Cognitive area: Moray

Question 1

What is the cognitive area of psychology interested in?

Answer 1

How we process information and respond to stimuli

Question 2

What was the focus of Moray’s study?

Answer 2

Auditory attention

Question 3

What is the background for Moray’s study?

Answer 3

Cherry’s research into the ‘cocktail party effect’ through dichotic listening tasks

Question 4

What was the aim of Moray’s first study?

Answer 4

To test Cherry’s findings into recalling a rejected passage in a shadowing task through dichotic listening

Question 5

What was the aim of Moray’s second and third study?

Answer 5

To investigate factors that can affect attention in dichotic listening

Question 6

Name the tape recorder used in the study

Answer 6

Brenell mark IV tape recorder with two separate outputs into headphones

Question 7

What gender was the speaker in the recordings?

Answer 7

Male

Question 8

What was the volume level of each recording?

Answer 8

60 dB, loud enough for the P’s to just about hear them

Question 9

What was the pre test?

Answer 9

4 passages of prose for the P’s to shadow for practice and to tell the researcher when the passages appeared to be the same volume

Question 10

Describe the sample for experiment 1

Answer 10

Undergrads and research workers of both sexes

Question 11

What was faded in and out of one ear while the participants shadowed a prose message in the other ear?

Answer 11

A list of simple words

Question 12

How many times was each word repeated in the list of words?

Answer 12

35 times

Question 13

After the passage was complete, what were P’s asked to report? (experiment one)

Answer 13

The content of the shadowed message

Question 14

After P’s had recalled the content of the shadowed message what type of test were they given? (experiment one)

Answer 14

A recognition test

Question 15

What was the recognition test composed of?

Answer 15

21 words (7 in the passage, 7 from list and 7 others)

Question 16

What was the gap between the shadowing and the test? (experiment one)

Answer 16

30 seconds

Question 17

What was the mean number of recognised words from the 7 words in the shadowed passage?

Answer 17

4.9

Question 18

What was the mean number of recognised words from the 7 words in the rejected passage?

Answer 18

1.9

Question 19

What was the mean number of recognised words from the 7 words in neither passage?

Answer 19

2.6

Question 20

What did Moray conclude in terms of Cherry’s findings from experiment one?

Answer 20

P’s are more able to recognise words from the shadowed passage and almost none of the words from the rejected passage could break the inattentional barrier and therefore supports Cherry’s findings

Question 21

What was the aim of experiment 2?

Answer 21

Moray wanted to find out what could break the inattentional barrier. Would a message with strong enough meaning to the P be able to break the barrier

Question 22

Describe the sample used in experiment 2

Answer 22

12 participants

Question 23

What was the IV of experiment 2?

Answer 23

Whether an instruction within a rejected passage was preceded by the participants name (affective) or was nor preceded by the participants name (non-affective)

Question 24

What was the DV of experiment 2?

Answer 24

Whether P’s were more likely to hear an instruction in a message theyre not paying attention to if it is preceded by their name

Question 25

How was the DV in experiment 2 operationalised?

Answer 25

By whether they reported to hearing the instruction or whether they followed the instruction

Question 26

What type of passages were P's given in experiment 2?

Answer 26

Light fiction in one ear and also in the other ear

Question 27

What did both passages contain at the start? (experiment two)

Answer 27

An instruction

Question 28

When did P's hear another instruction? (experiment two)

Answer 28

In the middle of the passage

Question 29

Outline details of the voice that P's heard in the passages (experiment two)

Answer 29

Steady monotone male voice at about 130 words per minute

Question 30

How many passages did P's listen to? (experiment two)

Answer 30

10

Question 31

How many passages contained affective instructions? (experiment two)

Answer 31

3

Question 32

How many passages contained non affective instructions? (experiment two)

Answer 32

4

Question 33

How many passages contained no instructions? (experiment two)

Answer 33

3

Question 34

What was the experimental design in experiment 2?

Answer 34

Repeated measures

Question 35

What were P's told that their aim was? (experiment two)

Answer 35

To make as few errors as possible in their shadowing of the passages

Question 36

How many times was the affective instruction heard out of how many times it was presented? (experiment two)

Answer 36

20 out of 39

Question 37

How many times was the non-affective instruction heard out of how many times it was presented? (experiment two)

Answer 37

4 out of 36

Question 38

What conclusions came out of experiment 2?

Answer 38

P's are more likely to hear affective instructions than non affective

Question 39

Were the results in experiment 2 significant?

Answer 39

Yes, there was less than a 1% probability that these results were down to chance

Question 40

What was the aim of experiment 3?

Answer 40

Would prior warnings about what P's would be asked about change what participants might hear?

Question 41

Describe the sample used in experiment 3?

Answer 41

Two groups of 14 students

Question 42

What was the design of experiment 3?

Answer 42

Independent measures

Question 43

What was the IV of experiment 3?

Answer 43

Whether they were told they would be asked about the shadowed message or whether they were told to remember all the numbers that they could

Question 44

What was the DV of experiment 3?

Answer 44

Mean number of digits correctly reported

Question 45

What were the 5 variety of message in experiment 3?

Answer 45

``` Numbers towards end of passage Numbers in both passages Numbers only in shadowed message Numbers only in rejected message Control messages - no numbers ```

Question 46

What were the results found from experiment 3?

Answer 46

No significant results were found

Question 47

What did Moray conclude from experiment 3?

Answer 47

That there was no significance because numbers are not important enough to break the 'inattentional barrier' - unlike a persons name

Question 48

Conclusion 1: In a situation where P directs his attention to one message and rejects a message to the other ear........

Answer 48

Almost none of the verbal content from the rejected message is able to penetrate the block

Question 49

Conclusion 2: A short list of simple words presented as the rejected message shows no......

Answer 49

Trace of being remembered even when presented many times

Question 50

Conclusion 3: Subjectively 'important' messages such as a persons name can.......

Answer 50

Penetrate the block, thus a P will hear instructions if they are presented with their own name as a part of the rejected message

Question 51

Conclusion 4: While perhaps not impossible it's very difficult to make 'neutral' material important enough to.....

Answer 51

Break through the block set up in dichotic shadowing

Question 52

Did Moray break any ethical guidelines?

Answer 52

No

Question 53

Could Moray's findings be considered ethnocentric?

Answer 53

Yes as ability was only tested in one language and most likely only on monolingual individuals, people in other cultures who are bilingual may find this task easier

Question 54

Was Moray's study internally reliable (standardised procedure/replicable)?

Answer 54

Yes, the experiments were all highly controlled and could easily be replicated with similar controls

Question 55

Was Moray's study externally reliable (sample large enough for consistent effect)?

Answer 55

No, each sample was not that large and all most likely similar age/level of education

Question 56

Was auditory attention really being tested?

Answer 56

Extraneous variables were controlled for however, P's knew they were being tested so may have demand characteristics which alter their responses

Question 57

How ecologically valid was the study?

Answer 57

Not very as the set up of headphones and shadowing is not the same kind of attention we give in real life

Question 58

Define 'cocktail party effect'

Answer 58

That no matter how deep in conversation you may be at a cocktail party, if someone mentioned your name, this would draw your attention

Question 59

Define 'dichotic listening'

Answer 59

Where P's are presented 2 different auditory stimuli in different ears through headphones

Question 60

Define 'shadowing'

Answer 60

When P's listen dichotically to two stimuli and have to repeat one of the stimuli out loud whilst they listen