Mem and Cog Ch. 4

Divided Attention

The ability to simultaneously allocate cognitive resources to different tasks.

Selective Attention

The focusing of mental resources on one or a small number of tasks to the exclusion of the others.

Dichotic Listening Task

A subject hears 2+ different recordings and is asked to attend to one of them.

Bottle Neck theories

“What wha’t be processed” Filter theory. Cocktail Party effect. Attenuation theory.

Filter Theory

There are limits on how much info a person can attend to at any given time (Filter everything else out)

Cocktail Party Effect

The brain’s ability to focus on one voice in a crowded room.

Attenuation Theory

Unattended info is transmitted in a weakened form but not totally blocked out. (Volume is turned down)

Attenuation Theory Systems of Processing

1: Physical Properties (Pitch/loudness)

2: Linguistic (Making message into syllables and words)

3: Sematic (Meaning)

Primed

Exposure to a Stimulus facilitates a response to another stimulus.

Spotlight Theories

Highlight the info being focused on. Schema Theory. Inattentional Blindness.

Schema Theory

Unattended info is never perceived ( apple picking)

Kahnmen

Arousal affects capacity for tasks; we pay more attention to what interests us, what we are in the mood for, and what we have judged to be important.

Inattentional Blindness

Not perceiving a stimulus that is right in front of you unless you are paying attention to it.

Dual - Task Performance

Subjects are asked to perform 2 tasks at once.

Attention Hypothesis of Automization

Learning is a side effect of attending. Attention is required during the practice phase and determines what gets learned.

Stroop Effect

Automatic Processing

a. Occurs without intention

b. occurs without concious awareness

c. does not interfere with other mental activities

Controlled processing

a. Requires attention

b. Is capacity-limited

c. under concious control

Feature Integration Theory

Objects are perceived in 2 phases

1: Preattentive (automatic): register features

2: Attention: glues features into a unified object.

Attentional Capture

Certain stimuli cause an involuntary shift in attention.

Nueral Underpinnings of Attention

Parietal Lobe

Hemineglect

Ignorning certain sensory info.