Psychology Chapter on Attention Models

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Questions and Answers

What did McKay (1973) find in his dichotic listening experiment?

Participants were able to remember both the attended and unattended messages equally well

Participants were unable to shadow the attended message if the unattended message was similar in meaning

Participants were more likely to choose the meaning of the attended message that was consistent with the unattended message (correct)

Participants were able to shadow the attended message without being affected by the unattended message

Which of the following is an example of evidence for late selection?

A person is more likely to notice a word that is related to the topic they are thinking about, even if it is presented in the unattended ear (correct)

A person can drive a car and talk on the phone at the same time

A person can focus on a conversation in a noisy room while ignoring other conversations

A person can read a book while ignoring the sound of a television in the background

In the Dear Aunt Jane experiment, how does the participants' shadowing behavior provide evidence for late selection?

Participants sometimes shadowed the message that switched ears, even though they were instructed to focus on only one ear (correct)

Participants were able to remember the entire message that was presented in the attended ear

Participants were able to shadow the message in the attended ear even if it was presented in a different language

Participants were able to shadow the message in the attended ear even when the unattended message was very loud

What is the main difference between early and late selection models of attention?

Early selection models occur before stimuli are processed for meaning, while late selection models occur after stimuli are processed for meaning (B) Signup and view all the answers

What does the author suggest is the current understanding of attentional selection?

Both early and late selection models are possible, depending on the situation (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary reason why we need attention?

To process information efficiently. (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is the 'cocktail party problem' in the context of attention?

The inability to filter out irrelevant sounds in a crowded room. (C) Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following is NOT a major question addressed by dichotic listening tasks?

What is the minimum amount of processing required for a message to be consciously perceived? (C) Signup and view all the answers

According to early dichotic listening experiments, what information could participants typically report about the unattended message?

The basic physical characteristics such as pitch and volume. (D) Signup and view all the answers

What does the finding that participants notice changes in the basic sensory features of the unattended message during dichotic listening tasks suggest?

The unattended message is being processed at some level. (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the main point of contention regarding how attention works?

Whether attention operates early or late in the processing stream. (D) Signup and view all the answers

Which theory of attention proposes an early selection mechanism, filtering out information before it is fully processed?

Broadbent's Filter model (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the main difference between Broadbent's Filter model and Late Selection Theories?

Broadbent's model proposes an early selection mechanism, while Late Selection Theories propose that all information is processed initially. (D) Signup and view all the answers

In the Flanker-Compatibility task, what is the difference between a compatible and an incompatible distractor?

A compatible distractor requires the same response as the target, while an incompatible distractor requires a different response. (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is the main takeaway from the Flanker-Compatibility task when task load is high?

Participants are unable to process the distractors effectively, and there is no significant difference in reaction time between compatible and incompatible distractors. (A) Signup and view all the answers

What does the 'spotlight of attention' refer to?

The area of the visual field that is selected for enhanced processing. (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the difference between overt and covert attention?

Overt attention involves eye movements, while covert attention does not. (A) Signup and view all the answers

Which of these is NOT a bottom-up determinant of eye movements?

Knowledge of an object's typical location. (B) Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following best describes the concept of cognitive resources in the context of cognitive load?

The processing capacity that can be allocated to perform cognitive tasks. (C) Signup and view all the answers

Which of these is NOT an example of overt attention?

Focusing on a specific word in a sentence. (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is the main principle underlying the idea that the locus of selection is dependent on the amount of cognitive resources available?

The human mind has a capacity to process information, but this capacity is limited. (D) Signup and view all the answers

Which of these is an example of a top-down determinant of eye movements?

Looking for a specific person in a crowd. (A) Signup and view all the answers

In the context of cognitive load, what does 'late selection' refer to?

The selection of a target stimulus after all distractors are processed. (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is the effect of a predictive cue on participants' response times?

Participants respond faster to the cued location than to the uncued location. (B) Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following is a demonstrated ability of attention?

It can suppress responses to ignored stimuli. (B) Signup and view all the answers

In Schneider & Shiffrin's (1977) consistent mapping condition, how were targets and distractors classified?

Targets and distractors came from different categories. (C) Signup and view all the answers

What characteristic of the divided attention task can improve performance over time?

Training leading to task automation. (C) Signup and view all the answers

Which statement about divided attention is true?

Divided attention can be effective, but with some limitations. (B) Signup and view all the answers

What effect does practicing a task have on performance according to the Consistent Mapping Condition?

Performance increases with practice (C) Signup and view all the answers

What characterizes the Varied Mapping Condition in Schneider & Shiffrin's study?

Controlled processing is required (C) Signup and view all the answers

Which phenomenon describes the interference caused by automatically reading a word while trying to name its ink color?

Stroop Effect (B) Signup and view all the answers

In an experiment on divided attention, what was a significant finding of Strayer and Johnston's simulated driving task?

Participants missed double the number of red lights when using phones (B) Signup and view all the answers

What does inattentional blindness refer to?

Failing to perceive a stimulus that is directly looked at (B) Signup and view all the answers

According to Feature Integration Theory (FIT), what role does attention play in visual perception?

Attention is necessary for integrating features into coherent objects (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is a primary difference between tasks that can become automatic and those that cannot?

Difficult tasks consume more cognitive resources (A) Signup and view all the answers

What does change blindness describe?

Difficulty noticing differences between two images (B) Signup and view all the answers

What occurs during the preattentive stage of visual perception?

Features are analyzed automatically and without effort. (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is indicated by the phenomenon of illusionary conjunctions?

Features can exist independently if they are not attended. (A) Signup and view all the answers

What primary task was used in Treisman and Schmidt's (1982) experiment?

Report a pair of numbers. (A) Signup and view all the answers

Which type of attention does the Ventral Attention Network primarily control?

Attention based on bottom-up salience. (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is a defining characteristic of Balint’s syndrome as it relates to attention?

Difficulty in focusing attention on individual objects. (D) Signup and view all the answers

What is the role of the Executive Attention Network?

To coordinate other attention networks and manage conflicts. (B) Signup and view all the answers

Why do we not frequently notice illusionary conjunctions in daily life?

Unattended objects typically go unnoticed. (B) Signup and view all the answers

How does focused attention differ from the preattentive stage?

Requires conscious awareness to process features. (A) Signup and view all the answers

Study Notes

Attention

Attention: The focusing of mental effort on selected aspects of the environment or mental activities and the blocking out of others.
Selective: Some things are selected, others excluded.
Limited in capacity.
Directed attention:
- Goal-driven mechanism: attend to what you choose to.
- Stimulus-driven mechanism: attention is captured by salient events (e.g., loud sounds).

Why do we need attention?

Our senses provide more information than our brains are able to process.
Our working memory can only hold and process a limited amount of information at once.

Selective Attention

Early attention research and theory focused on auditory attention.
Specifically the "cocktail party problem".
People's ability to listen to one message while ignoring other messages.
Dichotic Listening Task:
- One message is presented to the left ear and another to the right ear.
- The participant "shadows" one message to ensure they are attending to that message.
- In the shadowing procedure, a person repeats out loud words as they are presented.
Dichotic Listening (Cherry, 1953):
- How effectively can we select a message?
- Does the unattended message interfere?
- How much processing does the unattended message receive?
- What can we use or remember from the unattended message?

Early Dichotic Listening Experiments

Participants were able to accurately shadow the message.
The attention system could filter out the other message.
After completing the task, participants could not report the contents of the unattended message.
Knew there was a message.
Noticed basic physical characteristics of the message (volume, pitch).
Knew the gender of the speaker (related to pitch).
Unaware of even frequently repeated information.

Results of Early Dichotic Listening Experiments

However, the unattended ear is being processed at some level.
Changes in basic sensory features in the unattended ear are noticed:
- Change in gender midway through task is noticed.
- Change from a voice to a tone is noticed.

Explaining Dichotic Listening

Clearly, people can effectively select one message and reject another.
But, at what point in processing does selection occur?
- Early in processing? (e.g., listen to the left ear not the right, Broadbent's early selection Filter model)
- Late in processing? (e.g., after the meaning of the messages have been processed, McKay (1973) late selection model)
- In between? (e.g., Treisman's intermediate selection Attenuation model)

Broadbent's Filter Model

Select information based on physical characteristics (e.g., ear, pitch, spatial location).
Unattended information is filtered out before it can be sent to brain areas responsible for analyzing the meaning of the message.
Filter: identifies messages based on physical characteristics and limits information transfer. Only the attended message is passed on
Detector: Processes information. Information is sent to memory and consciousness.

Broadbent's Model Could Not Explain

Participants can sometimes detect highly salient information in the unattended message (e.g., their own name).

Treisman's Attenuation Theory

Replaces filter with an attenuator.
Analyzes incoming message.
Analysis proceeds only far enough to separate messages.
Attended message is passed on at full strength.
Unattended message is passed on at a reduced strength.

Example thresholds for Treisman's model

A person's name has a low threshold, so can be easily detected.
The thresholds for the words rutabaga and boat are higher, because they are used less or are less important.
Unattended messages that have been attenuated can still be detected if the detection threshold is low.

Evidence for Late Selection

Participants will sometimes shadow meaningful messages that switch from one ear to another rather than following directions to shadow one ear.
Must have some awareness of the meaning of the unattended message.

Late Selection Models

Selection of stimuli for final processing does not occur until after information has been fully analyzed for meaning.

McKay (1973)

Dichotic listening experiment.
In attending ear, participants heard ambiguous sentences (e.g., "They were throwing stones at the bank.").
In unattended ear, participants heard words related to different meanings of the ambiguous words (e.g., "river" or "money").
After shadowing the participants were given a memory test
Participants had to choose which option was closest to the meaning of attended to message.
The meaning of the biasing word affected participants' choice. (e.g., if unattended word was 'money'; selected: "They threw stones at the savings and loan yesterday").
Participants were unaware of the presentation of the biasing words.
Attention only suppresses the unattended message after the meaning of both message have been fully analyzed (late selection).

Early vs. Late

There has been a great deal of debate regarding the level of processing at which selection occurs (early vs. late).
Current thinking is that both early and late selection are possible.
Different types of attentional filters are used in different circumstances, explaining why some evidence indicates early selection.

Cognitive Resources & Task Load

Cognitive Resources: processing capacity.
Task Load (Cognitive Load): Amount of cognitive resources.
High-load tasks: uses almost all cognitive resources, no resources for other tasks.
Low-load tasks: uses few cognitive resources, resources available for other tasks.

Flanker-Compatibility (Eriksen's Flanker) Task

Participants must identify a target item by pressing a button.
The target is flanked by 'distractors'.
The distractor may be associated with:
- The same response button as the target (compatible).
- A different response button (incompatible).

Task Load and Compatibility Effects

When task load is low:
- Reaction time is longer for incompatible distractors.
- Indicates late selection.
- Participant still had resources available to process the unimportant distractors.
- If task load is increased will there still be a distractor effect?

Over and Covert Attention

Many mechanisms aid in focusing attention on a stimulus.
Some mechanisms are overt (e.g., body movements to align our sense organs).
Other mechanisms are covert (e.g., internal processes, changes in neural response).

Visual Overt Orienting

Body, head & eye movements that position the image of the attended stimulus on the appropriate region of the retina
Usually the fovea because it has the highest acuity.
We foveate stimuli by making rapid eye movements called saccades.
The pauses between eye movements are called fixations.

Bottom-up Determinants of Eye Movement

Some stimuli capture attention (exogenous attention).
Stimuli that are easily noticed are said to be salient.
Bottom-up process that depends on characteristics of the stimulus (e.g., colour, luminance, & motion).

Top-Down Determinants of Eye Movements

Our goals and knowledge are used to direct attention (endogenous attention).
Top-down process where our knowledge from past experiences affects how we direct our attention
Object salience can be affected by current goals.

Visual Covert Orienting

Shifting attention to regions of the visual field without overt movements of the body or eyes.
Covert attention can both enhance the processing of attended stimuli and inhibit the processing of unattended stimuli.
The "spotlight of attention" refers to a region of the visual field that is selected for enhanced processing.
The locus of covert attention must be inferred from measures of stimulus processing (e.g., reaction time, accuracy, measures of brain activity

Cue-Target (Precueing) Paradigm

Precueing: Information (a cue) that directs attention to a spatial location before the target is presented.
If a cue predicts the target location most of the time, it is called a predictive cue
When the cue is predictive, participants respond faster to a target at the cued location (valid trial) than at an uncued location (invalid trial)
Even when eye movements are not permitted.

Physiology of Attention

Converging evidence from many techniques (single cell recording, EEG, neuroimaging, neuropsychology) has shown that attention:
- Involves processing that is distributed across a large number of areas in the brain.
- Enhances neural responding to attended stimuli.
- Can suppress responses to unattended stimuli.

Divided Attention

Frequently, there are multiple important sources of information that we want to attend to.
We can effectively divide our attention under some circumstances but there are limitations.
Divided Attention: Schneider & Shiffrin (1977): Divide attention between remembering target and monitoring rapidly presented stimuli, Memory set: 1-4 target characters, Test frames: 20 images presented in rapid succession
- Consistent mapping condition: When targets and distractors are from different categories.
- Varied mapping condition: When targets and distractors are from the same category, consuming a lot of cognitive resources.
Divided attention is possible, can become automatic (e.g., tasks not interfering with others, easy tasks) but is difficult or impossible when tasks are hard; it can consume up to a great deal of cognitive resources

Strayer and Johnston (2001)

Simulated driving task.
Participants on cell phone missed twice as many red lights and took longer to apply the brakes.
Same result using "hands-free" cell phone

Attention and Visual Perception

Much of modern attention research focuses on how attention affects visual perception.
Attention can improve the quality of perception (e.g., better able to make fine discriminations).
Attention speeds visual processing, enabling reaction to changes faster.
Attention affects if we notice something at all. (Inattentional blindness). Change blindness

Inattentional blindness

A stimulus not attended to is not perceived, even if a person is looking directly at it.
Video: Gorilla on the Court (3:10)
Change blindness: If shown two versions of a picture, differences are not immediately apparent. (Video: Piecing things Together (4:00)).

Feature Integration Theory (FIT)

Attention is needed to integrate separately analyzed features into coherent objects.
Pre-attentive stage: features are automatically analyzed.
Focused attention stage: attention directs combination of features.

Treisman and Schmidt (1982)

Examined visual perception of unattended objects using a dual-task (numbers and shapes).
Participants reported illusionary conjunctions (e.g., red triangle as yellow triangle, red circle).
Illusionary conjunctions occur because features are “free-floating.”

FIT: Neurological Evidence

Patient with Balint's syndrome: High number of illusory conjunctions, inability to focus attention on individual objects, and inability to perform conjunction searches (searches for targets defined by combinations of features).

Attentional Networks

Ventral Attention Network: Bottom-up salience (exogenous).
Dorsal Attention Network: Top-down information (endogenous).
Executive Attention Network: Controls other attention networks; deals with conflicts between systems.

Automaticity

Many tasks become automatic with practice, like reading; this gives rise to the Stroop Effect (when naming the color of ink is slowed, if ink is used to write the name of another color).

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Explore key concepts in attention through this quiz on dichotic listening experiments and theories of attentional selection. Test your understanding of early versus late selection models, the cocktail party problem, and current insights in psychological research. Ideal for students studying psychology and cognitive processes.