Topic 2a - Attention

Question 1

Main Idea

Answer 1

All sensory information receives some processing, but attention assures continual cognitive processing

Question 2

Gorilla Example

Answer 2

• Two teams passing around a ball, viewer is told to count the passes
• During the video a gorilla walks across the screen and the curtain changes colour, but a lot of people don’t notice either
• If your attention is drawn elsewhere, you can miss very obvious things

Question 3

Flicker Paradigm

Answer 3

• Flashing between two images with one difference, you only detect the change if you’re focusing on the area that changes when the switch occurs
• Your attention needs to be on the thing that changes to notice it

Question 4

Slow Changes

Answer 4

• Two images with one difference, this time we fade slowly between them and people still often fail to notice
• The effect of not noticing change is not just due to speed

Question 5

Video of Changes Simon’s Interview

Answer 5

• Person is given a form to sign by one person, who then takes it and ducks behind a desk, where another person stands up
• Many people don’t notice that a different person addresses them after standing up

Question 6

Properties of Attention

Answer 6

• Attention is selective (we choose what we pay attention to, to a certain degree)
• Attention is divisible (we can pay attention to more than one thing)
• Attention is shiftable (we can change what we’re attending to
• Attention is limited (you can’t attend to everything all the time

Question 7

Big Head Problem

Answer 7

• If we wanted to be able to process everything at once, we’d need a huge brain that would metabolize like a nuclear submarine
• Some cognitive limitations exist for reasons of physical fitness

Question 8

Automaticity

Answer 8

• Controlled processing (which is dependent on your capacity, but flexible) vs. automatic processing (which is not limited in the same way, but is hard to change)
• Doing things automatically is a tradeoff, because you do them more easily and more quickly, but you also don’t have much control

Question 9

Stroop

Answer 9

• You see the names of colours written in a different colour, and because you read somewhat automatically, you have trouble saying the colour of the text but not the colour that’s written
• You have limited control over automatic processes (like reading, hopefully)

Question 10

Bike Balance

Answer 10

• When riding a bike, you learn to adjust your balance automatically, but trying to consciously do it will probably throw you off
• Switching between controlled and automatic processes is difficult

Question 11

Planes

Answer 11

• Pilots have to learn to read their instruments rather than rely on what they see because of perceptual illusions
• You can’t overcome these things easily, even with years of practice

Question 12

Driving and Cellphone Users

Answer 12

• Cell phone users were actually worse than drunk drivers in several metrics
• Hands-free devices don’t help that much
• Because your attention is drawn elsewhere, you are slower to process changes on the road
• We tend to overestimate how many ways we can divide our attention