PSY270H1 Chapter 4: Chapter 4- Divided Attention
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PSY270H1 Full Course Notes
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Divided attention depends on: practice, difficulty of the task. Participants had to hold information about target stimuli in memory, and pay attention to distractor stimuli: shown the target stimulus, shown distractor screens (each containing 4 letters), and asked to identify which screen the target appeared on. Results: the performance changed over time people gradually got better at dividing their attention. Task became automatic after many trials subjects responded w/o consciously thinking about the task. Automatic processing: processing that occurs: without intention, using little cognitive resource. Divided attention is possible for well-practiced tasks. Increasing difficulty automatic processing is not possible, even through practice: ex. Driving: when backing into a parking spot, mom always suddenly stops talking, doesn"t matter when & how many times she"s parked her car (millions of times lol) Never get distracted while driving: driving is a task that demands constant attention (the world is not static, constantly introducing new obstacles)
