Chapter 4 - Attention

Question 1

Attention

Answer 1

The ability to focus on specific stimuli or locations.

Question 2

Selective attention

Answer 2

Attending to one thing while ignoring the others

Question 3

Distraction

Answer 3

One stimulus interfering with the processing of another stimulus

Question 4

Divided attention

Answer 4

Paying attention to more than one thing at a time

Question 5

Attentional capture

Answer 5

A rapid shifting of attention, usually caused by a stimulus such as a loud noise, bright light, or sudden movement.

Question 6

Visual scanning

Answer 6

Movements of the eyes from one location or object to another

Question 7

Shadowing

Answer 7

Repeating what you hearing

Question 8

Cocktail party effect

Answer 8

The ability to focus on one stimulus while filtering out the other stimuli

Question 9

Stages of Donald Broadbent’s (1958) Filter Model of Attention (Bottleneck Model)

Answer 9

Message comes

1. Sensory Memory - holds all of the incoming information for a fraction of a second and then transfers all of it to filter.
2. Filter - identifies the message that is being attended to based on its physical characteristics and lets only this attended message pass through to the detector in the next stage.
3. Detector - processes the information from the attended message to determine higher-level characteristics of the message.
4. Output of the detector is sent to short term memory (holds info for 10-15 sec) then into long term memory.

Question 10

Why Broadbent’s filter model of attention is also called bottleneck model?

Answer 10

Because the filter restricts information flow much as the neck of a bottle restricts the flow of liquid in order to slow down the flow.

However an important difference: this model keeps large portion of the information from getting through.

Also model is based on physical characteristics.

Question 11

Why Broadbent’s filter model is attention (bottleneck model) is called an early selection model?

Answer 11

Because the filter eliminates the unattended information right at the beginning of the flow of information.

Question 12

Treisman’s Attenuation Model of Selective Attention

Answer 12

An early selection model.

Messages -> attenuator – (attended and some of unattended message) –> dictionary unit -> to memory

• language and meaning can be used to separate the messages.

Question 13

What does attenuator do? (Treisman’s attenuation model of selective attention)

Answer 13

Analyzes the incoming message in terms of;

1. Its physical characteristics
2. Its language
3. Its meaning

Question 14

Why Treisman’s model is called ‘leaky filter’ model?

Answer 14

Both attended and unattended messages pass through the attenuator. Because at least some of the unattended message gets through the attenuator, the model is caller leaky filter model.