Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research and Everyday Experience, 3rd Edition

90 • CHAPTER 4 Attention

1. How was the dichotic listening procedure used to determine how well people
   can focus on the attended message and how much information can be taken in
   from the unattended message? What is the cocktail party effect, and what does
   it demonstrate?


2. Describe Broadbent’s model of selective attention. Why is it called an early
   selection model?


3. What were the results of experiments by Moray (words in the unattended ear)
   and Gray and Wedderburn (“Dear Aunt Jane”)? Why are the results of these
   experiments diffi cult to explain based on Broadbent’s fi lter model of attention?


4. Describe Treisman’s attenuation theory. First indicate why she proposed the
   theory, then how she modifi ed Broadbent’s model to explain some results that
   Broadbent’s model couldn’t explain.


5. Describe MacKay’s “bank” experiment. Why does his result provide evidence
   for late selection?


6. What is the fl anker compatibility task? How have experiments using this task
   shown how attention is affected by load and by the nature of task-irrelevant

TEST YOURSELF 4.1

● FIGURE 4.10 Name the color of the ink for these shapes.

● FIGURE 4.11 Name the color of the ink for these words.

YELLOWYELLOW

ORANGE

REDRED

YELLOW

BLUE

GREEN

PURPLE

BLUE

GREEN

RED

GREEN PURPLE ORANGE RED BLUE

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