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What is the dichotic listening task used to study?

Selective attention — how we focus on one auditory input while ignoring another.

In a dichotic listening task, what typically gets through from the unattended ear?

Physical features (like voice or pitch); meaning is usually not processed — except for attention-grabbing info like your name.

What is the cocktail party problem?

The difficulty of attending to a single conversation in a noisy environment — but we can still detect important info like our name.

What does Broadbent’s early selection model claim?

Attention acts as a filter before meaning is processed — only attended info is analyzed for meaning.

What key finding challenges Broadbent’s early selection theory?

The cocktail party effect — people sometimes notice meaningful info (like their name) in the unattended channel.

Which theory of attention does modern research support?

Flexible selection — attention can operate early or late depending on task demands.

Name one piece of evidence for early selection.

High perceptual load tasks reduce processing of unattended info — suggesting early filtering.

What is the Stroop task and what does it demonstrate?

A task where you name ink color of a word; shows automaticity of reading interferes with color naming.

What is the difference between overt and covert attention?

Overt involves eye movements; covert is attention without moving the eyes.

What does the Posner cueing paradigm show about attention?

Attention can be shifted covertly (without eye movement) and improves reaction time when valid cues are given.

What is Treisman’s Feature Integration Theory?

Attention binds features (like color and shape) into unified objects during perception.

How does feature search differ from conjunction search?

Feature search is fast and automatic; conjunction search is slower and requires focused attention.

What is an illusory conjunction?

Miscombining features from different objects when attention is lacking (e.g., seeing a red X that wasn’t there).

What’s the difference between controlled and automatic processing?

Controlled: effortful and conscious; Automatic: fast and unconscious.

What are the components of the modal model of memory?

Sensory memory, short-term memory (STM), long-term memory (LTM).

What is sensory memory’s capacity and duration?

Very brief (milliseconds to seconds); large capacity but fades quickly.

How did Sperling’s partial report method work?

After a brief visual display, a tone indicated which row to report — revealing that more was initially available in memory than reported in whole report.

What does partial report reveal about sensory memory?

High capacity but very short duration — info fades before full recall.

What is short-term/working memory’s typical capacity?

Around 7 ± 2 items for verbal; 3–4 items for visual.

How does chunking increase working memory capacity?

By grouping individual items into meaningful units (chunks), making more room in STM.

What are the components of Baddeley’s working memory model?

Phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, central executive, episodic buffer.

What happens when two tasks use the same WM subsystem?

Interference increases — performance drops.