Psychology Attention Concepts

Attention

• Main Goals of Attention: To select relevant information, and ignore irrelevant information, to perform a task efficiently.
• Selective vs. Divided Attention: Selective attention focuses on one piece of information, while divided attention focuses on multiple tasks simultaneously.
• Dichotic Listening: A task where participants listen to different auditory information in each ear, and are asked to focus on one.
  • Filtering: The process of selecting relevant information and ignoring irrelevant information.
    • Early Filtering: Irrelevant information is filtered out early in processing.
    • Intermediate Filtering: Some irrelevant information is processed, but ultimately filtered out.
    • Late Filtering: Most or all information is processed, and relevant information is selected later.
    • Colin Cherry and Broadbent’s Filter Model: Proposed that irrelevant information is blocked out completely before deeper processing.
    • Cocktail Party Effect: The ability to focus on one conversation while ignoring others.
    • Dear Aunt Jane Experiment: Showed that some irrelevant information can be processed, suggesting a late filter.
    • Treisman’s Attenuation Theory: Proposed that irrelevant information is attenuated, but not completely blocked out.
    • McKay’s Late Filter Experiment: Demonstrated that even seemingly unimportant words can be processed, supporting late filter theories.
• Load Theory of Attention: The amount of attentional resources available influences the level of processing.
• Stroop Task: A task where participants are asked to name the color of ink used to print a word, and the word itself conflicts with the color. Demonstrates the difficulty of ignoring irrelevant information.
• Overt vs. Covert Attention (Spatial Attention): Overt attention is when our eyes focus on a specific location (e.g., looking at a book). Covert attention is when our attention focuses on a location without moving our eyes (e.g., listening to a conversation).
  • No-Look Pass: A football strategy where players make a pass without looking at the intended receiver, demonstrating covert attention.
  • Saccades: Rapid eye movements, an example of overt attention.
  • Fixations: Periods where our eyes remain stationary, an example of overt attention.
  • Posner’s Cueing Paradigm: Demonstrated that our attention can be shifted to a location without moving our eyes, highlighting covert attention.
  • Salience: The prominence or distinctiveness of a stimulus that draws attention.
• Spatial-, Object-, Feature- based Attention:
  • Spatial Attention: Focusing on a specific location in space.
  • Object-Based Attention: Focusing on a specific object, regardless of its location.
  • Feature-Based Attention: Focusing on a specific feature, such as color or shape.
  • Egly’s Object-Based Attention Experiment: Demonstrated that attention spreads across an object, even when the target is within a different location.
• Hemispatial Neglect: A condition where a person ignores one side of their visual field.
• Feature-Binding and Feature Integration Theory: We perceive objects by binding together individual features, such as color, shape, and motion.
  • Feature Integration Theory: Proposed that attention is necessary to bind features together in order to perceive an object.

Short-Term and Working Memory

• Modal Model of Memory: Atkinson and Shiffrin's model of memory, proposing three types of memory: Sensory memory, short-term memory (STM), and long-term memory (LTM).
• Sensory Memory: A brief, sensory-based memory system that stores a large amount of unprocessed information for a short time.
  • Iconic Memory: Visual sensory memory.
  • Echoic Memory: Auditory sensory memory.
• Capacity and Duration of Memory:

  Memory Type	Capacity	Duration
  Sensory Memory	Large	Very brief (<1s)
  Short-Term Memory	Limited	Short (15-30s)
  Long-Term Memory	Unlimited	Long (Minutes to years)

• Fragility of Sensory Memory: Information in sensory memory is very fragile and quickly decays.
• Short-Term Memory: A limited-capacity memory system that holds information for a brief period.
  • Short-Term Memory Duration and Decay: Information in STM decays over time, with a duration of about 15-30 seconds.
  • Capacity of Short-Term Memory: Limited to about 7 items or "chunks" of information.
    • Information Limits in Short-Term Memory: The amount of information that can be held in STM is limited by the number of "chunks" of information.
    • Chunking: Combining small units of information into larger, meaningful units to increase memory capacity.
• Baddeley and Hitch Model of Working Memory: A more complex model of short-term memory, proposing three components:
  • Phonological Loop: Responsible for holding and processing auditory information.
  • Visuo-spatial Sketchpad: Responsible for holding and processing visual and spatial information.
  • Central Executive: Responsible for directing attention, coordinating the other components, and planning and decision making.
  • Phonological Similarity Effect: Words similar in sound are harder to recall than words dissimilar in sound.
  • Word Length Effect: Longer words are harder to recall than shorter words.
  • Articulatory Suppression: Repeating a word aloud interferes with the recall of other words, suggesting that the phonological loop is involved in maintaining information.
  • Mental Rotation: The ability to mentally rotate objects, suggesting the involvement of the visuo-spatial sketchpad.
• Role of Central Executive: Controls allocation of attention, and coordination of the other working memory components.
• Vogel’s Distractor Experiment: Demonstrated that individual differences in working memory capacity influence the ability to filter irrelevant information.
• Long-Term Memory: A relatively permanent memory system that holds a vast amount of information.
  • Interactions with Short-Term Memory: STM acts as a gateway to LTM, where information is processed and transferred into LTM for long-term storage.
  • Serial Position Curve: The pattern of recall for items in a list, demonstrating both primacy and recency effects.
    • Primacy Effect: Better recall for items at the beginning of a list, due to more opportunity for rehearsal and transfer into LTM.
    • Recency Effect: Better recall for items at the end of a list, due to their presence in STM.
  • Wicken’s Semantic Interference in WM: Demonstrated that semantically similar words interfere with each other in STM.
  • Recall vs. Recognition: Recognition is easier than recall, as it involves matching a stimulus to a stored memory.
• H.M. A famous case study of a patient with severe anterograde amnesia, demonstrating the role of the hippocampus in the formation of new long-term memories.
• Anterograde Amnesia: The inability to form new long-term memories.
• Double Dissociations in Memory: Cases where two different patients have opposite memory impairments, suggesting different regions of the brain are involved. This provides evidence for distinct memory systems.
  • K.C. and The Italian Woman: Demonstrated a double dissociation between episodic and semantic memory.
  • Short-Term vs. Long-Term Memory: Patients with STM impairments may have intact LTM, while patients with LTM impairments may have intact STM.
• Penfield’s Electrical Stimulation: Demonstrated that electrical stimulation of specific brain areas can evoke memories in some patients, suggesting that memory might be localized in specific brain regions.
• Semanticization of Memory: Memories become gradually more abstract and less specific over time.
  • Remember/Know Experiments: Demonstrated that we often lose our ability to remember specific details of events, but we still know that we experienced them.
• The Goal of LTM: To store and retrieve information for future use to guide our actions and experiences.
• Explicit vs. Implicit Memory: Explicit memory is conscious and deliberate, while implicit memory is unconscious and unintentional.
  • Repetition Priming: A type of implicit memory where prior exposure to a stimulus influences subsequent responses to that stimulus.
  • Procedural Memory: A type of implicit memory that involves knowing how to do something, such as riding a bike.
  • Classical Conditioning: A type of implicit memory that involves learning associations between stimuli.

Double Dissociations:

• Take Home Message of Double Dissociations: The study of double dissociations provides strong evidence for the distinct nature of different cognitive processes (like different types of memory).

Explore the essential concepts of attention in psychology. This quiz covers topics including selective and divided attention, dichotic listening, and filtering processes. Test your understanding of how we focus on relevant information while ignoring the irrelevant.