Psych Ch. 4: Interacting with the Environment Flashcards
(165 cards)
Donald Broadbent
thought of the brain as a processing system with a limited capacity and sought to map out the steps that went into creating memories from raw sensory data
Broadbent Filter Model of Attention
- Inputs from the environment first enter a sensory buffer
- One of these inputs is sleeted for and filtered based on physical characteristics of the input (sensory modality)
- Theoretical filter is design to keep of from becoming overloaded and overwhelmed with info
- Other sensory info stays in the sensory buffer briefly but quickly decays
- -> unattended message blocked at sensory filter
- The info is still raw data that has just been filtered-it has not yet been transformed
- It is in the next step, when info enters short-term memory (STM) storage, where semantic (meaning-making)p processes occur
- -> Does NOT account for cocktail party effect
Anne Treisman’s Attenuation Model
Tried to account for cocktail party effect
-Rather than a filter, the mind has an attenuator, which works like a volume knob-it “turns down” the unattended sensory input rather than eliminating it
Selective Priming
Also tries to explain cocktail party effect
- Suggests that people can be selectively primed to observe something, either by encountering it frequently or by having an expectation
- The more something is primed, the more it will be picked up despite distractions
Spotlight Model
Explains visual attention; the spotlight is a beam that can shine anywhere within an individual’s visual field
-Beam describes the movement of attention, NOT the movement of the eyes (shifts in attention precede the corresponding eye movement)
Info from visual perception is processed in the brain by:
Feature detectors
Binding problem
One problem with visual processing; the problem of how all these different aspects are assembled together and related to a single object, rather than something else in the visual field
–> Other features, such as color and shape, are initially encoded together but subsequently analyzed by separate areas of the brain. Despite this separation, in perception the brain must represent which features belong to the same object
Solution to binding problem:
Visual attention
- If our visual attention is on a particular object such as a cup, then the feature detectors’ input of shape, color, etc. will all be related to the object being attended to-the cup
- -> when people are distracted while viewing 2 items, they may have binding issues, for example, the color of one item may be attributed to the other
Resource Model of Attention
We have al limited pool of resources on which to draw when performing tasks, both modality-specific resources and general resources
–> If the resources required to perform multiple tasks simultaneously exceeds the available resources to do so, then the tasks cannot be accomplished at the same time
3 factors are associated with performance on multi-tasking :
Task similarity
Task difficulty
Task practice
Ex. of multitasking
Easier to listen to classical music and write a paper at the same time than listen to a radio talk show and write a paper because listening to music and writing a paper requires 2 dissimilar tasks: one requires auditory input while the other requires verbal output, instead of requiring verbal input and verbal output
Behaviorism
Concerned with the link btw stimulus and response
Information-processing models
Focus on what happens btw the ears
A few basic assumptions:
-They assume that info is taken in from the environment and processed through a series of steps including attention, perception, and storage into memory
2 theories of attention and perception:
Broadbent Model and Treisman Model
Alan Baddeley’s Model (what did he rename?)
Sought to better define short-term memory-which he renamed working memory
In his model, working memory consists of 4 components:
1. a phonological loop
2. a visuospatial sketchpad
3. an episodic buffer
4. a central executive
Phonological Loop
Allows us to repeat verbal info to help us remember it
ex. remembering a phone number when you can’t write it down
Visuospatial Sketchpad
Serves a similar purpose for visuospatial info through the use of mental images
Episodic Buffer
Theorized to integrate info from the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad with a sense of time, and to interface with long-term memory stores; responsible for combining info from a variety of sources into coherent episodes
Ex. man sees car like the one his father used to drive, and he is able to make the connection through the interaction btw his memory of his father’s car and his current visual experience in the episodic buffer
Central Executive
Overseer of the entire process, and orchestrates the process by shifting and dividing attention
Central executive goes to:
Phonological loop, episodic buffer, and visuospatial sketchpad
Phonological loop, episodic buffer, and visuospatial sketchpad go to:
Long-term memory stores
Jean Piaget
- One of the first developmental psychologists who studied cognitive development in children; he argued against the belief that children were like min adults in their thought processes and abilities
- He thought the process of cognitive development involved forming schemas-mental frameworks that shape and are shaped by our experience
- As we encounter new experiences, Piaget believed that we either assimilate those experiences by conforming them into our existing schemas or we accommodate by adjusting our schemas to take into account the new experiences
Piaget’s Theory has 4 developmental stages:
- Sensorimotor stage: birth-2
- Preoperational Stage: 2-7
- Concrete Operational Stage: 7-11
- Formal Operational Stage: 12-adulthood
Sensorimotor Stage
- birth-2
- Babies and young infants experience the world through their senses and movement, such a looking, touching, mouthing, and grasping
- They learn about object permanence: the understanding that things continue to exist when they are out of sight
- Demonstrate stranger anxiety: distress when confronted with an unfamiliar person