lecture 5- automatic and controlled attention

Question 1

what are the properties of automatic processing?

Answer 1

• fast, parallel (number of processes can happen at once)
• requires little effort
• no capacity demands (can make task harder, but doesn’t influence performance)
• may arise/develop through extensive practice
• no real call on coscious attention
• difficult to control- stimulus-driven (inevitable), once you start can’t stop

Question 2

what are the properties of controlled processing?

Answer 2

• slower, serial processing- have to do one after another
• effortful
• dependent on capacity demands- high demands (harder) = low performance
• can be changed quickly
• controlled- dependent on control processes within the brain (PFC and surrounding areas- executive parts)

Question 3

what was Schneider & Shiffrin’s task?

Answer 3

• examines difference between automatic and controlled processing
• P’s presented with items in a memory set (set of frames with one memory set = one trial)
• presented with 20 frames
• each frame contains 2 or more items (distractors and/or targets)
• and then asked to search for them in a number of frames with distractors
• say if memory set items were present or not
• 2 conditions: variable (for controlled processing) or consistent mapping (for automatic processing)
• DVs: accuracy and RT

Question 4

what is meant by the consistent mapping and variable mapping conditions?

Answer 4

• consistent: items in memory set were not used as distractors in frames across whole experiement (in other trials)
  numbers = target, consonant = distractors -> target is consistently different in nature to distractors
• variable: items to be remembered in one trial can be used as distractors in the frames in other trials
  ‘t’ is distractor in one trial and then target in another

Question 5

what were the results with consistent mapping?

Answer 5

• no real effect of number of items in memory set
• number of items in frames had no effect on RT
• change in capacity demands = no change in performace

Question 6

what were the results with variable mapping?

Answer 6

• number of items in memory set increased RT
• so did number of items in frames
• performance affected by memory load and perceptual load
• increase demand on capacity = reduced performance
• consistent mapping much quicker than variable -> 2 attentional processes going on (fast automatic and slow controlled)

Question 7

how do consistent/variable mapping match with automatic/controlled processing?

Answer 7

• consistent mapping -> automatic processing (quick, happens in parallel, no capacity demands)
• variable mapping -> controlled processing (slow, processing dependent on capacity)

Question 8

what did Shiffrin & Schneider (1977) find about training?

Answer 8

• split consonants into 2 groups- B to L and Q to Z
• consistent mapping: one group used for memory sets and one for distractors
• variable: used both groups for memory sets and distractors in different trials
• after 2100 trials with consistent mapping = performance no longer influenced by difficulty (independent of item numbers in memory and frame sets)
• then switched role of groups (B to L went from meory to distractor), initial performance very bad, then slowly got to same point as 1500 trials in first time after 2400 trials

Question 9

what was found about training and automatic processing?

Answer 9

• automatic processing is hard to learn and harder to unlearn (slower learning in second run)
• controlled processes are open to control, automatic processes are beyind control

Question 10

what was found with dual tasks?

Answer 10

• individuals can learn to do two things at once
• intially impossible but 6 weeks of practice lead to competence (Spelke, Hirst & Neisser 1976)
• writing to diction became automatic

Question 11

what the elements of Posner’s spatial curing task?

Answer 11

• peripheral vs. central- central arrow or cross tat edge
• valid or invalid- is the prediction by the cue correct?
• informative or uninformative- is prediction correct a lot of the time or rarely? can you rely on it?
• cue target delay- cue target onset asynchronicity or stimulus onset asynchronicity? -> gap between cue disappearing and target appearing

Question 12

what is the validity effect by the posner cueing paradigm?

Answer 12

• difference between invalid and valid cues’ RTs
• if faster for valid- tells us if cues are being used
• if invalid - valid RT is positive = p’s focused on where target will appear- following cues
• is 0 = p’s not focused on where target will appear- not following cues
• if negative = p’s are focused away from where target will appear- odd!!!

Question 13

what did data from the posner’s spatial curing task look like?

Answer 13

informative cues-
- peripheral seems automatic response
- central not (p’s have to interpret)

uninformative cues-
- peripheral cuing still occurring in shorter gaps (automatic response- cue is unhelpful but still captures attention, still validity effect)
- central controlled (p’s realise cues are not useful so ignore- no cuing really)

Question 14

how do we infer automaticity from validity effects?

Answer 14

• if validity effect is there, p’s are following the cue
• but in the uninformative cue conditions, the cue doesn’t tell where the target is
• so they shouldn’t really use it
• but in peripherals they still follow the cue (at short cue target delays)
• p’s can’t stop attentional focus changing

Question 15

what is Posner’s model?

Answer 15

• attention is spotlight, spotlight is focused on the fixation
  on cuing:
  1. spotlight disengages from fixation spot
  2. spotlight moves to cued spot
  3. attention is focused on that spot
• if cue is valid- spotlight is on target when it appears (so fast RT)
• if cue is invalid- have to repeat steps which slows response

Question 16

what are the differences between central and peripheral cueing?

Answer 16

central:
- slower
- seems to be under conscious control (can ignore cue when aren’t any use)
- need interpreting (where arrow is pointing to)
- CONTROLLED process as can focus spotlight

peripheral:
- fast
- not under conscious control (cues still cue when not reliable)
- seems to be driven by stimulus
- AUTOMATIC process

but not as simple as that- some things automatically grab attnetion (faces)

Question 17

what is the new distinction of types of attention?

Answer 17

endogenous:
- top-down conscious allocation of attention
- effortful and interpretive
- controlled or modulated by goals and context
- voluntary

exogenous
- bottom-up allocation of attention
- controlled by external events
- reflexive
- involuntary- attention is captured

Question 18

what is inhibition of return?

Answer 18

• with peripheral uninformative cues, initially there is a validity effect
• but at target delays longer than 200ms, becomes reverse (uncused targets are quicker)
• cued targets increases RT
• after a certain amount of time, attention drifts away to uncued side, then brought back to cued
• slow to come back -> inhibition of return
• as if don’t find something where cue directs, makes sense to look elsewhere
• spotlight moves on and its return is inhibited (already looked there)

Question 19

what are some other automatic cues?

Answer 19

• eye gaze (cartoon)- validity effect for non-informative central cue at 100ms, persists over cue target delay (AUTOMATIC)
• real faces- validity only really at 700ms for uninformative central cue, may be as judgement task (not just straight automatic) so extral level of complexity
• appearence of face may capture attention before gaze cues- when got used to face validity effect was at 300ms
• when cues were counter-indications of locations, still validity effect at 300ms but opposite at 700ms as start to control focus

Question 20

what study did Ristic (2000) carry out?

Answer 20

• use of eye cue and arrow cues on children
• found validity effects for both eye gaze and arrows
• evidence automaticity with central ‘symbolic’ cue
• but no inhibition of return, so don’t behave like automatic peripheral cues

Question 21

what do cueing tasks show?

Answer 21

• peripheral cues do seem to be automatically directing (not in a straight way)
• central cues can be used to direct attention in a voluntary fashion and can automatically control attention when cues are biologically primed/have social significance
  -> ‘automatic symbolic orienting’

Question 22

what are the defining features of automatic attnetional control?

Answer 22

1. inevitable evocation
2. incorrigible completion
3. efficient execution
4. parallel processing
   how automatic a process is is dependent on how much each contributes

Question 23

what was the final model proposed by Kahneman & Treisman (1984)

Answer 23

• perhaps may be graduations of automaticity
• perceptual processing strongly automatic if neither facilitated by focusing or impaired by diversion on/from a stimulus
• partially automatic if normally completed when attention is diverted from the stimulus, but can be facilitated by attention
• occasionally automatic if generally requires attention, but can sometimes be completed without it