Attention, Encoding and Memory
After this lecture you can name and explain
- What attention is
- Most important sources of attention and their consequences
- differnet forms of memory
- Most important models of memory
Socio-Cognitive Process
Stimulus → Information Processing Mental Representations (cognitions) →
Response
Cognitions:
- Attention
- Encoding
- Elaboration
- Storage in memory
- Retrieval from memory
Attention
What is attention
- That what occupies the conscious mind
- Attention has a direction
- Internal stimuli
- External stimuli
- Attention has intensity
- Controlled and uncontrolled attention
Uncontrolled Attention: Cocktail Party Effect
Main focus could be on the conversation you’re having. While that is happening, everything
else is just background noise. When someone drops your name, your controlled attention
goes to the other stimulus.
How do you measure attention?
Dot Probe Task: participants have to say whether the dot appears on the left or the right.
Then the participant is given a threatening stimulus and the dot appears on the opposite
side, respons will be slower, because more attention is paid to the threatening stimulus.
Face in the crowd task: participants are asked to indicate if they see a face different from the
rest. An angry face in a crowd of happy faces draws attention.
Eye tracking. Says something about intensity of the attention (pupil size) and direction of the
attention (where the person is looking).
What attracts attention?
- Self relevant information (e.g. cocktail party effect)
- Threatening information (e.g. dot probe task)
- Negative information (e.g. face in the crowd)
- Extreme stimulu (e.g. fight)
- Schema-inconsistent information (e.g. Conchita Wurst)
, - Faces, very important (External)
- Staring faces in particular
- Direction of stare also directs attention
- Consequences
- Staring faces are considered more attractive
- Faces are rapidly encoded
- Competence
- Reliability
- Candidates for Senate and House of Representatives
- Unknown to participants
- Presented in pairs
- Presented for one second
- Participant determines which one he/she
considers most competent
- In 70% of cases, test subjects chose the winner
(so did we)
- Person A has more adult-like features, so
perceived as more competent.
- Salient stimuli (external)
- Salience is the distinctiveness of a stimulus in respect to its
context, it’s not in the stimulus itself
- Example
- Solo status in group
- Colour/movement
- Unexpected stimuli
- Relevance
- Position in group
- Salient stimuli
- Are ascribed a causal role (the leader)
- Lead to more extreme evaluations
- Organise impressions, but do not necessarily
improve memory
- Vivid stimuli (external)
- Vividness is a feature of the stimulus itself
- Emotionally interesting
- Concrete, appeals to the imagination
- Close in terms of time or space
- It doesn’t necessarily have the effect you think it has.
- Very limited evidence for vividness → influence
- Beautifully formatted and illustrated text does
often not influence any more than ‘dry’ text
- It does attract more attention but
- it already has the attention of people with an
involvement
- It can actually distract people (with little
involvement)
- Accessible constructs (internal)
- MEntal constructs
- Stereotype, personality trait, atitude
- Accesible
- Activated, ready and waiting in the mind to
interpret new information
After this lecture you can name and explain
- What attention is
- Most important sources of attention and their consequences
- differnet forms of memory
- Most important models of memory
Socio-Cognitive Process
Stimulus → Information Processing Mental Representations (cognitions) →
Response
Cognitions:
- Attention
- Encoding
- Elaboration
- Storage in memory
- Retrieval from memory
Attention
What is attention
- That what occupies the conscious mind
- Attention has a direction
- Internal stimuli
- External stimuli
- Attention has intensity
- Controlled and uncontrolled attention
Uncontrolled Attention: Cocktail Party Effect
Main focus could be on the conversation you’re having. While that is happening, everything
else is just background noise. When someone drops your name, your controlled attention
goes to the other stimulus.
How do you measure attention?
Dot Probe Task: participants have to say whether the dot appears on the left or the right.
Then the participant is given a threatening stimulus and the dot appears on the opposite
side, respons will be slower, because more attention is paid to the threatening stimulus.
Face in the crowd task: participants are asked to indicate if they see a face different from the
rest. An angry face in a crowd of happy faces draws attention.
Eye tracking. Says something about intensity of the attention (pupil size) and direction of the
attention (where the person is looking).
What attracts attention?
- Self relevant information (e.g. cocktail party effect)
- Threatening information (e.g. dot probe task)
- Negative information (e.g. face in the crowd)
- Extreme stimulu (e.g. fight)
- Schema-inconsistent information (e.g. Conchita Wurst)
, - Faces, very important (External)
- Staring faces in particular
- Direction of stare also directs attention
- Consequences
- Staring faces are considered more attractive
- Faces are rapidly encoded
- Competence
- Reliability
- Candidates for Senate and House of Representatives
- Unknown to participants
- Presented in pairs
- Presented for one second
- Participant determines which one he/she
considers most competent
- In 70% of cases, test subjects chose the winner
(so did we)
- Person A has more adult-like features, so
perceived as more competent.
- Salient stimuli (external)
- Salience is the distinctiveness of a stimulus in respect to its
context, it’s not in the stimulus itself
- Example
- Solo status in group
- Colour/movement
- Unexpected stimuli
- Relevance
- Position in group
- Salient stimuli
- Are ascribed a causal role (the leader)
- Lead to more extreme evaluations
- Organise impressions, but do not necessarily
improve memory
- Vivid stimuli (external)
- Vividness is a feature of the stimulus itself
- Emotionally interesting
- Concrete, appeals to the imagination
- Close in terms of time or space
- It doesn’t necessarily have the effect you think it has.
- Very limited evidence for vividness → influence
- Beautifully formatted and illustrated text does
often not influence any more than ‘dry’ text
- It does attract more attention but
- it already has the attention of people with an
involvement
- It can actually distract people (with little
involvement)
- Accessible constructs (internal)
- MEntal constructs
- Stereotype, personality trait, atitude
- Accesible
- Activated, ready and waiting in the mind to
interpret new information
