cognition exam 2

selection, mental capacity, concentration

what are the 3 meanings of attention?

selection

we can attend to many things, which do we choose and ignore? (as it pertains to attention)

mental capacity

we have limited cognitive resources, how do we allocate them? (as it pertains to attention)

concentration

focus on a task so as to do well (as it pertains to attention)

attention

emphasizes the processing of sensory information

cognitive control

emphasizes the control we have over what gets processed

executive attention

emphasizes how we prioritize and sequence tasks

select

humans can _____ which incoming sensory information they pay attention to

false

true/fasle: humans cannot select which incoming sensory information they pay attention to

filter

early attention researchers (Broadbent) assumed that selection was carried out by a _______.

pass through stimuli that warrant additional processing and discard what should be ignored

what is the function of the sensory selection filter?

dichotic listening

research method used by Cherry in 1956 to assess the sensory filter’s properties

dichotic listening

subjects hear two messages, one in each ear, and are asked to attend to one of them

shadow

subjects ______ by repeating what they hear in the attended ear in dichotic listening

little

Cherry results: found (little/much) processing of the unattended channel

their name

Cherry results: subjects DID notice which of the following?

meaning

Cherry results: vituually nothing about the ______ of the unattended sentence was noticed

early selection model

Broadbent’s theory that posits a filter that selects stimuli on the basis of low-level properties

the filter is before semantic processing

what makes the early selection model “early”?

sensory memory

Broadbent’s Early Selection Model: where are incoming sensory stimuli analyzed into their low-level physical properties and channels?

filter

Broadbent’s Early Selection Model: where is irrelevant information discarded?

detector

Broadbent’s Early Selection Model: a process called the ______ determines higher level semantic properties and deposits the results into WM.

semantic processing

Broadbent’s Early Selection Model: what is another word for the detector?

semantic memory

Broadbent’s Early Selection Model: what type of memory helps the detector process information?

general

semantic memory stores (general/personal) information?

working memory

in ALL memory models, where does information end up?

cocktail party effect

the fact that we can follow a voice in a crowded room

early selection model

what model of attention explains the cocktail party effect?

low-level

Broadbent’s Early Selection Model: the filter can track the ____-_____ physical properties of a person’s voice

substantial processing of the unattended channel occurs

what is the problem with the early selection model?

shadowing content

the ability to switch ears to follow content, shown by Gray and Wedderburn in 1960

could

in 1960, Gray and Wedderburn found the Ss (could not/could) switch ears to follow content

dog scratch fleas

Shadowing Content results:

• attended ear said “dog six fleas”

• unattended ear said “eight scratch two”

• Ss heard ?

ambiguous

MacKay presented a(n) _____ sentence on the attended channel to disprove the early selection model.

they threw stones at the bank yesterday.

what is the ambiguous sentence used in the 1973 experiment that disproved the early selection model?

river, money

what are the two priming conditions in the 1973 MacKay experiment?

river

MacKay, 1973 Results: Ss were more likely to choose ______ interpretation when the biasing information on the unattended channel was river as compared to money.

subliminal lex

MacKay, 1973 Results: Ss reported no awareness of the word they heard on the unattended channel. This is an example of _________.

true

MacKay, 1973 Results: (true/false) subjects are unconsciously influenced about the attended information by unattended channels.

late selection model

what model of attention was created as a result of Grey & Wedderburn and MacKay, 1973?

after semantic processing

when does the filter operate in the late selection model?

working memory

Late Selection Model: all stimuli get semantically processed, but not all enter _____ and consciousness.

why we can get unconscious semantic priming

what does the late selection model explain?

irrelevant

Late Selection Model: the filter selects which (semantically processed) information should be passed on. _________ information is discarded.

fully

late selection models have been criticized for being inefficient because irrelevant information is _____ semantically processed

attenuation theory

a more complex filter model that posits attenuator and dictionary components

attenuator

a(n) _______ modulates channel strength

dictionary

a(n) _______ passes through unattended items depending on activation threshold and relevance to current WM content.

attenuator and dictionary

the two new components in attenuation theory