visual attention

Question 1

what are the 2 limits of attention

Answer 1

we can do more than one task at a time

the more we practice, the less attention a task requires

Question 2

what is parallel processing

Answer 2

we can do more than one thing at a time HOWEVER we can engage with more than one thing but are we doing them at the same time?

Question 3

to study parallel processing, what must the task have no of?

Answer 3

delays to ensure p’s dont switch attention to the other task

Question 4

what are discrete tasks

Answer 4

one of 2 tasks happening at the same time

Question 5

what are continuous tasks

Answer 5

monitoring something happening on a screen

Question 6

shaffer 1975

Answer 6

found that will touch typing, once skilled, less attention was required
experts could recite nursery rhymes while touch-typing with less than 10% loss of accuracy
however
skilled typists may see a word and then switch attention while writing it, can still switch attention

Question 7

consistent attention requirements

study

Answer 7

4 tasks and get person to do them in various combinations
1-sing a song
2-follow moving dot with joystick
3-remember a list of words
4-imagine walking around their house
results depends on which tasks are paired together to determine attention demand
e.g. if made to do 1 and 3 something happens with out memory which begins to interact with our auditory system
both of these tasks are trying to happen so our auditory system gets confused

Question 8

what do multiple resource theories suggest

Answer 8

that there are different types of attention

Question 9

visual and auditory attention

Answer 9

driver and spence 1994

Question 10

driver and spence 1994

Answer 10

visual and auditory attention

Question 11

visual and auditory attention

study

Answer 11

3 word triplets from left or right speaker, the participants had to repeat the triplet
there was a tv on top of both screens which one showed a face miming the words
results showed that accuracy was best if face on same side as sound
accuracy was irrespective of hearing
showed visual and auditory system are separate

Question 12

what is allocation of attention

Answer 12

the idea we can split and allocate our attention

Question 13

allocation of attention

Answer 13

sperling and melcher 1978

Question 14

sperling and melcher 1978

Answer 14

allocation of attention

Question 15

allocation of attention

study

Answer 15

a doughnut appeared in which 4 letters were written in the hole and 16 were written on the doughnut
2 letters flashed either in the hole or on the doughnut
p’s were told where to allocate their attention
identification of flashed letters was significantly better when attending to that area
proves we can allocate attention somewhere

Question 16

what is covert attention

Answer 16

mentally shifting out focus without moving our eyes

posner 1980

Question 17

what is exogenous attention

Answer 17

automatic attention shifts caused by external stimulation

bottom up processing

Question 18

what is endogenous attention

Answer 18

controlled by intentions in response to cues
voluntarily shifting attention
top down processing

Question 19

what is automaticity

Answer 19

practice makes the task automatic

fewer attentional resources are required

Question 20

what is ignored stimuli

Answer 20

stimuli we choose not to pay attention to

e.g. simons and chabris 1999-gorilla

Question 21

simons and chabris 1999

Answer 21

gorilla

Question 22

gorilla

Answer 22

simons and chabris 1999

Question 23

what happens when someone shouts fire or duck

Answer 23

we must be processing unattended material

everything is processed to some extent

Question 24

what is filter theories split into

Answer 24

late

early

Question 25

what are late filter theories

Answer 25

both sensory and semantic meaning properties are allowed in before filtering

Question 26

what are early filter theories

Answer 26

filters are just after the sensory information is processed

Question 27

early filter theories | cherry 1953

Answer 27

cocktail party effect | we have a filter that has our name in it so the information gets passed straight through

Question 28

cherry 1953

Answer 28

cocktail party effect

Question 29

cocktail party effect

Answer 29

cherry 1953

Question 30

early filter theories | broadbent 1958

Answer 30

'dichotic listening' different streams of information presented to each ear told to repeat information delivered to one of the ears after the task, report what was going on in the other ear we cannot report was was going on in the unattended stream, however could identify when it went from male to female speaker supporting an early filter

Question 31

early filter theories

Answer 31

cherry 1953 | broadbent 1958

Question 32

late filter theories

Answer 32

deutsch and deutsch 1960 and norman 1968 | mordy 1959

Question 33

late filter theories | deutsch and deutsch 1960 and norman 1968

Answer 33

both physical and meaning are processed before we hit the filter

Question 34

late filter theories | moray 1959

Answer 34

added participants name's to the unattended stream in dichotic listening task and found that only some people noticed

Question 35

movable filter theory

Answer 35

heinz 1978

Question 36

heinz 1978

Answer 36

movable filter theory

Question 37

what is movable filter theory

Answer 37

the position of the filter is under our control, we can allocate attention completely to one part or a little bit to that part

Question 38

movable filter theory | study

Answer 38

gave p's 2 lists of words and told them to shadow one list. some told to shadow words based on physical characteristics e.g. by a man some told to shadow words based on meaning e.g. those relating to teacher also performed secondary task at same time at which they watched a screen and pushed a button when a light appeared reaction times to light was longer when semantic shadowing rather than physical and more errors in semantic higher attentional price to pay from semantic processing rather than physical

Question 39

what are 2 types of searches

Answer 39

disjunctive | conjunctive

Question 40

what is a disjunctive search

Answer 40

target is different from distractors in one obvious way

Question 41

what is a conjunctive search

Answer 41

more than one feature differentiates from distractors

Question 42

why does selection sometimes fail

Answer 42

sometimes just doesnt work told not to engage in something but do 'inhibition of return'- inhibits you to return your attention to a spot you've just engaged in

Question 43

wegner et al 1987

Answer 43

says there are 2 processes to guide how we engage with our attention

Question 44

wegner et 1987 | study

Answer 44

think out loud for 5 mins but do not think of a white bear | there were an average 7 white bear thoughts every 5 mins

Question 45

what are the 2 processes to guide how we engage with our attention according to wegner et al 1987

Answer 45

operating process | monitoring process

Question 46

what is an operating process

Answer 46

helps you think about what you want to think about and distracts you from thinking about what not to think about

Question 47

what is a monitoring process

Answer 47

searches for items inconsistent with what you want to think about it

Question 48

sensitivity

Answer 48

influences holding attention ask someone to monitor the sea for ships, their sensitivity to ship spotting will partially determine how many they will see their bias in ship-spotting describes how ship-like a wave has to be before the person accepts it as a ship