PSY475 LECTURE 1

Question 1

What is attention?

Answer 1

Attention is the selective focus of mental resources, where irrelevant information is filtered out so you can sustain awareness on something specific.

Example: In a noisy coffee shop, you can still focus on your friend’s voice while ignoring background chatter.

Question 2

Why is filtering/inhibition central to attention?

Answer 2

Without suppressing distractions, you’d be overwhelmed by all stimuli at once. Filtering is what lets you prioritize.
Example: While driving, you filter out billboards and focus on the road and brake lights ahead.

Question 3

How can attention be directed toward objects or mental representations?

Answer 3

You can focus on the external world (e.g., the person talking in front of you) or your internal world (e.g., daydreaming about an upcoming trip). Both use the same attentional mechanisms.
Example: In class, you might stare at the slides but actually be paying attention to what you’ll eat for dinner later.

Question 4

What are the two ways attention can be controlled?

Answer 4

Voluntarily (endogenous): Choosing to focus (e.g., rereading a textbook).

Automatically (exogenous): Being pulled by a sudden stimulus (e.g., jumping when a phone alarm rings).

Question 5

What were Helmholtz’s key findings?

Answer 5

Attention is required for perception: sensory input alone isn’t enough.

Attention is limited: you can only process a small number of items at once.

Attention can be covert: you don’t have to move your eyes to focus.

Example: At a party, you can listen in on someone’s convo across the room without looking at them.

Question 6

What did Alfred Binet’s experiment show about attention?

Answer 6

He asked participants to count while squeezing a ball, showing that divided attention has capacity limits. When doing two tasks at once, performance on both suffers.
Example: Like trying to solve a math problem while carrying on a conversation — one task always drops in quality.

Question 7

What is the Filter Theory of Attention?

Answer 7

Broadbent (1958): attention functions as a filter to block irrelevant info and let important info through.
Example: Like a bouncer at a club deciding who gets in.

Question 8

What is the Spotlight Theory of Attention?

Answer 8

Attention acts like a spotlight that can move around space; processing is enhanced for whatever falls under it.
Example: When reading, your “spotlight” moves word by word.

Question 9

What is the Binder Theory of Attention?

Answer 9

Visual attention binds together separate features (color, shape, motion) into a unified perception of objects.
Example: Seeing a red ball — attention binds “red” + “round” + “moving” into a single object.

Question 10

What are mechanism-level theories of attention?

Answer 10

Neural responses: Attention changes how strongly neurons respond.

Action preparation: Attention is preparing you to act.

Competition for resources: Stimuli compete; winners get processed.
Example: While driving, your brain prioritizes the brake lights ahead over a flashing billboard.

Question 11

What are the main types of attention in cognitive psychology?

Answer 11

Selective: Focus on one input, ignore others.

Divided: Split attention between tasks.

Sustained: Maintain focus for a long period.
Example: Selective = listening to one friend at a loud party; Sustained = paying attention during a 2-hour lecture.

Question 12

What is the difference between controlled vs. automatic processing?

Answer 12

Controlled: Requires conscious effort and attention (e.g., learning to drive).

Automatic: Doesn’t need attention (e.g., reading for fluent readers, or tying shoes).

Question 13

What is top-down vs. bottom-up control?

Answer 13

Top-down (endogenous): Goal-directed, voluntary.

Bottom-up (exogenous): Stimulus-driven, involuntary.
Example: Studying (top-down) vs. attention pulled by a fire alarm (bottom-up).

Question 14

What is endogenous vs. exogenous control?

Answer 14

Endogenous: Internal control (deciding what to focus on).

Exogenous: External capture by a stimulus.
Example: Endo = focusing on your notes; Exo = eyes darting to a bright phone notification.

Question 15

What is goal-directed vs. stimulus-driven control?

Answer 15

Goal-directed: You attend to info needed to reach an internal goal.

Stimulus-driven: Attention is directed by an external stimulus.

Question 16

What is the debate about space-based vs. object-based attention?

Answer 16

Is attention allocated to regions of space (like a spotlight) or to whole objects regardless of location?

Question 17

What is the debate about early vs. late selection?

Answer 17

At what stage does attention filter info?

Early: Before meaning is processed.

Late: After meaning is processed, but before response.
Example: Early = ignoring background talk completely; Late = you process it, but don’t act unless you hear your name.

Question 18

What is the debate about single-channel vs. multiple-resource attention?

Answer 18

Do we have one central bottleneck (single channel) or separate pools of resources for different tasks (multiple)?
Example: Driving + talking might compete for one channel, but listening to music while cooking may use different resources.

Question 19

What is the debate about automatic vs. controlled processing?

Answer 19

Are some tasks automatic and parallel, or are all tasks serial and controlled?

Automatic (parallel): Fast, effortless, often unconscious.

Controlled (serial): Effortful, slow, one step at a time.
Example: Reading your native language = automatic; solving a math problem = controlled.

Question 20

What was Donders’ main contribution to measuring attention?

What assumptions are needed for the subtraction technique?

Why can’t subtraction always be used?

Answer 20

The subtraction technique: compare reaction times across tasks to infer how long a mental process takes.
Example: Choice RT − Simple RT = decision-making time.

That mental processing is serial (one stage after another) and independent (each stage doesn’t overlap).

If stages aren’t independent or linear, you can’t just subtract.

Question 21

What is the Additive Factors Method (Sternberg)?

Answer 21

Still uses RT, but checks if variables affect stages independently or interact.

Independent effects → different stages.

Interaction → same stage.
Benefit: Lets researchers study inside a stage (like memory search).

Question 22

What did Sternberg find with memory search?

Answer 22

RT increases as the number of items in memory increases → searching memory is serial and exhaustive (you check every item).
Example: Like flipping through all contacts in your phone instead of skipping once you see the right one.

Question 23

How does attention load affect RT in real life?

Answer 23

In driving simulators, higher attentional load (e.g., talking on the phone) slows RT. Hands-free helps but doesn’t eliminate cost.