

What is the difference between sensory memory and short-term memory?

Sensory Memory: The retention, for brief periods of time, of the effects of sensory stimulation. Short-term Memory:Stores small amounts of information for a brief duration. Includes both new information received from the sensory stores and information recalled from long-term memory

What is the capacity and duration Of short-term memory?

Short-fades within 20s without rehearsal Capacity: 4+- 1. asks like digit span suggest: Capacity 7 ± 2 items (Miller '56) Cowan (2005) = 4 +/- 1 Forgetting: lost due to interference.

illusory conjunctions

occur because features are "free floating"

In Schneider and Shiffrin's experiment, in which participants were asked to indicate whether a target stimulus was present in a series of rapidly presented "frames," divided attention was easier?

once processing had become automatic

What did Schneider and Shiffrin's divided attention experiment find?

people were bad at Remembering 1-4 target digits (thing 1) while monitoring a display for those digits (thing 2). However, the more the did the activity the better they got at it.

high-load tasks

(difficult) tasks use higher amounts of processing capacity

low-load tasks

(easy) tasks use lower amounts of processing capacity

Perceptual load

- the difficulty of a given task

Know the cocktail party effect and how it relates to Broadbent's filter model attention.

1.) If the name of the observer is mentioned in the unattended ear, the observer can detect it (Moray, 1959) 2.) This should not happen if the filter model is true 3.) Detector (processes higher-level characteristics of the message) comes after the filter

What did the dichotic listening experiments tell us about attention?

1.) Participants could not report the content of the message in unattended ear 2.) The message was not being processed extensively But it was being processed at some level 3.) Knew that there was a message 4.) Knew the gender of the speaker 5.) Change in gender is noticed 6.) Change to a tone is noticed

Inattentional blindness

A stimulus that is not attended is not perceived, even though a person might be looking directly at it

Short-term Memory

Holds five to seven items for about 15 to 20 seconds. Stores small amounts of information for a brief duration Includes both new information received from the sensory stores and information recalled from long-term memory

Illusory conjunctions are: A. combinations of different features from different stimuli B. misidentified objects using the context of the scene C. combinations of features from the masking field and the stimuli D. features that are consistent across different stimuli

A. combinations of different features from different stimuli

What does the free recall task tell us about the structure Of memory?

Bennet Murdock (1962) studied the distinction between short term and long term memories using free call Study a list of words presented one at time At the end of the list, recall as many as possible. It tells us,

Processing capacity

How much information a person can handle at any given time.

what is Treisman's attenuation theory?

Both the Attended message and the unattended message are processed. But the unattended message is attenuated

Long-term Memory

Can hold a large amount of information for years or even decades

What is the capacity and duration of sensory memory

Duration : very short Iconic memory (visual) < 1 sec Echoic memory (hearing) < 10 sec Capacity: seems very large Forgetting: lost due to decay over time

What is Broadbent's filter model of attention?

Early-selection model Filters message before incoming information is analyzed for meaning

Attention

Focusing on specific features, objects, or locations

What is interference? Name two kinds.

Forgetting because different memories compete with each other Proactive interference: old items interfere with retrieval of new items (like trying to recall that caldo = hot in Italian) Retroactive interference: newly stored items interfere with retrieval of old items (if you learn a new phone number, and then can't recall the old one) Example would be a new phone number.

Sensory memory: Broadbent's filter Model of attention.

Holds all incoming information for a fraction of a second. Transfers all information to next stage

What did Wickens' experiment that required subjects to memorize lists of words from certain categories find?

Memorized a listed of items drawn from a particular category: Like fruits or professions You get 4 of these list He found that Performance drops as more and more lists are studied proactive interference builds up But it jumps back up if there is a category switch back up Similarity matters

What Is The Role Of The Central executive?

Most complex and least understood component of Wm Coordinates the activity of the other system (phonological, visuospatial) Retrieval strategies, selective attention, temporary activation of long term memory, suppression of habitual responses, alters priorities as a result of instantaneous goals. Baddeley (1997) "in some ways the central excutive functions more like an attentional system than a memory store." and said, "Our initial specification of the CE was so vague as to serve as little more than a ragbag"

The "filter model" proposes that the filter identifies the attended message based on?

Physical characteristics

feature integration theory

Preattentive stage •Automatic •No effort or attention •Unaware of process •Object analyzed into features •Focused attention stage •Attention plays key role •Features are combined

Detector: Broadbent's filter Model of attention.

Processes all information to determine higher-level characteristics of the message

divided attention

The ability to pay attention to, or carry out, two or more different tasks simultaneously. paying attention to more than one thing at a time

What did Bennet Murdock (1962) study

The distinction between short term and long term memories using free call Study a list of words presented one at time At the end of the list, recall as many as possible.

What is the binding problem?

The process by which features such as color, form, motion, and location are combined to create our perception of a coherent object

memory

The processes involved in retaining, retrieving, and using information about stimuli, images, events, ideas, and skills after the original information is no longer present and is involved any time past experience has an impact on how you think or behave

What is dual-store theory?

The theory that separate brain systems subserve memory for the recent past (less than 20 sec) and the more distant past (min to years)

Binding is not trivial

Treisman and Schmidt (1982) flashed displays like this for 1/5 second •Participants sometimes report combination of features from different stimuli ("I saw a red circle")

selective attention

attending to one thing while ignoring others Ability to focus on one message and ignore all others * We do not attend to a large fraction of the information in the environment * We filter out some information and promote other information for further processing

The "early" in Broadbent's early selection model implies that:

election is based on the physical characteristics of the input, while the meaning is extracted later

Define working memory and its components

the processes involved in retaining, retrieving, and using information about stimuli, images, events, ideas, and skills after the original information is no longer present

According to Treisman's "attenuation model," which of the following would you expect to have the highest threshold for most people? A. the word "money" B. their child's first name C. the word "home" D. the word "platypus"

the word "platypus-something that isnt common is going to have a higher threshold.

What is Lavie's load theory of attention?

•Processing capacity - how much information a person can handle at any given moment •Perceptual load - the difficulty of a given task •High-load (difficult) tasks use higher amounts of processing capacity •Low-load (easy) tasks use lower amounts of processing capacity