Overview

Can you pay attention to everything? Are we really as good as we think we are at detecting changes around us? Can we easily focus on one thing and ignore everything else? These labs will help you see that attention is a limited resource. However, your attentional system has evolved to be adaptive and efficient for the types of environments you will typically encounter.

In the Change Detection lab, will see that, as long as there are no interruptions to the entire visual field, you can rely on motion detection to detect subtle changes in the visual field. Both the Simon Effect and Stroop Effect labs will show you how your attention is quickest when the type and location of the stimuli are consistent, respectively. The Spatial Cueing lab demonstrates how we can control our area of maximal attention, albeit in a limited part of our visual field. By knowing what variables maximize or minimize our attention, psychologists can help us make the most of this ability.

Prompt

Complete the following labs:

• Change Detection
• Simon Effect
• Spatial Cueing
• Stroop Effect

Change Detection Lab

Proportion Correct for No Flicker:

[0.875]

Reaction Time (ms) to No Flicker:

[3386.5]

Proportion Correct for Flicker:

[0.875]

Reaction Time (ms) to Flicker:

[4206.75]

• How does the pattern of your individual data relate to the pattern of results predicted? Hint: See the lab introduction, the predicted results that come with your output, and the text.

[Insert text]

• How did the gray field (the flicker) affect your proportion correct and RT? Why does the gray field tend to negatively affect accuracy and RT? Why are we measuring both RT and accuracy? What does this tell you about how different people approach a task like this?

[Insert text]

• What implications does this experiment on change blindness and flickers have regarding real-world situations? Try to describe a specific sort of real-world situation: What would be the flicker in your example? Ensure that your example is your own, rather than one from course materials.

[Insert text]

Simon Effect Lab

Condition Reaction Time (ms)

Consistent [636.500]

Inconsistent [692.220]

• How does the pattern of your individual data relate to the pattern of results predicted?

[Insert text]

• Identify the independent and dependent variables in this lab.

[Insert text]

Mean Response Time

Condition Reaction Time (ms)

Valid [317.563]

Neutral [347.250]

Invalid [370.375]

• Did your individual results match the predicted results? If so, how so? If not, why not?

[Insert text]

• If the spotlight model is false, what should your results have looked like, assuming you could pay attention to everything on the screen?

[Insert text]

• How could we apply the concept of invalid cues in a specific real-world situation, for example, "faking someone out" while playing a particular sport or game? Feel free to make up your own example or elaborate on one above. What would be the invalid cue in your example?

Stroop Effect Lab

Mean Reaction Time Same (ms): [1077.542]

Mean Reaction Time Different (ms): [1543.250]

• Did your individual results match the predicted results? If so, how? If not, why not?

[Insert text]

• Identify the independent and dependent variables in this demonstration.

[Insert text]

Consider the role of new research in advancing the field of cognitive psychology. Applying research to new populations or taking a specific research methodology and applying it in a new way are strategies that can be used to develop new research questions and keep the field growing and evolving. As an example, clinical psychologists have applied the Stroop effect to the study of emotion. An emotional Stroop test involves measuring reaction time in naming the font color of words, but words are either emotionally neutral (like tree or plate) or emotional (murder or death). People with certain mental health issues, like major depression, show a more pronounced emotional Stroop effect.

• Can you think of a different way to apply the Stroop test?