Cours 3 - Attention

Types of Attention

• Selective Attention: The ability to focus mental resources on one message while filtering out irrelevant ones. Difficult when distractions are present.
• Divided Attention: The ability to split mental resources between multiple messages simultaneously. It's impossible to fully concentrate on two conversations at once.
• Vigilance: A high level of sustained attention to detect infrequent, unpredictable signals. Difficult to maintain.

Explanatory Hypotheses of Attention Functioning

• Single-Channel Hypothesis: Processing multiple messages simultaneously is impossible due to structural limitations. This is shown by psychological refractory periods. Information is filtered: sensory input, perceptual analysis, and then semantic analysis. The hypothesis proposes a selection filter within the system, directing attention to one message, with little to no remaining awareness of ignored messages. This filter is involuntary and unconscious.
• Limited Capacity Hypothesis: It's possible to perform two tasks simultaneously. The focus shifts from a simple filter to the conditions influencing performance in dual-task scenarios. Experience with a task makes it easier to do other things while working. This involves automatic (fast and effortless) and controlled (effortful and slower) processes; the demands increase with task complexity.
• Multiple Resource Hypothesis: Individuals have different attentional resources. Two tasks can run concurrently if they use distinct resource pools and there is no interaction. One task can slow down if a competing task becomes more complex.

Vigilance

• Description: Preparation to detect specific changes in the environment; changes occur at irregular intervals, resulting in a decline in vigilance performance when monitoring.
• Data Points: Vigilance levels drop over time: Initial (100%), 30 minutes (83%), 60 minutes (73%), 90 minutes(73%), 120 minutes (72%).
• Vigilance and Personality: Individual differences in reactions. Introverts are generally more sensitive and risk-averse than extroverts in signal detection situations, leading to fewer false alarms during vigilance tasks.