In-attentional blindness
- failure to notice unexpected objects
- we can only process one stream of information at a time, effectively filtering other information from awareness
Dichotic listnening
- two different speech streams = one on left ear, one on right ear.
- selective attention: focusing on only one stream (blocking teh other) = cognitive deafness
- notice large physical changes
- power of attention: filtering extraneous information. Consequences (miss obvious and important signals).
- same pattern observed for vision too.
Influences for noticing
- Bright and large objects
- Effort
Individual differences
- greater working memory capacity = more likely to notice unexpected objects.
- more resources available = spot other aspects of the world.
Mistaken intuitions of in-attentional blindness
- 78% think they would notice unexpected events
- explanation: based on our experiences.
evolution of our attention
- unexpected events must happen infrequently = there should be no evolutionary change
- most events dont require our immediate attention = it delays our ability to notice the events = consequences are minimal but present now more than back then.
Conclusion for in-attentional blindness
- no magical elixir that will overcome the limits of attention.
- mitigating the consequences: recognize false intuitions, maximize attention, pay attention to things others may not notice.
Selective attention: cocktail party phenomenon
- process of tracking one conversation in the face of the distraction of other conversations.
- selective attention is salient in these settings
Factors for selective attention
- Distinctive sensory characteristics of the target’s speech
- Sound intensity
- Location of the sound source
Advantages of attending to physical properties (Selective attention)
- Avoid being distracted by the semantic content
- The louder the better
- Turning our heads towards the source
Filter/bottleneck theories of selective attention (early):
- filter theories: blocks some of the information passing through
- bottleneck theories: slows down information passing through
Filter/bottleneck theories of selective attention (early): broadbent’s model
- filter attention right after we notice it at a sensory level.
- multiple channels of sensory input reach an attentional filter (distinguished by characteristics)
- filter permits only one channel to reach processes of perception
Filter/bottleneck theories of selective attention (early): moray’s model
- the selective filter blocks out most information at the sensory level but important messages are so powerful and break through the filtering mechanism.
Filter/bottleneck theories of selective attention (early): attenuation model (anne treisman)
- instead of blocking stimuli out, the filter merely weakens the strength of the stimuli other than the target stimulus.
Filter/bottleneck theories of selective attention (late): deutsch’s model
- stimuli are filtered out only after they have been analyzed for both physical properties and their meaning.
- allows people to recognize information entering the unattended ear.
Beneficial effect of concurrent task-irrelevant mental activity on temporal attention: abstract
- human cognitive system is fundamentally limited in deploying attention over time = attentional blink (impaired ability to identify the second of two visual targets presented in close succession).
- attentional blinks ameliorates when engaged in distracting mental activity.
Beneficial effect of concurrent task-irrelevant mental activity on temporal attention: introduction
- attention is limited
- report shows the benefits of task-irrelevant mental activity on performance of a task that does not involve automated procedural skills but instead relies on paying attention to visual input.
- attentional blink: processing of stimuli 1 (T1) takes up limited attentional resources and so either resources for T2 are denied or T2 is so vulnerable that is easily suffers from interference from temporally surrounding distractor letters.
Beneficial effect of concurrent task-irrelevant mental activity on temporal attention: conditions
- Control: concentrate and report as many targets correctly as possible
- Free-association: while doing the task, they should think about their recent holiday/shopping requirement for a party. Increase in T2 is expected (due to distraction task)
- Listening to music: performing the task while listening to music
- Reward: payment according to performance
Beneficial effect of concurrent task-irrelevant mental activity on temporal attention: methods
- 66 pp
- stimuli and task was the same for all conditions.
- task: identify T1 and T2
Beneficial effect of concurrent task-irrelevant mental activity on temporal attention: results
- Control: suffered considerable across all lags (except lag 1 sparring)
- Free-association: T1 did not deteriorate, shift of attentional resources to T2.
- Music: dramatic improvement
- Reward: no significant improvement (motivation doesn’t influence performance)
Beneficial effect of concurrent task-irrelevant mental activity on temporal attention: discussion
- attention improves when the task is accompanied by task-irrelevant mental activity
factors:
1. Arousal: modulates attentional focusing (low arousal = better performance)
2. Positive affective state: improves performance for broad, flexible and operating mode tasks.
3. Additional task: induced a more distributed state of attention.
Beneficial effect of concurrent task-irrelevant mental activity on temporal attention: conclusion
- distraction causes considerable improvements in detecting visual targets in a rapidly presented stream of items.
- implications for future research: how this interacts with general mental state.
