- monitoring process

- limited capacity (can't get better)

- Flexibility to shift attention

- voluntary control =strategic; actively manipulated

happens once attention is focused

- effort (counting)

- Reaction time (RT) longer

goal-driven

top-down processing

person directs attention

Stimmulus-driven

Bottom-up processing

stimulus directs attention

  Attentional capture

Treisman, Sykes, & Gelade, 1977

- Stages presented as distinct and noninteractive

- Disagreement with this perspective

- low target prevalence

- Study: airbaggage screening

- independent variable: target prevalence

- High prevalence trials: 200 trials (present 50%; 10% of trials)

- low prealene trials: 2000 trials (20%)

- low-prevelance responders probably get used to target not being there, respond faster, and think less

Retested by Fleck & Mitroff (2007)

- respondent able to change response if identified target after hitting key

- error rates became low

(displays an important factor)

Menneer, Cave, Donnelly (2009)

Target Search

- Baggage screening

- More items to search for > poorer performance

(suggested that have multiple screeners with specializations)

- Period of time after the detection of a visual stimulus during which another stimulus can't be seen

- RSVP: rapid serial visual presentation

1. Series of visual stimuli presented rapidly

2. Shorter time period-blink

3. Longer time periods-ability to attend

3. Less likely to notice gorilla in difficult condition

Eastern (Japan; China):de-emphasize central objects in a scene; focus on background

Western (U.S.; Europe): focus on central object in scene; de-emphasize background

  Stimuli that grab your attention

  Invitation to focus on activity

a nearly constant need to monitor the events occurring in our internal (i.e. thoughts and feelings) and external enviornments

The examination, consideration, manipulation, and appropriate responding to these events

- attention is one component of working memory

1 Choice in Voluntary Control of attention

Engage in this type of attention means monitoring and responding to one event at the exclusion of others

1 choice of Voluntary Control of Attention

Engaging in this type of attention means monitoring and responding to multiple events

repeat one of the messages word for word - forces the listener to selectively attent to one message of the dichotic listening

Participants can shadow the attended message, but know little about the unattended message

- they do notice physical properties: Change in pitch, & gender of the speaker

- multiple streams of information make it into sensory memory and encode physical characteristics

- the information is then filtered and one source is selected for further processing

Problem of the Early- Selection Theory

- ability to listen to one conversation in the midst of many conversatiosn: if someone says your name, you notics

- early selection theory assums that other conversation is just like white noise, so you wouldn't notice your name

- another problem of the Early-Selection Theory

- dichotic listening with a twist, change the unattended message in the middle to follow the attended

- participants followed the flow of the conversation, despite being on the "unattended channel"

"Shockatropolis"

Corteen and Wood (1972)

attention is limited and must be allocated according to the particular demand of the situation

- some tasks require more of the attentional "budget" than others

Attention is flexible and people can switch from early modes of attention (physical properties) to late modes (meaning)

- the listening task makes reaction time to the light slower

-shadowing in the difficult condition was more "costly" than the easy condition

- supports the theory

Test: press a button in response to a light signal while shadowing in dichotic listening

- easy condition: message read= similar meaning, but different gender voice (Physically different; tone, etc.)

- difficult condition: message read = different meaning (semantically different), but same gender voice

New research suggests that more exposure to multiple stimuli (i.e., heavy media multitaskers) results in a deficit some cognitive abilities:

the elaborate processing of information that currently resides in consciousness

- the idea that STM is just a temporary holding site for information has been reconcieved

- information is active in STM only temporarily

- in order to maintain information in STM, it needs to be rehearsed

7  ±  2

- the number of itens that can be held in STM (memory span)

capasity often is assessed through this, the longest string of info (e.g., number letters) that a person can immediatly recall

aka digit span in WAIS (IQ test)

translating incoming information into a more manageable form

- Chunking is like taking the seven balls being juggled and making them bigger

Limited Variable of Chunking

- if rate of presentation is too fast it's hard to remember

Limited Variable of Chunking

- previous knowledge aids your reorginization of incoming information

Limited Variable of Chunking

- Longer words take more time to encode, therefore you end up remembering few words

- harder to remembor huppopotamus than cat

- 1985, Viral (Herpes Simplex) Encephalitis (brain inflammation)

- severe anterograde amnesia

- "just woke up"

- musical abilities perserved

Reversible Figures ~ pictures with two possible interpretations that alternate as you are viewing (e.g., duck or rabbit?)

A component for Visuo-Spacial Processing

bring image from STM to LTM (block letter cover the “X” task)

Image Maintenance

a component for Visuo-Spacial Processing

holding the image in STM once it has been formed (pattern cover “X”)

A Component of Visuo-Spacial Processing

searching the image being held in STM for some feature (arrow = square filled?)

A component of Visuo-Spatial Processing

actively manipulating an image being held in STM (3D rotation)

suggested that long-lasting memory becomes consolidated over time

There is clear evidence of both retroactive inhibition that learning on later items can hurt retrieval of ones mastered earlier and the related phenomenon of proactive inhibition that items mastered early on can inhibit learning on later ones.

Forgetting in STM can be attributed to this with interference

When a new item enters STM, it overwrites the previously stored item.

   Working Memory is actually interacting subsystems combining to subserve a host of higher-level mental processes (Baddeley, 1986)

- a component of this (auditory STM)

- subvocal rehearsal, phonological storage

•Articulation requires the coordination of various motor movements to produce the basic units of communication (i.e., sounds or signs)

•Audition is prominent because Work. Mem. relies on the articulatory process

•It’s hard to keep track of similar motor movements for words, not necessarily the similar sounds of the words

   Working Memory is actually interacting subsystems combining to subserve a host of higher-level mental processes (Baddeley, 1986)

- a component of this (visual STM)

- imagery, spacial reasoning

Operates independent of Articulatory Loop

   Working Memory is actually interacting subsystems combining to subserve a host of higher-level mental processes (Baddeley, 1986)

- a component of this "boss" of STM

- comprehension, reasoning, problem solving

-The “gatekeeper” or “capacity allocator” for attention

-Deploys the appropriate attention to the articulatory loop or the visuo-spatial subsystem

-Responsible for higher-level thoughts–Reasoning and Language Comprehension

doing daily activities that require little or no attention

- automaticity develops as the result of extensive practice

The ability to name the ink color of a word is inhibited if that word is printed in a conflicting color

- Reading is obligatory, you can't inhibit it

- namin the ink color suffers from interferene because you are reading

- the same is true of words associated with colors: Example, Grass is tough because it is closely associated with green

Interpretation:

scan a display for certain critical items

"absentmindedness"

doing something automatically that you don't  necessarily want to do

- automatic processes can be hard to stop (costs of automaticity)

an organized body of knowledge (or set of movements) that guides motor activities

- automatic processes can be hard to stop (costs of automaticity)

Capture Error

A well-practiced, but unintended, action takes over when it shares initial sequence elements with a more unfamiliar action

- a action slip

Example: Ice Hockey player tries to stop the same way on roller skates because he is used to the hockey stop. (Doesn’t work so good with roller blades, worse on roller skates. Ouch!)

Data-Driven Error

External events cause the (inappropriate) activation of a schema and force some type of unwanted behavior.

- an action slip

Example: Driving by Taco Bell and ask for directions to Taco Bell, instead of the Salt Lick (where you really need directions to)

Associative Activation Error

The intention to do or say something activates a strongly related but inappropriate schema.

- an action slip

Example: Responding to “What’s up?” with “Great!”

Loss-of-Activation Error

 Error lies in forgetting an intention to do something or remembering the intention but forgetting what to do.

  Example: Going into the garage and forgetting what you went in there for (e.g., a hammer).

Description Error

The desired action is carried out but with the wrong object.

an action slip

  Example: Putting things away in the kitchen and you put the cereal in the fridge and the milk in the cupboard (or your car keys in the freezer).

CS presented briefly before US

- strongest and most rapid type of conditioning

Cs and US presented at same time

- much weaker conditioning

- may be product of distraction of US

- If CS not before US, how can it serve as a signal?

CS and US seperated by longer time interval in which neither stimulus is presented

- "memory trace"

- as interval between CS-US interval increases, so does the decline in level of conditioning

Onset of CS precedes US by at least several seconds, CS continues until US is presented

o   CS interval impacts conditioning like trace, but not as severe

o   As the CS onset and delay become associated, it is easy to think of them as one compound stimulus, therefore the onset begins to evoke the response initially, instead of toward the end of the delay.

o   Example: Pavlov’s dogs: 10 second tone (CS), food delayed till end of CS. 1^st dog salivated as soon as tone was presented, but over time, dogs began to estimate delay and salivated after 8-9 seconds.

o   Compound Stimulus: onset of tone + delay became one

-       CS is presented after US

o   Level of conditioning markedly lower than Delay – proving order’s important!

o

Pavlov’s Substitution Theory

-       By repeatedly pairing the CS with US, the CS becomes a substitute for the US

Problems:

1.     CR often doesn’t = UR (often differ in sixe and temporal pattern)

2.     US may elicit many responses; CS does not

Not all components of UR present in CR

Food (US) à Salivation (UR) à Chewing (UR)

Instrumental responses

Action’s that function as tools to work some change in the environment; also called operant responses

The Law of Effect

“Responses that produce a satisfying effect in a particular situation become more likely to occur again in that situation, and responses that produce a discomforting effect become less likely to occur again in that situation”

-       Things you do that results in something good are more likely to occur

-       Things you do that result in something Bad happening are less likely to occur

Law of readiness

- a series of responses can be chained together to satisfy some goal which will result in annoyance if blocked

- one of three primary laws in Thorndikes Theory

Law of exercise

connections become strengthened with practice and weakened when practice is discontinued

- one of three primary laws in Thorndikes Theory

Positive reinforcement

the arrival of this stimulus following a response which makes the response more likely to occur;  (introduce something good when a particular response occurs)

the removal ofthis stimulus following a response which makes the response more likely to occur;  (remove something bad when a particular response occurs)

Punishment

opposite of reinforcement; the consequence of a response decreases the likelihood that the response will occur

Positive Punishment

(adding or producing a stimulus)

-       introduce something bad when a particular response occurs – Examples: Introduce shock, scold, or yell

o   Learns how to act like caregiver who is administering punishment (observational learning)

o   Learn through classical conditioning to fear caregiver

o   Doesn’t provide any way to learn alternatives to bad behavior

Negative Punishment

-       (removing or preventing a stimulus): remove something good when a particular response occurs – Examples: Remove Food, Take back Money/Allowance, Take away Privileges

o   Reduces un-desirable responses without negative consequences of positive punishment

Differential Reinforcement of High Rates (DRH)

Require behavior a minimum number of times in a given time period before a response is reinforced – or a high rate of behavior requires over a specified time period before response is reinforced

Differential Reinforcement of Low Rates (DRL)

Response reinforced if, and only if, a certain amount of time has passed since last response

-       Produced very low rates of responding

-       DRL 5 second: Pigeon receives reinforcement if it responses after 5 seconds, but any response before 5 seconds resets the clock

-       Often produces “ritual behavior” – Rat going to every corner of the cage before each response

Continuous Reinforcement (CRF)

A fixed 1 to 1 ratio

-       A prize every time

-       Leads to rapid increases in the rate of behavior

-       Not very common in natural environment

-       Reinforcement increases behavior

Intermittent Schedules

Behavior that is reinforced on some occasions but not others

Satiation/Deprivation

Effectiveness of a consequence will be reduced if stimulation has been satisfied; increased if deprived.

Immediacy

Consequence of response must be felt immediately

Contingency

If a consequence does not consistently follow the response, its effectiveness is reduced

Size

Consequence must be large enough to be worth the effort

Superstitious Behavior

-       Undesired behavior unrelated to the desired behavior

-       Accidentally reinforced

-       Becomes fixed in the subject’s mind as necessary for reinforcement

-       repeated presentations of the CS by itself

no longer presenting the reinforcer as a consequence of the instrumental response

The emotional reaction induced by withdrawal of an expected reinforcer – can lead to aggression

Spontaneous Recovery

when time passes between extinction and testing, responding often spontaneously recovers

Free-operant Procedures

allow subject to repeat the instrumental response over and over without constraint

Operant Response

defined in terms of the effect that it had on the environment; activities that have the same environmental effect, are considered instances of the same operant response

-       What is important is not the muscles and nerves orchestrating the response but the way that the behavior operates on the environment

process in which successively closer approximations to the desired response are reinforced until the response finally occurs

-       Sound of food deliver device (Food magazine) is paired with delivery of food to the cup: Elicits a sign tracking response- Go to food cup