Attention Cogniton (4/4)

What is attention?

The ability to focus on selected stimuli, objects, or locations.

What are two broad types of attention?

Selective attention and divided attention.

What is selective attention?

Focusing on one source or stimulus while competing information is given less processing.

What is divided attention?

Attempting to process multiple tasks or information sources.

What is a major characteristic of attention?

It has limited capacity.

What is preattentive processing?

Processing that occurs before focused attention is directed toward a stimulus.

What is postattentive processing?

Processing that occurs after focused attention is brought to the stimulus.

What is subitizing?

Quick and effortless enumeration of a small number of objects.

You glance at three dots and instantly know there are three. What process is this?

Subitizing.

Is subitizing more closely related to preattentive or postattentive processing?

Preattentive processing.

You deliberately count twelve dots. Is this more preattentive or postattentive?

Postattentive.

What is location-based attention?

Directing attention toward a particular location in space.

You continually watch a doorway waiting for someone. What kind of attention is this?

Location-based attention.

What is object-based attention?

Directing attention toward a particular object.

You follow one basketball player as they move across the court. What kind of attention is this?

Object-based attention.

What is the easiest distinction between location-based and object-based attention?

Location-based = WHERE; object-based = WHAT.

What is binding?

Combining separate features such as color, shape, movement, and location into one coherent object.

Your brain combines red, round, and moving into one red moving ball. What process occurred?

Binding.

What theory explains how separate features become integrated into objects?

Feature Integration Theory.

Who is associated with Feature Integration Theory?

Anne Treisman.

What happens in the preattentive stage of Feature Integration Theory?

Basic visual features are registered rapidly and in parallel.

What happens during focused attention in Feature Integration Theory?

Separate features are bound together into coherent objects.

What is a feature search?

A visual search in which the target differs from distractors by one basic feature.

You search for one red dot among blue dots. What kind of search is this?

Feature search.

What commonly happens to a unique target during a feature search?

It pops out.

What is a conjunction search?

A search for a target defined by a combination of features.

You search for a red X among green Xs and red Os. What kind of search is this?

Conjunction search.

Why is a conjunction search generally more demanding than a feature search?

No single feature identifies the target, so features must be combined using focused attention.

How does adding more distractors generally affect classic conjunction search?

Search becomes slower/more difficult.

What is inattentional blindness?

Failure to notice a visible unexpected stimulus because attention is focused elsewhere.

What classic example demonstrates inattentional blindness?

The basketball-pass/gorilla experiment.

A person counts basketball passes but does not notice a gorilla. What is this?

Inattentional blindness.

Can someone look directly toward an object and still experience inattentional blindness?

Yes. Looking does not guarantee attending.

What is change blindness?

Failure to notice that something in a visual scene has changed.

A person you are speaking with is replaced during a brief visual interruption and you do not notice. What is this?

Change blindness.

What is the key difference between inattentional blindness and change blindness?

Inattentional blindness = miss an unexpected stimulus; change blindness = miss a change.

What is attentional set?

A current strategy or goal that tunes attention toward certain stimulus features.

You are looking for someone in yellow and yellow objects suddenly stand out. What concept is this?

Attentional set.

Why were participants watching black-shirted players more likely to notice a black gorilla?

The gorilla matched features included in their attentional set.

What is dichotic listening?

Presenting different auditory messages to the two ears.

What is shadowing?

Repeating the attended auditory message while ignoring a competing message.

What types of unattended information can people often detect during dichotic listening?

Basic physical changes such as changes in voice/gender or a switch to a tone.

What question do early-, attenuation-, and late-selection models address?

Where in information processing attentional selection occurs.

What does Broadbent's early-selection model propose?

Information is selected early based largely on physical characteristics before deeper meaningful processing.

What is the easiest memory cue for early selection?

Select BEFORE meaning.

What is a major problem with a strict early-selection model?

Meaningful unattended information such as one's own name can sometimes capture attention.

What is the cocktail-party phenomenon?

Noticing personally meaningful information such as your name in an unattended conversation.

What does Treisman's attenuation model propose?

Unattended information is weakened rather than completely blocked.

What is the best analogy for attenuation?

Turning the unattended channel's volume down rather than turning it off.

You suddenly notice your name spoken in a conversation you were ignoring. Which model explains this especially well?

Attenuation theory.

What does late-selection theory propose?

Incoming information receives substantial meaningful processing before attentional selection.

What is the easiest distinction between early and late selection?

Early = select before meaning; late = meaning before selection.

What is multimode theory?

The idea that attention can operate using earlier or later selection depending on task demands.

According to multimode theory, which generally requires more attentional capacity: early or late selection?

Late selection.

What is the psychological refractory period paradigm?

A dual-task paradigm in which two rapidly presented stimuli each require separate responses.

What is SOA?

Stimulus onset asynchrony, the time between presentation of two stimuli.

What generally happens to RT for the second task when SOA becomes very short?

RT to the second task increases.

What is a processing bottleneck?

A stage where only one task can be processed efficiently at a time, forcing another task to wait.

Two individually easy tasks become difficult when their responses are required almost simultaneously. What concept does this demonstrate?

Psychological refractory period/processing bottleneck.

What is automatic processing?

Processing that occurs with relatively little conscious intention or attentional effort, usually after extensive practice.

How does automatic processing usually develop?

Through extensive practice.

What are major characteristics of automatic processing?

It tends to be fast, efficient, relatively unconscious, and difficult to fully control.

What is the Stroop effect?

Interference that occurs when the meaning of a word conflicts with the ink color a person is trying to name.

The word BLUE appears in red ink and you must say red. What phenomenon is this?

Stroop effect.

Why is the Stroop task difficult?

Automatic reading interferes with controlled color naming.

What does the Stroop effect demonstrate?

An automatic process can interfere with a controlled process.

What is an action slip?

An error caused when an automatic routine occurs with insufficient conscious monitoring.

You put the cereal in the refrigerator and the milk in the cabinet. What is this?

Action slip.

Why are action slips associated with automatic processing?

Automatic routines involve relatively little conscious monitoring.

Why can talking on a hands-free phone still interfere with driving?

The conversation itself competes for limited cognitive attentional resources.

Talking on the phone while driving is an example of what broad attentional problem?

Divided attention.

A driver is watching the road but does not consciously notice a visible pedestrian while concentrating on something else. What phenomenon could explain this?

Inattentional blindness.

A driver fails to notice that an important part of the traffic scene changed. What phenomenon could explain this?

Change blindness.

[Application] A student studies while composing a complicated text message and misses information from the lecture. What broad principle explains this?

Divided attention and limited attentional capacity.

[Application] An experienced pianist can play a familiar sequence with little conscious effort. What process has developed?

Automatic processing.

[Application] Someone can detect that an ignored voice became deeper but cannot report what was being said. What type of unattended processing occurred?

Processing of physical characteristics consistent with early selection.

[Application] A task requires identifying a message by its meaning rather than by the speaker's physical voice characteristics. According to multimode theory, which type of selection is more costly?

Late selection.