Human info processing Flashcards
Attention
mechanism to cope with flood of info entering our senses …
usually by listening or focusing gaze.
you tend to focus resources on one set of events ignoring others.
is attention conscious or subconscious
both
‘cocktail party effect’
you can focus on instruments whilst flying but an engine note can subconsciosly get your attention
Attention involves 3 processes:
disengage attention from a stimuli
shift attention to new stimuli
engage attention to new stimuli
Attention is Divided or selective..
Selective: involve processing info from one input
divided: involve parallel info with rapid attention switching (but there is a limit to how much can be done)
Attending to a stimuli depends on ..
Vigilance
vigilance is:
describes state of sustained attention over time
the person continuously monitors a situation over time
constant and frequent monitoring of all paratmeters controlled by the auto pilot during cruise is an example
What is hypervigilance
high state of physiological arousal where you are alert about everything aorund you and you are acutely aware of every sign, sounds, smell, etc and every change in them
this comes from a high state of vigilance
ex: engine fire (stress environment)
hypovigilence
low state of arousal and vigilance like when you are sleep deprived, fatigued, bored, overworked
memory
input (encoding)->storage -> retriavel process
**Input:
**To encode something, it must be given ‘attention’ **before it can be peceived against all other stuff going on.
Storage:
Only if we attend to it, it gets stored in the memory.
Brain stores info but also feelings associated with the info
Retrieval:
recall and recognize information learnt from previous events
Benefits:
allows us to have a standard response to a frequently occuring event
important for learning new things
needed to draw on past experiences to apply into new stituations
3 storages of memory
Sensory store
Short term (working) store
long term store
Sensory store
Known as ‘race memory’ and gut reaction response to stimulus
- Sensory memory (retains images, sounds, etc from the sense organs)
we hold in our sense unprocessed/raw info for a short period of time
- Retain for few seconds ( 1 - 5 sec) and then lost
visual (iconic) 0.5 secs
auditory (echoic) = 250 miliseconds to 2 sec
Haptic: physical senses / touch
It doesn’t process info but it helps us ‘swtich our attention’ and play it back so we can transfer it to working memory
short term memory
called working memory / active memory
has very limited capacity and holds info for a short time
- Holds only a few items for brief periods - ie 7 items in 15-30 seconds before forgotten - Ie reading a number, writing it down and forgetting it (because it’s not rehearsed) - You can probably only manage one piece of info at a time - Short term capacity can be affected by tiredness/stress - It is sensitive to distractions - Involves info from present or immediate past - Short term capacity can be increased by ‘chunking’ - making chunks of info instead of individual info. Also mnemonics (rules you set to organize data) - Ideal for words (taken literally) as opposed to their (meaning)
working memory
- Contain the info we are ‘currently’ using, drawn from short term or long term and central decision making part of the brain
- You rehearse it (to remember it) or encode it (to understand it)
- This is the information you ‘give attention to’ (beause of personal interest, emotional interest or it’s unusual)
- Limited capacity, so use chunking to remember it and free up space for new info
-meaning-free
long term memory
has very large capacity and holds rehearsed or encoded info for a long time or indefinitely
**LTM works better **when dealing with info that has **relevance or meaning **
With training - many processesn can be carried out automatically in LTM without thinking
Repetition is usd to get info into it, comibined, organized and placed in context or associate with an emotion
Info is stored into 2 areas:
- Meaning
- Events
You can retrieve info from here and try to reconstruct it again in the working memory
Info already in LTM:
- Items in long term memory can take a while to retrieve. Ideally you should periodically recall this info by practicing, so that the info is readily available when you really need it.
similar info
- if an input is similiar to one that’s already in the LTM, there is a tendancy to assume it’s the same.
new info
- Brain tries to associate new info with with ones that are already stored
- New info with no past reference, will take longer to process mentally
1st step: subconsciously at low level
Subconsciously…
your attention mechanism decides if the info in the sensory stores are significant and what kind of processing is required
rock seen by your eye headed for your head..you duck
2nd step: central decision making
more complex info is directed to the ‘central executive’ where you must act by consciously thinking.
this where processing bottleneck takes place..before it goes to working memroy
3rd step: working memory
stores 7 ± 2 bits of info for 10-20 seconds
easily lost info unless it is rehearsed or committed to long term memory.
info gets replaced if given new info or if interrupted
chunking
a process of groupoing several items together into one unit to help extend the working memory capacity to remember it easir and for longer.
remember 43 letters by putting them in: London Geneva Paris…
why is short term memory important for pilots
need to remember ATC frequency which you must read back, or instructions
what affects how much is held and for how long…in short term memory
time it takes to say the words
the meaning of the words
any stresses you are suffering
Magic #7
messages should be short and better understood if they comprise no more than 7 disttinct pieces of info
Long term memory
broken into 5 types
Episodic
stores autobiographical info (experiences you had, places you’ve been, people you know, a smell that triggers emotions..)
not based on recalling facts
feeling you had on your first flight..
Semantic
accumulated knowledge and facts and language. Meaning of words and general knowledge.
knowledge you leart about flying, procedures, checklist,
Also stores:
the visual picture you have learned ‘
‘that you are at the right height to start landing flare
and muscle memory ‘ie the ations/steps to take to do the landing flare
Lasts longer and is more accurate than Episodic memory
procedural
type of long term memory involved in learning whereby you cannot recall it consciously
ex: riding a bike, speaking a language, walking - you learnt it, execute it naturally, but can’t explain how it’s done
‘muscle memory’
spatial
for imagery storage
Generic
for general knowledge
It can store rule-based, descriptive and schematic knowledge
when is peak arousal for short term memory and long term member
STM = morning 10-11am
LTM = later in the day 8pm
