Ch 9
* = Chapter sections discussed in class
*** = likely to be on test
Attention as a Limited Capacity Resource
*Attention
Our limited capacity to engage in multiple cognitive and motor activities
simultaneously (a.k.a. Multitasking)
In human performance, attention refers to several characteristics associated with
perceptual, cognitive, and motor activities that establish limits to our performance
of motor skills (what we are thinking or not thinking about and what we are aware
or unaware of)
CONCEPT: PREPARATION FOR MOTOR SKILLS AND PERFORMANCE OF
MOTOR SKILLS ARE INFLUENCED BY OUR LIMITED CAPACITY TO
SELECT AND ATTEND TO INFORMATION
Feedback is an example of an attention-demanding process (paying
attention
to
how you are performing the skill)
William Hamilton
– British scholar; conducted various attention studies
William Wundt
– father of experimental psychology; University of Leipzig
William James
– provided one of the earliest definitions of attention: the
“focalization and concentration of consciousness”
Attention and Multiple Task Performance
Jacques Loeb
– the maximum amount of pressure that a person can exert on a
hand dynamometer actually decreases when the person is engaged in mental work
Solomons & Stein
– multiple-task performance limitation
*Attention Theories
***FILTER THEORY
(a.k.a. Bottleneck theory): a person has difficulty doing
several things at one time because the human information-processing system
performs each of its functions in serial order; some of these functions can process
only one piece of information at a time; this theory did not explain all
performance situations
SOME THINGS DON'T MAKE IT THROUGH OUR COGNITIVE FILTER,
BUT OUR FILTER IS ADAPTABLE
Best alternative to filter theory stated that information-processing functions could
be carried out in parallel rather than serially, but attention limits were the result of
the limited availability of resources needed to carry out those functions
Theorists are split on where the resource limit exists
More recent theories
: emphasize the selection and integration of information and
activities associated with the various functional aspects of human performance
***CENTRAL-RESOURCE CAPACITY THEORIES
: proposes one central
source of attention resources which all activities requiring attention compete for
Kahneman's attention theory
:
o
Views attention as
cognitive effort
, which is related to the mental resources
(located in the CNS) needed to carry out specific activities; limited
amount of these resources available for use at any given time; the “central
pool” of resources contain a
flexible capacity
—meaning that the amount
of available attention can vary depending on
the certain conditions related
to the individual
,
the tasks being performed
, and
the situation
(environmental context);
o
Characterizes
available
attention as a general pool of effort, in which
allocation is determined by characteristics of the activities, the allocation
