Cognitive Psychology by Prof. R. P Cognitive Psychology by Prof. R.P.Singh Professor Department of Psychology B.A. III, & M.A. Sem- I Paper I: Unit- I,

Outline of the discussion What is Attention? Definition of Attention Types of Attention Voluntary Attention Involuntary Attention Characteristic of Attention Factor of Attention External factor Internal factor theory of attention

ATTENTION

Meaning of Attention Attention is the cognitive process of selectively concentrating on one aspect of the environment while ignoring other things. Examples include listening carefully to what someone is saying while ignoring other conversations in the room.

Definition by Titchner  “Attention is a state of sensory clearness with a margin and a focus.  Attention is the aspect of consciousness that relates to the amount of effort exerted in focusing on certain aspects of an experience, so that they become relatively vivid”. 

Donald Eric (D.E.) Broadbent FRS (Birmingham, 6 May 1926 – 10 April 1993) was an influential experimental psychologist from the UK . His career and research bridged the gap between the pre-World War II approach of Sir Frederic Bartlett. and what became known as Cognitive Psychology in the late 1960s. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Broadbent as the 54th most cited psychologist of the 20th century.

BROADBENT'S FILTER MODEL OF ATTENTION Broadbent's Filter Model of Attention proposes the existence of a theoretical filter device, located between the incoming sensory register, and the short-term memory storage. His theory is based on the multi-storage paradigm of William James (1890) and the more recent 'multi-store' memory model by Atkinson & Shiffrin in 1968. This filter functions together with a buffer, and enables the subject to handle two kinds of stimuli presented at the same time. One of the inputs is allowed through the filter, while the other waits in the buffer for later processing

The filter prevents the overloading of the limited-capacity mechanism located beyond the filter, which is the short-term memory.Broadbent came up with this theory based on data from an experiment: three pairs of different digits are presented simultaneously, one set of three digits in one ear, and another set of three digits in the other. Most participants recalled the digits ear by ear, rather than pair by pair. Thus, if 496 were presented to one ear and 852 to the other, the recall would be 496852 rather than 489562.