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Attention

As the name suggests, attention refers to focusing on or observing something. Although the name is simple, the actual process s far from simplistic. Many factors affecting attention in psychology research have been identified. Did you know if you have a lot on your mind, then you're less likely to be able to attend to something, or if you do…

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Attention
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As the name suggests, attention refers to focusing on or observing something. Although the name is simple, the actual process s far from simplistic. Many factors affecting attention in psychology research have been identified. Did you know if you have a lot on your mind, then you're less likely to be able to attend to something, or if you do not put conscious effort into remembering information, you most likely will forget it?

  • First, we will review the attention definition in psychology.
  • Then, the explanation will review perception and attention in cognitive psychology.
  • Next, the types of attention in psychology will be reviewed.
  • After this, the factors affecting attention in psychology will be discussed.
  • Last, the theories of attention in psychology will be presented.

Attention Definition: Psychology

Attention is a whole field of theory and research in cognitive psychology.

Attention is the cognitive process that involves observing or becoming aware of something; this does not have to be in your peripheral visual field.

An example is when we try to recall memories, we have to attend to them to bring them from the long-term to the short-term memory store. Now we don't actually see the memory but instead, focus on it.

The brain receives an overwhelming amount of information; it has limited resources, so it cannot process every single thing we see. This is where the process of attention comes in.

The attention process can be compared to an analogy of a filter. During the process, it filters through stimuli that we determine as important, e.g. when we focus on it and ignore irrelevant stimuli.

Perception and Attention in Cognitive Psychology

Perception and attention have an interdependent relationship regarding attending to stimuli.

Perception is the ability to observe and be aware of the stimuli in the environment, such as objects, people or events. Perception is not limited to what we see; it is also related to our other senses, e.g. what we hear, touch, smell and taste.

Cognitive psychology has devoted great efforts to explain the relationship between attention and perception.

Research has established that when we perceive something, we have to attend to it and then we can save that information as a long-term memory. And when we focus on attending to something, we are able to perceive more details.

This highlights the interdependent relationship between the two cognitive processes.

Research in cognitive psychology has found that when we attend to information, various things can be observed, e.g.:

  • During attention, activation of the frontal lobe (anterior part of the brain) can be observed.
  • The body can be in a state of arousal – Selenyck's General Adaptation Syndrome states that the body automatically responds to stressors (arousal), causing people to focus or become hypervigilant. These symptoms are forms of attention.
  • The characteristics of attention can vary depending on the type of attention.

A characteristic of sustained attention is intense concentration. On the other hand, selective attention is characterised by the ability to fixate on something while ignoring background noise.

Types of Attention in Psychology

Although attention is a single cognitive process, psychologists have found that people pay different kinds of attention.

The different types of attention are the following:

  1. Focused attention refers to focusing on a single stimulus.
  2. Selective attention refers to paying attention to one stimulus, even if there are distractions.
  3. Sustained attention refers to putting attention on a stimulus for an extended period.
  4. Divided attention refers to the attention that is directed to more than one stimulus at a time.
  5. Alternating attention occurs when attention switches back and forth between different stimuli.

In this way, your attention when revising for an exam (sustained attention) differs from the one you use when watching a rugby game (divided attention).

Factors Affecting Attention in Psychology

The type of attention that is available depends on certain factors. The factors affecting attention in psychology are whether there are distractors, such as background noise.

Our ability to pay attention may vary depending on the context of these distractions and the stimuli we pay attention to. If something is particularly important to you (e.g., if you have a strong memory or a personal interest), you may be more inclined to pay attention to it, and your ability to pay attention may be affected.

This is also true if you have little or no interest in or personal connection to the topic. In this case, you may have to make more effort to pay attention to a topic (voluntary attention), especially if the stimulus requires active involvement, as in reading.

Other forms of attention retention may be more involuntary. Your attention may be drawn if something is particularly eye-catching or stressful (e.g., if you are in a dangerous situation).

Examples of the different forms of attention are effortless, involuntary, focused, spatial, etc.

Attention, Picture of a school pupil engaging in focussed attention, StudySmarter.Fig. 1. Picture of a school pupil engaging in focussed attention.

Theories of Attention in Psychology

The main theories contributing to our knowledge of attention in psychology are auditory selective attention and visual inattention. Auditory attention was researched and theorised by Cherry and Morray in 1959. Visual inattention theory was explored by Simon and Chabris (1999).

Auditory Selective Attention

Cherry developed the auditory selective attention theory in 1959. In this study, Cherry (1959) used dichotic shadowing research techniques. Cherry proposed the 'cocktail party effect' to explain how selective attention can change.

This theory explains an example of auditory attention in the context of a party.

When someone is in the middle of a conversation with their friends, they pay attention to that conversation. However, if they suddenly hear their name called from the opposite side of the room. The person's attention will focus on the person who called their name and not the conversation.

Selective auditory attention is the ability to focus on an audio stimulus that interests the person while ignoring others.

Following these results, Moray (1959) conducted three experiments to confirm Cherry's findings. He attempted to do this using empirical methods. His research also produced evidence of how the cocktail party effect works.

For example, Moray found that participants heard a 'rejected' message better when they heard affective versus non-affective cues. This finding suggests that people can shift their attention, and this can happen even when they are fixated on a stimulus because they have heard something related to them.

Visual Inattention

We seem to pay attention differently when attending to visual stimuli than auditory information. Simon and Chabris (1999) noted this when examining intentional blindness.

Inattentional blindness refers to not noticing a stimulus that is evidently there. According to this theory, we miss information because individuals are busy attending to other stimuli.

Visual inattention, like auditory attention, is when a person fails to see something that is apparent.

In the study, participants were instructed to fixate on a task. The researchers told the participants they would be tested after the video finished to ensure they fixated on the task.

The study's goal was to see if participants perceived an unexpected event. The unexpected event was a woman holding an umbrella or a woman in a gorilla costume.

The study found that people were more likely to notice things:

  • When they are focused on an easy task rather than a difficult task.
  • The stimuli they are not paying attention to are clearly visible.
  • When the stimuli have similar physical characteristics to them.

Like Cherry and Moray's findings, inattention can be overcome when the stimuli they are not attending to are related to the person.

Attention - Key takeaways

  • The attention definition in psychology is a cognitive process that involves observing or becoming aware of something.
  • Some examples of types of attention in psychology are focused, selective, sustained, divided, and alternating attention.
  • Several factors affecting attention in psychology research have been noted, such as concentration, the number of stimuli present or the presence of distractors.
  • Perception and attention in cognitive psychology suggest that the two cognitive processes have an interdependent relationship.
  • The two main theories of attention in psychology are auditory selective attention (the cocktail party effect) and visual inattention (intentional blindness).

Frequently Asked Questions about Attention

The attention definition in psychology is a cognitive process that involves observing or becoming aware of something. 

Some examples of types of attention in psychology are:

  • Selective attention 
  • Divided attention 
  • Focused attention 

Characteristics of attention in psychology are: 

  • Concentrating on a stimulus.
  • Being able to ignore distractors. 
  • Activation of the frontal lobe.
  • Arousal 

Some examples of types of attention in psychology are focused, selective, sustained, divided, and alternating attention.

The two main theories of attention in psychology are auditory selective attention (the cocktail party effect) and visual inattention (intentional blindness). 

Final Attention Quiz

Attention Quiz - Teste dein Wissen

Question

Who carried out research on inattentional blindness? 

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Answer

Simon and Chabris (1999).

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Question

Which researcher’s theory did Simon and Chabris (1999) attempt to build on?

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Answer

Moray’s (1959) research on auditory information.

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Question

What is inattentional blindness?

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Answer

Inattentional blindness is not noticing a stimulus that is evidently there.

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Question

How does change blindness and inattentional blindness differ?

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Answer

Change blindness is a similar concept to inattentional blindness, except that people cannot perceive changes in stimuli. Whereas intentional blindness is when someone fails to notice a stimulus because they are not paying attention.

Show question

Question

What experimental design did Simon and Chabris (1999) use?

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Answer

Simon and Chabris (1999) did a lab experiment that used an independent measures design. 

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Question

What were the two levels of the independent variable tested?

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Answer

The two levels of the IV participants were tested on are:

  1. White easy/white hard/black easy/black hard.
  2. Opaque umbrella woman/transparent umbrella woman/opaque gorilla/ transparent gorilla.

Show question

Question

What was the dependent variable measured in Simons and Chabris (1999) research?

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Answer

The dependent variable was the number of participants (%) who noticed the unexpected event (the ‘umbrella woman’/gorilla).

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Which of the following groups noticed the unexpected event more?

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Answer

Opaque.

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Question

Which of the following groups noticed the unexpected event more? 

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Answer

Easy condition.

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Which of the following was noticed more?

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Answer

Umbrella-women.

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What was the percentage of participants who noticed the unexpected event?

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Answer

The number of participants who noticed the unexpected event was 54%.

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What was the percentage of participants who did not notice the unexpected event?

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Answer

The number of participants who did not notice the unexpected event was 46%.

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Question

Which of these findings did not support the traditional view of visual search tasks? 

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Answer

White Gorilla condition.

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Question

What is selective auditory attention?

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Answer

Selective auditory attention is the ability to focus on an audio stimulus that interests the person whilst ignoring others. 

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Question

Who proposed the cocktail party effect?

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Answer

Cherry (1953).

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Question

What did both Cherry and Moray find?

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Answer

Both researchers found people could recall more information from the attended message than the ‘rejected’ message. 

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What do similar results from the two researchers infer?

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Answer

Similar findings from two studies infer the results are reliable. 

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Question

Which of Moray’s (1959) experiments found similar results to Cherry?

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Answer

Experiment 1.

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Question

Is the following statement true or false: ‘Cherry and Moray’s (1959) Experiment 1 used a similar research design’? 

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Answer

True.

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Which of Moray's research used a repeated-measures design?

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Answer

Experiment 1.

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Question

How do affective cues affect following instructions in ‘rejected’ messages?

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Answer

Participants are more likely to follow instructions when affective cues versus non-affective cues are included.

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Question

What are the strengths of Moray’s research?

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Answer

The strengths of the research are:

  • Results are reliable, as Moray and Cherry found similar results.
  • High internal validity.

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What are the weaknesses of Moray’s research?

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Answer

The weaknesses of the research are:

  • Low ecological validity. 
  • Findings are non-generalisable due to the small sample.

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Question

In Moray’s second experiment, which condition did participants follow more instructions of the ‘rejected’ message? 

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Answer

Affective cues.

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What did Moray find in the third experiment?

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Answer

Non-significant differences between mean scores of both groups tested.

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Question

In which condition of experiment one (Moray, 1959), did participants recognise more words?

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Answer

Shadowed message.

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Question

What is shadowing? 

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Answer

Shadowing is when a participant listens to a continuous message while repeating it aloud.

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Question

What is the purpose of the shadowing research technique? 

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Answer

The shadowing method aims to ensure that people attend to the intended message and ‘reject’ the other audio.

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Question

Is attention an active process? 

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Answer

Yes.

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Question

Which theory did Cherry (1959) research? 

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Answer

Auditory attention.

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Question

What theory did Moray (1959) research? 


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Answer

Visual inattention.

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Question

Which theory did Simon and Chabris (1999) research? 

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Answer

Visual inattention.

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Question

What are the theories of attention in psychology? 

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Answer

The theories of attention in psychology are auditory selective attention and visual inattention. 

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Question

Can the characteristics of attention vary based on the type of attentional process the person uses? 

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Answer

Yes.

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What type of attention is defined by focusing on a single stimulus? 

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Answer

Focused.

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What type of attention would be used when students are using different books to revise? 

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Alternating.

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What type of attention is defined as paying attention to a stimulus for a long time?

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Answer

Sustained.

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Question

Attention is a cognitive process involving people being able to focus or concentrate on one thing while ignoring other stimuli. 

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Answer

True.

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Question

Brain processes are not relevant in attention research. Is this statement true or false? 

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Answer

False.

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Question

According to psychologists, do we have an unlimited or a limited capacity to attend to things?

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Answer

Limited.

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Question

Paying attention to one stimulus while there are distractors around refers to ___.

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Answer

Selective attention.

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Question

The attention that is directed to more than one stimulus refers to ___.

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Answer

Divided attention.

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Question

Is the following statement true or false? Factors affecting attention only have to do with context, not with the stimuli.

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Answer

False.

Show question

Question

What is the "cocktail party effect"?

Show answer

Answer

When someone is in the middle of a conversation with their friends, they pay attention to that conversation. However, if they suddenly hear their name called from the opposite side of the room. The person's attention will focus on the person who called their name, not the conversation.

Show question

Question

Intentional blindness refers to ___.

Show answer

Answer

Not noticing a stimulus that is clearly there.

Show question

Question

Visual inattention is when a person ___ something that is physically present.

Show answer

Answer

Sees.

Show question

Question

Cherry (1953) did research on

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Answer

Auditory attention

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Question

The two auditory attention test procedures that Cherry (1953) developed were

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Answer

Mixed speech and dichotic listening

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Question

Mixed speech involves

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Answer

participants hear two mixed speeches at the same time. After this, participants have to shadow and repeat one of the two messages

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Question

Dichotic listening involves

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Answer

listening to a continuous message in one ear, while another audio is played in the other ear. Participants need to then repeat what the continuous message was.

Show question

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