lecture 4: attention bottlenecks

What are serial bottlenecks in human information processing?

Serial bottlenecks refer to filter points where it's no longer possible to process incoming perceptual information from our senses in parallel.

What do early-selection theories propose about information selection?

Early-selection theories propose that the selection of information occurs early in the information processing stages.

What is the cocktail party phenomenon?

The cocktail party phenomenon describes how we can focus on one conversation amidst several others.

What is a dichotic listening task?

A dichotic listening task involves participants wearing headphones to hear two messages simultaneously, requiring them to repeat one message while ignoring the other.

What did Broadbent's (1958) filter theory suggest?

It suggested that attention acts on a perceptual level, filtering information based on physical characteristics.

What did Moray's (1959) study challenge in Broadbent's theory?

Moray found that participants could detect their name in the unattended channel, challenging the idea of strict filtering based on physical characteristics.

What does Treisman's attenuation theory claim?

Treisman's attenuation theory states that sensory information is weakened (attenuated) but not completely filtered, allowing some information through based on its semantic characteristics.

What is the key implication of Gray and Wedderburn's (1960) findings?

Participants can switch attention between audio channels based on semantic properties, suggesting limitations to early-selection theories.

What type of information did Treisman (1960) find participants sometimes switched to?

Participants sometimes switched attention to meaningful messages, indicating flexibility in information selection.

What phenomenon did Simons and Chabris (1999) illustrate?

They illustrated intentional blindness, showing how people can completely miss unexpected events (like a gorilla) when focused on a specific task.

What is unilateral visual neglect?

Unilateral visual neglect is the lack of awareness of stimuli presented to the side opposite of brain damage, often seen in patients with right hemisphere damage.

How is the right parietal lobe important in attention?

The right parietal lobe is crucial for spatial allocation of attention and processing global features.