Attention
High-Yield Summary
- Attention = concentration of mental resources on part of the sensorium at the expense of everything else; a limited resource studied through selective attention (narrows to one input) and divided attention (spreads across multiple tasks).
- Broadbent's filter model (1958): selective attention is all-or-nothing — unattended stimuli are screened out early based on physical properties and completely lost.
- Treisman's attenuation theory (1964) revised this: unattended information is only weakened, not blocked, so meaningful content (e.g. your own name) can still break through — the cocktail party phenomenon (Cherry, 1953) is the classic evidence for this.
- Divided attention depends on automatic processing (familiar/routine tasks, low effort, frees resources for multitasking) vs. controlled/effortful processing (new/difficult tasks, requires undivided attention).
- Automatic processing's tradeoff: it can't innovate or adapt quickly to sudden, unexpected change — that requires switching back to controlled processing (Schneider & Shiffrin, 1977).
Key Terms
- Sensorium
- The total sensory environment competing for attention at any given moment.
- Selective attention
- Focusing on one part of the sensorium while filtering out the rest.
- Divided attention
- Performing multiple tasks at the same time.
- Cocktail party phenomenon
- Noticing your own name in a conversation you weren't consciously attending to (Cherry, 1953).
Broadbent's Filter Model vs. Treisman's Attenuation Theory
| Broadbent (1958) — Filter Model | Treisman (1964) — Attenuation Theory |
|---|---|
| All-or-nothing: unattended stimuli screened out early by physical properties (pitch, loudness) and completely lost | Unattended information is only weakened (attenuated), not blocked |
| Cannot explain the cocktail party phenomenon | Explains it: a weakened but meaningful cue (your name) can still get through |
Controlled (Effortful) vs. Automatic Processing
| Controlled Processing | Automatic Processing |
|---|---|
| Active, deliberate effort; required for new/difficult tasks | Little conscious effort; used for familiar/routine tasks |
| Can't easily be shared with another task | Frees resources, enabling divided attention |
| Needed to adapt to sudden, unexpected change | Can't innovate or adapt quickly on its own |
Common MCAT Trap
- A passage describing someone noticing meaningful content in an unattended conversation is testing Treisman's attenuation theory, not Broadbent's original all-or-nothing filter.
- Selective attention = which single input gets prioritized; divided attention = handling multiple inputs at once — don't conflate them.
- Automatic processing isn't simply 'better' than controlled processing — it saves effort and enables multitasking, but can't innovate or adapt to sudden change.
Quick Recall
A person at a party deep in conversation still notices their own name mentioned across the room. Whose model explains this, and why can't Broadbent's original model?
Learning to drive requires full concentration at first but eventually lets you talk while driving. What processing shift explains this?
Why can't automatic processing handle a sudden, unexpected change in a routine task?
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