Cognitive psychology: thinking and remembering
Information processing model
● Human as active information processor
● PC as metaphor: input, processing, storage
Probleem 1: Where’s your head at?
- probleem 1a
Dichotic listening: A task in which different audio streams are presented to each ear.
Typically, people are asked to monitor one stream while ignoring the other.
- tend to miss any changes in language/comprehensibility of the speech
- may only notice big physical changes (like the speaker going from male to female)
Selective listening: A method for studying selective attention in which people focus
attention on one auditory stream of information while deliberately ignoring other auditory
information.
Inattentional blindness: The failure to notice unexpected objects or events when attention
is focused elsewhere
- more likely to notice unexpected objects that share features with the items in
a display (e.g., if the gorilla was white)
- another factor that influences noticing objects is the effort you put into the
attention demanding task → limit of attention
Inattentional deafness: same concept as inattentional blindness. When they are listening to
two different audios and they are asked to pay attention to something else they can miss
important/unusual things happening in the audio
- auditory distraction can induce real-world failure to see
Is everyone susceptible to this inattentional blindness/deafness?
→ Answer still controversial
1. Studies suggest that those who have a greater working memory capacity are
more likely to notice the unexpected event.
- Theoretical explanation → This is because they have more resource
available to use
2. Other studies don’t suggest that and don’t find such a relationship.
- Theoretical explanation → people with greater working memory capacity
are able to focus better on the task which is why they should actually be less
likely to notice
, - probleem 1b
Selective attention: the process that allows an individual to select an focus on a particular
input for further processing
Cocktail party problem: is when you are trying to keep up with two different conversations.
● Cherry: shadowing task
○ Two different messages are presented (dichotic presentation),you
are supposed to repeat the message of one ear, the shadowed ear
○ Cherry’s participants could notice physical, sensory changes in the
unattended message but no semantic changes. Some heard their name
→ researchers suggest to limited working memory capacity
Three factors help you selectively pay attention to something:
1. Distinctive sensory characteristics of the target’s speech. (e.g., high/low
pitched, pace, rhythm)
2. Sound intensity
3. Location of the sound source
- Recent psychophysical studies have found, however, that spatial cues (like
how far the noise is) are less important than factors like how harmonious
and rhythmic the target sounds
Theorieën van selectieve aandacht
● belong to the group of filter and bottleneck theorie
○ a filter blocks some of the information going through and thereby selects
only a part of the total of information to pass through to the next stage.
○ a bottleneck slows down information passing through.
Broadbent’s model: we filter information right after we notice it at the sensory level
● Multiple channels (like loudness, pitch, or accent) of sensory input reach
an attentional filter
● The filter permits only one channel of sensory information to proceed and reach
the processes of perception
○ Supported by Chery’s findings. You will notice physical changes but
not changes that require higher perceptual processes
● Example:
Selective filter model (Moray): the selective filter blocks out most information at the
sensory level. But some personally important messages are so powerful that they burst
,through the filtering mechanism
● Example:
Attenuation model (Anne Treisman): at least some information about unattended signals is
being analyzed
● Treisman proposed a theory of selective attention that involves a later
filtering mechanism
● Instead of blocking stimuli out, the filter merely weakens (attenuates) the strength
of stimuli other than the target stimulus
1. When the stimuli reach us, we analyze them at a low level for
target properties like loudness and pitch
2. If the stimuli possesses these target properties then we pass it on to the
next stage, if it doesn’t then we attenuate it
3. We perceptually analyze the meaning of a stimuli and the relevance to us
so that even a message that is irrelevant can come into consciousness and
influence our subsequent actions
● Example:
Late-filter model (Deutsch & Deutsch): the location of the filter is even later
● Stimuli are filtered out only after they have been analyzed for both their
physical properties and their meaning
● Both late and early filter theories suggest that there is a “bottleneck”
○ Maar tutor zegt: enige echte bottleneck is = die van Treisman
● Example:
A synthesis of early and late filter models (Neisser): there are two processes
governing attention:
● Preattentive processes: These automatic processes are rapid and occur in
parallel. They can be used to notice only physical sensory characteristics of the
unattended message. But they do not discern meaning or relationships.
● Attentive, controlled processes: These processes occur later. They are executed
serially and consume time and attentional resources, such as working memory.
They also can be used to observe relationships among features. They serve to
synthesize fragments into a mental representation of an object.
- probleem 1C
What was the study about? (Abstract)
● the limited ability of the human cognitive system to utilize attention over time which
, is shown in the attentional blink: the impaired ability to identify the second of two
visual targets presented in close succession
● The attentional blink gets better when the person is engaged in a distracting
activity (e.g., listening to music)
● This suggests that the temporal dynamics of attention are determined by
task circumstances that induce either a more or a less distributed state of
mind
Method:
4 groups
The participant’s task was to identify both T1 and T2
● Standard control group
○ concentrate and report as many targets as possible
● Free association group
○ while performing the tasks participants were asked to think of their
most recent holiday or shopping requirements
● Listen to music group
○ perform task while listening to a tune and in a second block while
detecting an occasional yell
● Reward group
○ would receive rewards based on performance
Information processing model
● Human as active information processor
● PC as metaphor: input, processing, storage
Probleem 1: Where’s your head at?
- probleem 1a
Dichotic listening: A task in which different audio streams are presented to each ear.
Typically, people are asked to monitor one stream while ignoring the other.
- tend to miss any changes in language/comprehensibility of the speech
- may only notice big physical changes (like the speaker going from male to female)
Selective listening: A method for studying selective attention in which people focus
attention on one auditory stream of information while deliberately ignoring other auditory
information.
Inattentional blindness: The failure to notice unexpected objects or events when attention
is focused elsewhere
- more likely to notice unexpected objects that share features with the items in
a display (e.g., if the gorilla was white)
- another factor that influences noticing objects is the effort you put into the
attention demanding task → limit of attention
Inattentional deafness: same concept as inattentional blindness. When they are listening to
two different audios and they are asked to pay attention to something else they can miss
important/unusual things happening in the audio
- auditory distraction can induce real-world failure to see
Is everyone susceptible to this inattentional blindness/deafness?
→ Answer still controversial
1. Studies suggest that those who have a greater working memory capacity are
more likely to notice the unexpected event.
- Theoretical explanation → This is because they have more resource
available to use
2. Other studies don’t suggest that and don’t find such a relationship.
- Theoretical explanation → people with greater working memory capacity
are able to focus better on the task which is why they should actually be less
likely to notice
, - probleem 1b
Selective attention: the process that allows an individual to select an focus on a particular
input for further processing
Cocktail party problem: is when you are trying to keep up with two different conversations.
● Cherry: shadowing task
○ Two different messages are presented (dichotic presentation),you
are supposed to repeat the message of one ear, the shadowed ear
○ Cherry’s participants could notice physical, sensory changes in the
unattended message but no semantic changes. Some heard their name
→ researchers suggest to limited working memory capacity
Three factors help you selectively pay attention to something:
1. Distinctive sensory characteristics of the target’s speech. (e.g., high/low
pitched, pace, rhythm)
2. Sound intensity
3. Location of the sound source
- Recent psychophysical studies have found, however, that spatial cues (like
how far the noise is) are less important than factors like how harmonious
and rhythmic the target sounds
Theorieën van selectieve aandacht
● belong to the group of filter and bottleneck theorie
○ a filter blocks some of the information going through and thereby selects
only a part of the total of information to pass through to the next stage.
○ a bottleneck slows down information passing through.
Broadbent’s model: we filter information right after we notice it at the sensory level
● Multiple channels (like loudness, pitch, or accent) of sensory input reach
an attentional filter
● The filter permits only one channel of sensory information to proceed and reach
the processes of perception
○ Supported by Chery’s findings. You will notice physical changes but
not changes that require higher perceptual processes
● Example:
Selective filter model (Moray): the selective filter blocks out most information at the
sensory level. But some personally important messages are so powerful that they burst
,through the filtering mechanism
● Example:
Attenuation model (Anne Treisman): at least some information about unattended signals is
being analyzed
● Treisman proposed a theory of selective attention that involves a later
filtering mechanism
● Instead of blocking stimuli out, the filter merely weakens (attenuates) the strength
of stimuli other than the target stimulus
1. When the stimuli reach us, we analyze them at a low level for
target properties like loudness and pitch
2. If the stimuli possesses these target properties then we pass it on to the
next stage, if it doesn’t then we attenuate it
3. We perceptually analyze the meaning of a stimuli and the relevance to us
so that even a message that is irrelevant can come into consciousness and
influence our subsequent actions
● Example:
Late-filter model (Deutsch & Deutsch): the location of the filter is even later
● Stimuli are filtered out only after they have been analyzed for both their
physical properties and their meaning
● Both late and early filter theories suggest that there is a “bottleneck”
○ Maar tutor zegt: enige echte bottleneck is = die van Treisman
● Example:
A synthesis of early and late filter models (Neisser): there are two processes
governing attention:
● Preattentive processes: These automatic processes are rapid and occur in
parallel. They can be used to notice only physical sensory characteristics of the
unattended message. But they do not discern meaning or relationships.
● Attentive, controlled processes: These processes occur later. They are executed
serially and consume time and attentional resources, such as working memory.
They also can be used to observe relationships among features. They serve to
synthesize fragments into a mental representation of an object.
- probleem 1C
What was the study about? (Abstract)
● the limited ability of the human cognitive system to utilize attention over time which
, is shown in the attentional blink: the impaired ability to identify the second of two
visual targets presented in close succession
● The attentional blink gets better when the person is engaged in a distracting
activity (e.g., listening to music)
● This suggests that the temporal dynamics of attention are determined by
task circumstances that induce either a more or a less distributed state of
mind
Method:
4 groups
The participant’s task was to identify both T1 and T2
● Standard control group
○ concentrate and report as many targets as possible
● Free association group
○ while performing the tasks participants were asked to think of their
most recent holiday or shopping requirements
● Listen to music group
○ perform task while listening to a tune and in a second block while
detecting an occasional yell
● Reward group
○ would receive rewards based on performance
