EXP3604 UF - MODULE 3 Practice Questions and Correct Answers

Attention a concentration of mental activity that allows you to take in a limited portion of the vast stream of information available from both your sensory world and your memory; attentional capacity has limits; uses both top-down and bottom-up processing; attention and visual phenomena (figure-ground relationship; change blindness and in-attentional blindness); important for nearly all cognitive processes we do! Divided-attention task a situation in which people try to pay attention to two or more simultaneous messages, responding appropriately to each message. Both speed and accuracy frequently suffer during this task (simulated-driving studies: hands-free cell phones, traffic, braking, inattentional blindness) Multitask An attempt to accomplish two or more tasks at the same time. However, the research shows that people frequently work more slowly or make more mistakes when they try to multitask. Selective-attention task A situation in which people are instructed to pay attention to certain kinds of information, while IGNORING other ongoing information.(theme 2-processes are efficient and accurate) Dichotic listening a laboratory technique in which ONE message is presented to the LEFT ear and a DIFFERENT message is presented to the RIGHT ear; shadow one of the messages (in order to ensure the participants are doing what the experiment requires); RESULTS: people notice very little about the unattended message in general, we can process only one message at a time, may process unattended message when 1)both messages are presented slowly 2)the task is not challenging 3)the meaning of the unattended message is relevant 4)measured implicitly Shadow in attention research, a task in which participants can hear two messages; however, they are instructed to listen to only one message and then repeat it after the speaker Cocktail party effect the phenomenon of noticing one's own name, when it is mentioned in a nearby conversation, even when paying close attention to another conversation Working memory the brief, immediate memory for the limited amount of material that a person is currently processing. Part of working memory also actively coordinates ongoing mental activities. I.n the current research, the term "working memory" is more popular than a smilier but older term, "short term memory."