Cognitive Psychology Lecture: Sensory Memory and Attention

Cognitive Neuroscience and Attention Chapter Overview

  • Transition from cognitive neuroscience to the attention chapter.

    • Sensory memory outlined as a prerequisite for understanding attention.

    • Historical context provided by a former colleague, Joe Brown's teaching methods.

    • Emphasis on a compiled textbook combining various cognitive topics.

Sensory Memory

  • Definition: Sensory memory is the initial storage system for sensory information, holding information for a brief period before it is processed further.

    • Precedes attention, critical for understanding how we process stimuli.

    • Unique registers exist for different senses (visual, auditory, tactile, etc.).

  • Historical Importance and Research

    • Sperling's research on visual sensory memory from 1971 considered foundational.

    • Atkinson and Shifrin's memory model provides a structural framework.

  • Memory Model Details

    • Components: Environmental input → Sensory memory register → Short-term working memory → Long-term memory.

    • Interaction between short-term working memory and long-term memory is emphasized.

Short-term and Long-term Memory

  • Short-term Memory Defined:

    • Limited capacity of 7 ± 2 items (George Miller's research, 1957).

    • Variability in the specific quantity due to attributes of stimuli.

  • Long-term Memory Characteristics:

    • Assumed to have unlimited capacity.

    • Retrieval cues play a critical role in memory access.

Capacity and Duration of Sensory Memory

  • Capacity of Sensory Memory:

    • Sperling’s findings indicated an average recall of 4-5 letters in a whole report condition, suggesting limits may reside in short-term memory.

    • Contrastingly, partial report method showed around 9 items can be accessed when cued.

    • Conclusion: Sensory memory capacity exceeds that of short-term memory.

  • Duration of Sensory Memory:

    • Contents in sensory memory are fleeting, observed to last between approximately 1/3 of a second to 1 second before decay occurs.

    • Visual persistence akin to a lightning flash was used to illustrate duration.

Auditory versus Visual Sensory Memory

  • Distinct temporal characteristics:

    • Auditory sensory memory lasts longer than visual memory.

    • Various experiments could further explore this contrast (e.g., dichotic listening tasks).

Cueing and Memory Interference

  • Types of Cueing Discussed:

    • Physical characteristic cues (size, location) versus identity cues (letters vs. numbers).

    • Results indicate the effectiveness of physical characteristic cues in memory retrieval.

  • Examples of Memory Interference:

    • Retroactive interference occurs when new information alters existing memories.

    • Classic studies such as Loftus and Palmer’s car accident study illustrated how suggestive questioning influences memory recall.

Memory Interference Phenomena

  • Proactive versus Retroactive Interference:

    • Definitions:

    • Proactive: Old memories interfere with new information.

    • Retroactive: New information interferes with the recall of older memories.

  • Study Design Breakdown:

    • Experiment examples provided to illustrate these phenomena.

Transition to Attention

  • Discusses the transition from sensory memory to attention, emphasizing information selection mechanisms.

    • The “cocktail party problem” highlights challenges in focusing on specific stimuli amidst distractions.

Broadbent's Filter Theory

  • Proposed model of attention as a filter—early selection model explaining how some information is processed while the rest is disregarded.

  • Experimental Tasks:

    • Dichotic listening and shadowing tasks outlined to explore attentional selection.

    • Right ear advantage linked to language processing in the left hemisphere.

Dichotic Listening and Shadowing

  • Results from various studies illustrate the nuances of early vs. late selection in attention processes.

    • Broadbent’s early selection theory versus Treisman’s attenuator model that allows partial access of unattended messages.

  • Treisman’s model suggests activation levels for content recognition vary, permitting certain words (like one’s name) to pass through thresholds more easily than others.

Visual Attention Theory

  • Posner's spotlight of attention:

    • An experimental approach for assessing how cues direct attention and affect response times to target stimuli.

  • Key Findings from Attention Tasks:

    • Valid cues facilitate faster responses compared to invalid cues.

    • EEG and MEG studies confirming early attentional signals in the brain.

Conclusion of Current Topics and Forward Outlook

  • Preliminary overview wrapping up sensory memory and attention transition topics.

    • Study of exogenous versus endogenous cueing is yet to be discussed, indicating upcoming content in future discussions.