PS251 - Theories of Selective Attention

Broadbent (1958) Filter Theory

• Proposed that attention acts as an early bottleneck in processing.

• Dichotic: could only recall info from attended ear leading Broadbent to argue that info is filtered based on physical characteristics and unattended info is completely blocked before being processed for meaning

Treisman (1964) Attenuation Model

• Found evidence (e.g., cocktail party) that some info can still be noticed

• Proposed attenuation model where filter reduces rather than eliminates unattended input

• Info with low threshold (name or emotional words) can still be processed semantically

Contrast between Broadbent (1958) Filter Theory and Treisman (1964) Attenuation Model

Treisman provides a more flexible explanation of selective attention, suggesting that unattended info is weakened but not completely lost

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