PSYCH 240 1ST Edition Lecture 6Outline of Last Lecture: Top-Down ProcessingI. Top-Down ProcessingII. Top-Down Bias EffectsIII. Top-Down and Word Superiority Effects in the Real WorldIV. Interactive Activation in the BrainOutline of Current Lecture I. Types of Attentiona. Focused Attentionb. Selective Attentionc. Divided Attentiond. Auditory Attentione. Attenuation Theoryf. Visual Attentiong. Feature Integration Theoryh. Visual Searchi. Visuo-Spatial Neglectj. Contralateral Brian ControlCurrent LectureLecture 6: AttentionI. Types of Attentiona. Focused Attentioni. Present two or more inputs and see how well people can concentrate on one another and ignore the otherb. Selective Attention: pay attention to the color of the word without reading what the word says i. Word says red but is actually bluec. Divided Attentioni. Multiple channels of information coming in, try to divide your attention between thetwo channels so you can concentrate on both1. A function of difficulty of each task that is being processedThese notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.2. Can automate processing of two or more channels of info by training consistentlyii. NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center’s F/A-18 chase and support aircraf1. Need to pay attention to many different variables all at once so they came up with a heads up display. a. A transparent display that shows your instrument readings – makes dividing attention slightly easier2. Studies of divided attention ofen used in designing aircraf – how well can people use information from several dials and indicators at onceiii. Talking on your phone while driving1. Studies have demonstrated that the problem goes beyond the motor control, there is also a cognitive problema. If you are paying attention to the phone call, your ability to drive is impairedi. Miss the exit or drive to work even though it’s sundayiv. A professor here at U of M Dan Weintraub did research for the auto manufactures, like GM, on head-up displays1. GM was considering a new designing for the displays on their cars. Instead of having a look down at an angle to see the speedometer and other controls, the car would project an image of the displays onto the windshield of the car2. It proved too difficult for the drivers to switch their attention from the read and displays back to the road3. Also, the eyes had to accommodate to the different depths – the road far away and the display up closed. Auditory Attentioni. Example: Attention used at a cocktail partyii. Dichotic Listening and Shadowing1. Colin Cherry (1953) examined this in an experimental task. Much follow-up work has since been done2. The Taska. Subject wears headphones and has to listen to 2 messages, one in each ear (dichotic listening) and repeat one of the messages (shadowing)i. Each ear thought of as a channelb. People are quite good at shadowing but there are a few factors that help us focus on one to the exclusion of the other 3. Auditory Basis for Selection a. Locationi. Easier to focus on something when you can identify it by locationb. Physical characteristicsi. Easier when one voice is female and the other is male. ii. Intensity, pitch, and other characteristic make it easier to attend to one messagec. CANNOT selectively attend for meaning4. Unattended Message: the message in the ear that they weren’t paying attention toa. Little memory for messagei. Even when same word presented over and over (Moray, 1959). One experiment the subject heard the same word 35 times in the unattended channel yet didn’t remember itb. Not noticed if it’s in another languagei. Seldom notice when message in foreign language or reversed speech (Cherry, 1953). ii. You won’t notice when the other message is in some language other than English, or when the message starts in one language and switches to anotheriii. Early Filtering Model (Broadbent)1. Two stages of processinga. Detecting b. Recognizing2. Unattended Messagea. Some unconscious processingi. You get shocked every time the word “carpenter” is said in the unattended message.1. Subjects don’t notice any pattern w/in the shocksii. Galvanic Skin Response (used in lie detectors) to conditioned words1. Even though unaware of hearing the word carpenter, their body remembers it and their fingersget sweatyb. Do not notice your own name if there is an early filter BUT people will orient to their name if it occurs in an unattended channelc. Bilinguals notice when the unattended message in a different language means the same thing as the attended message3. There is a filter between detection and recognition that blocks out one of the channels and lets the other go through.4. According to the model, only attended information reaches the recognition stage where meaning is assignede. Attenuation Theory (Treisman)i. A model of focused attention (Treisman, 1964)1. Have 2 channels of information coming in2. Processing of unattended message attenuated at earlier stage than processing of attended messagea. We turn down the volume on the unattended message3. There is an attenuator that dampens down information from unattended channel between detection and recognition, so that some gets through, but it is degraded4. When something important or highly relevant occurs (like your name) there is enough information that has gotten through so you can orient itii. Late Filtering Theory1. We recognize all the words being said but we filter it before it reaches consciousness (late)2. Issue of when information is filtered out is still debateda. Many people think that you can flexible change where the filter is depending on the task and stimulus parametersf. Visual Attentioni. Visual modality highly parallel in analysis because there is much spatially simultaneous informationii. Overt Shifs of Attention: shif of attention that you CAN see from the outside (eye movements)1. You can’t process all messages completely, so select one channel, usually by eye movements2. This is the typical way attention is moved around:a. You move your eyes and head to focus on the relevant information…ignored information is outside of vision or in peripheral visioniii. Covert Shifs of Attention: Shif of attention that you can’t see from the outsidea. Can also focus attention w/o shifing gazeb. Covert Shif of Attention: Look straight ahead, can first focus on information to the right of you,