PSYCH 147 REVIEWER
CHAPTER 4: ATTENTION
attention—the ability to focus on specific stimuli or locations
selective attention—the focusing of attention on one specific
location, object, or message
overt attention- process of shifting attention from one place to
another by moving the eyes because the movements of the attenuator- analyzes the incoming message in terms of (1) its
eyes provide observable signals of how attention is changing physical characteristics—whether it is high- pitched or low-
over time pitched, fast or slow; (2) its language—how the message
covert attention- occurs when attention is shifted without groups into syllables or words; and (3) its meaning—how
moving the eyes, commonly referred to as seeing something sequences of words create meaningful phrases.
“out of the corner of the eye” -Treisman’s attenuation theory of attention, language and
divided attention- attending to two or more things at once meaning can also be used to separate the messages.
SELECTIVE ATTENTION -Because at least some of the unattended message gets
-According to this idea, selective attention not only highlights through the attenuator, Treisman’s model has been called a
whatever is being attended, but also keeps us from perceiving “leaky filter” model.
whatever isn’t being attended. -The final output of the system is determined in the second
Selective Attention as Filtering stage, when the message is analyzed by the dictionary unit.
dichotic listening experiment- different messages are The dictionary unit contains stored words, each of which has a
presented to the two ears. threshold for being activated
Shadowing- procedure of repeating a message out loud -According to Treisman, words that are common or especially
early selection model- Donald Broadbent, explains how important, such as the listener’s name, have low thresholds, so
selective attention works which introduced the ow diagram to even a weak signal in the unattended channel can activate that
cognitive psychology proposed that information passes through word, and we hear our name from across the room.
the following stages -Theories like Broadbent’s and Treisman’s are sometimes called
1. Sensory memory holds all of the incoming information for a early selection theories of selective attention because they
fraction of a second and then transfers all of it to the next propose a filter that operates at an early stage in the ow of
stage. information, in many cases eliminating information based only
2. The filter identifies the attended message based on its on physical characteristics of the stimulus.
physical characteristics— things like the speaker’s tone of -participants in an experiment by Donald MacKay (1973)
voice, pitch, speed of talking, and accent—and lets only listened to ambiguous sentences, such as “They were throwing
this message pass through to the detector in the next stones at the bank,” that could be taken more than one way. (In
stage. All other messages are filtered out. this example, “bank” can refer to a river- bank or to a financial
3. The detector processes information to determine higher- institution.) These ambiguous sentences were presented to the
level characteristics of the message, such as its meaning. attended ear, while biasing words were presented to the other,
Because only the important, attended information has been unattended ear
let through the filter, the detector processes all of the -MacKay found that the meaning of the biasing word affected
information that enters it. the participants’ choice. For example, if the biasing word was
4. Short-term memory receives the output of the detector. “money,” participants were more likely to pick the second
Short-term memory holds information for 10–15 seconds sentence.
and also transfers information into long-term memory, late selection models of attention- which proposed that most
which can hold information indefinitely. We will describe of the incoming information is processed to the level of
short- and long-term meaning before the message to be processed is selected
bottleneck model- because the filter restricts information ow, Cognitive Resources, Cognitive Load, and Task-Irrelevant
much as the neck of a bottle restricts the flow of liquid Stimuli
-filter lets information through based on specific physical Cognitive resources- refers to the idea that a person has a
characteristics of the information, such as the rate of speaking certain cognitive capacity, which can be used for carrying out
or the pitch of the speaker’s voice. various tasks.
-according to Broadbent’s model, information in the unattended Cognitive load- is the amount of a person’s cognitive
message should not be accessible to consciousness. However, resources needed to carry out a particular cognitive task.
Neville Moray (1959) did an experiment in which his participants -Some tasks, especially easy, well-practiced ones, have low
shadowed the message presented to one ear and ignored the cognitive loads; these low-load tasks use up only a small
message presented to the other ear. But when Moray presented amount of the person’s cognitive resources.
the listener’s name to the other, unattended ear, about a third of -Other tasks, those that are difficult and perhaps not as well
the participants detected it practiced, are high-load tasks and use more of a person’s
cocktail party effect- a person is selectively listening to one cognitive resources.
message among many yet hears his or her name or some other Nilli Lavie (1995, 2005)- has proposed that the amount of
cognitive resources that remain as a person is carrying out a
CHAPTER 4: ATTENTION
attention—the ability to focus on specific stimuli or locations
selective attention—the focusing of attention on one specific
location, object, or message
overt attention- process of shifting attention from one place to
another by moving the eyes because the movements of the attenuator- analyzes the incoming message in terms of (1) its
eyes provide observable signals of how attention is changing physical characteristics—whether it is high- pitched or low-
over time pitched, fast or slow; (2) its language—how the message
covert attention- occurs when attention is shifted without groups into syllables or words; and (3) its meaning—how
moving the eyes, commonly referred to as seeing something sequences of words create meaningful phrases.
“out of the corner of the eye” -Treisman’s attenuation theory of attention, language and
divided attention- attending to two or more things at once meaning can also be used to separate the messages.
SELECTIVE ATTENTION -Because at least some of the unattended message gets
-According to this idea, selective attention not only highlights through the attenuator, Treisman’s model has been called a
whatever is being attended, but also keeps us from perceiving “leaky filter” model.
whatever isn’t being attended. -The final output of the system is determined in the second
Selective Attention as Filtering stage, when the message is analyzed by the dictionary unit.
dichotic listening experiment- different messages are The dictionary unit contains stored words, each of which has a
presented to the two ears. threshold for being activated
Shadowing- procedure of repeating a message out loud -According to Treisman, words that are common or especially
early selection model- Donald Broadbent, explains how important, such as the listener’s name, have low thresholds, so
selective attention works which introduced the ow diagram to even a weak signal in the unattended channel can activate that
cognitive psychology proposed that information passes through word, and we hear our name from across the room.
the following stages -Theories like Broadbent’s and Treisman’s are sometimes called
1. Sensory memory holds all of the incoming information for a early selection theories of selective attention because they
fraction of a second and then transfers all of it to the next propose a filter that operates at an early stage in the ow of
stage. information, in many cases eliminating information based only
2. The filter identifies the attended message based on its on physical characteristics of the stimulus.
physical characteristics— things like the speaker’s tone of -participants in an experiment by Donald MacKay (1973)
voice, pitch, speed of talking, and accent—and lets only listened to ambiguous sentences, such as “They were throwing
this message pass through to the detector in the next stones at the bank,” that could be taken more than one way. (In
stage. All other messages are filtered out. this example, “bank” can refer to a river- bank or to a financial
3. The detector processes information to determine higher- institution.) These ambiguous sentences were presented to the
level characteristics of the message, such as its meaning. attended ear, while biasing words were presented to the other,
Because only the important, attended information has been unattended ear
let through the filter, the detector processes all of the -MacKay found that the meaning of the biasing word affected
information that enters it. the participants’ choice. For example, if the biasing word was
4. Short-term memory receives the output of the detector. “money,” participants were more likely to pick the second
Short-term memory holds information for 10–15 seconds sentence.
and also transfers information into long-term memory, late selection models of attention- which proposed that most
which can hold information indefinitely. We will describe of the incoming information is processed to the level of
short- and long-term meaning before the message to be processed is selected
bottleneck model- because the filter restricts information ow, Cognitive Resources, Cognitive Load, and Task-Irrelevant
much as the neck of a bottle restricts the flow of liquid Stimuli
-filter lets information through based on specific physical Cognitive resources- refers to the idea that a person has a
characteristics of the information, such as the rate of speaking certain cognitive capacity, which can be used for carrying out
or the pitch of the speaker’s voice. various tasks.
-according to Broadbent’s model, information in the unattended Cognitive load- is the amount of a person’s cognitive
message should not be accessible to consciousness. However, resources needed to carry out a particular cognitive task.
Neville Moray (1959) did an experiment in which his participants -Some tasks, especially easy, well-practiced ones, have low
shadowed the message presented to one ear and ignored the cognitive loads; these low-load tasks use up only a small
message presented to the other ear. But when Moray presented amount of the person’s cognitive resources.
the listener’s name to the other, unattended ear, about a third of -Other tasks, those that are difficult and perhaps not as well
the participants detected it practiced, are high-load tasks and use more of a person’s
cocktail party effect- a person is selectively listening to one cognitive resources.
message among many yet hears his or her name or some other Nilli Lavie (1995, 2005)- has proposed that the amount of
cognitive resources that remain as a person is carrying out a
