Attention
cognitive process of concentrating on one or more things whilst excluding other things
information processing
changing of info in any manner detectable by an observer, Process which describes everything that changed in the environment
information channels
distinct sources that search for relevant stimulus and scan the world for particular features
orientating response
attention drawn to source of sudden change
filtering
of extraneous events
-attend to only one of several available distinct sources of info about our environment
orientating reflex
we adjust our sensory organs to optimally pick up input from an information source
overt attention
act of directing sense organs towards information source
Selective attention
- process one stimuli by ignoring the rest
- respond discretely to a stimulus
- ignore irrelevant information
divided attention
process two or more stimuli at the same time
-allocate some attention to each
Methods for selective attention-Dichotic listening task
-select one of two messaged presented at the same time thought two different information channels (both ears)
Methods for selective attention– shadowing
-repeat back aloud one of the messaged as it is played- focus on one stimulus
Cocktail party phenomenon (Cherry, 1953)
- can understand and answer questions about the shadowed passage
- not bale to do this for the non-attended message
- physical differences were reported such as changes in pitch, voice intensity and if a tone/ noice was used-once these were removes: semantic content was lost and rarely notices speech that was foreign or reversed.
Theories of Selective Attention-
Early Selection
Filter Model
Broadbent 1958
- limited ability to process information
- attention has a limited capacity
- there is a filter which allows or blocks at any early stage of processing
Theories of Selective Attention- Early Selection Filter Model Broadbent 1958 Evaluation
Does not explain cocktail party
Theories of Selective Attention-
Intermediate Selection
Attenuator Model
Treisman 1964
- same architecture to Broadbent’s
- filter does not strictly block out unattended
- some information is tunes down
- semantic analysis for selected input
- word units very in thresholds (our name has a low threshold so is easily activated)
- at an early stage of analysis
Theories of Selective Attention- Intermediate Selection Attenuator Model Treisman 1964 Evaluation
How do we know if certain stimuli is relevant?
Could repose to other names such as parents’ or partner’s?
Theories of Selective Attention-
Late selection
Pertinence Model
Deutsch & Deutsch 1963
- bottleneck is later- all information is initially processed
- each input is analysed in memory
- based on pertinence of information
Theories of Selective Attention- Late selection Pertinence Model Deutsch & Deutsch 1963 Evaluation
- information non-attended is lost
- why is it impossible to recall semantic content?
- possible scanning of unattended message?
- stored into short term memory and forgotten?
Methods for divided attention-dual tasking
-attending to more than one feature of a stimulus
cost in performance/accuracy
Methods for divided attention-dual tasking
-perform two tasks separately before both simultaneously
dual task decrement-deteariation in performance of either
Theories of Divided Attention
Central Capacity Theory
Kahneman 1973
- central processor allocated attention
- attention is a skill
- performance depends on available capacity
- parallell processing
- capacity is not fixed
- mental effort based on difficulty of practise
- momentary intentions(particular time)
- enduring disposition(always important =biological or learnt)
- enduring usually override
Theories of Divided Attention
Central Capacity Theory
Kahneman 1973
Evaluations
- demands effect allocation
- allocation policy remain unchanged when there is spare capacity left
- but if demands of several tasks are too high, allocation has to be changed
- does not explain influence of similarity
- two tasks will interfere if the available capacity if exceeded
Theories of Divided Attention
Central Capacity Interference Theory
Norman &Bobrow 1975
-attention is limited in capacity, centrally controlled
-some tasks scan be improved by more resources
complex tasks performance cannot be improved; resource limited tasks
-others cannot be improved because attention is data limited (quality)
Theories of Divided Attention
Central Capacity Interference Theory
Norman &Bobrow 1975
Evaluations
Cherry (1953)
- support of data-limited because less resources are required to detect names
- support of resource limited because there is no spare capacity for speech for the non-shadowed message
