Span of Attention Experiment Practical File PDF

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Summary

The experiment of Span of Attention with Aim, Hypothesis, Introduction, Method, Results, and Conclusion
I had done this experiment when I was severely clinically depressed and mentally exhausted, so there might be a few mistakes (or a lot of them)....

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Span of Attention

Arpita Nayak Amity University, Noida PSYCH136: Experimental Psychology – II Dr. Niti Shukla March 3, 2021

Span of attention Aim: To measure the span of attention of the participants with the means of meaningful and nonmeaningful words. Introduction 

Define Attention: Attention is not a name for any specific mental function, as is perception, learning, remembering, or thinking. It may characterize all mental activities. We have thus attentive or inattentive, perception, learning, remembering, and thinking, and so on. Attention has accordingly been described in various ways, for example as a state of preparedness for the exercise of mental activity, as quality of clearness or vagueness accompanying any mental function as a process of setting the stimulus into figure ground relationship, etc. Attention is, thus general name for a multitude of facts and processes each one of which sheds a light on what we ordinarily understand by the term, span of attention, distraction of attention, fluctuation of attention, shift of attention, and division of attention.

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Types of attention 1. Analytical Attention: - When our attention is diverted towards the analysis of problem and to find out the prospective for that occurring presently. 2. Habitual Attention: - This type of attention is determined by habits. 3. Ideational Attention: - When the attention is diverted towards some image or status or structure selected to object. 4. Involuntary Attention: - Here the attention is diverted suddenly toward the stimulus, it hinders the process of goal seeking sometimes but not always. Ex- attention is attracted to a song while studying. 5. Voluntary Attention: - when the attention is diverted willingly to an object. Determinants of Attention (i.e., internal & external) The determinants of attention can be categorized as internal and external. o External determinants of span of attention are[1] Nature of stimulus [2] Intensity of stimulus [3] Location of stimulus [4] Contrast of stimulus [5] Change of stimulus [6] Isolation of stimulus [7] Duration of stimulus [8] Movement of stimulus

[9] Repetition of stimulus o Internal determinants of span of attention are: [1] Interest [2] Basic drives [3] Mental set [4] Aim [5] Meaning [6] Habit [7] Disposition and Temperament [8] Past experience [9] Emotion [10] Social motives

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Theories of attention o Treisman's Attenuation Model - In her experiments, Treisman demonstrated that participants were still able to identify the contents of an unattended message, indicating that they were able to process the meaning of both the attended and unattended messages. - Treisman carried out dichotic listening tasks using the speech shadowing method. Typically, in this method participants are asked to simultaneously repeat aloud speech played into one ear (called the attended ear) whilst another message is spoken to the other ear. - For example, participants asked to shadow "I saw the girl furniture over" and ignore "me that bird green jumping fee", reported hearing "I saw the girl jumping over" - Clearly, then, the unattended message was being processed for meaning and Broadbent's Filter Model, where the filter extracted on the basis of physical characteristics only, could not explain these findings. The evidence suggests that Broadbent's Filter Model is not adequate, it does

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not allow for meaning being taken into account.

o Broadbent's Filter Model - Broadbent (1958) proposed that physical characteristics of messages are used to select one message for further processing and that all others are lost - Information from all of the stimuli presented at any given time enters an unlimited capacity sensory buffer. One of the inputs is then selected on the basis of its physical characteristics for further processing by being allowed to pass through a filter. - Because we have only a limited capacity to process information, this filter is designed to prevent the information-processing system from becoming overloaded. - The inputs not initially selected by the filter remain briefly in the sensory buffer store, and if they are not processed, they decay rapidly. Broadbent assumed that the filter rejected the unattended message at an early stage of processing. - According to Broadbent the meaning of any of the messages is not taken into account at all by the filter. All semantic processing is carried out after the filter has selected the message to pay attention to. So whichever message(s) restricted by the bottleneck (i.e., not selective) is not understood.

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Define span of attention: The term “span of attention” refers to the numbers of object which can be grasped in one short presentation.

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History of span of attention The term “span of attention” refers to the numbers of object which can be grasped in one short presentation. Sir William Hamilton (1959) was the first to carry experimental study in this field. Later on, serial studies were carried on revealing significant facts. Dallerback (1929) studied the span of attention for dots, words, figures and colors of found them to be 8,8,7,9, 3.9 and 3.0 respectively. Attention is defined as the process which compels the individuals to select some particular stimulus according to his interest and attitude out of the multiplicity of stimuli present in the Environment. Thus, in short it is the selective activity of consciousness as a process of getting an object of thought clearly before the mind. Span of attention actually tells us that how many things can exist in the focus of consciousness at one time in an individual. The span of Visual apprehension is observed through the instruments named Tachistoscope. Tachistoscope is an apparatus designed to expose objects for a brief space of time. A subject is given a momentary glance from 1/5th to 1/10th of a second on regular or irregular groups of dots or letter and is required to tell how many he had observed. This instrument was manufactured by Hamilton and was first used by Whipple.

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Tachistoscope are of four type: 1. Tall Tachistoscope 2. Rotatory Tachistoscope

3. Pendulum Tachistoscope 4. Camera Tachistoscope Meaningful words: Meaningful words are those words which are nothing but the constitution of one or more than one letter of English alphabet which provide complete meaning. The words refer to these words which are written on the card and used in tachistoscope. Non-Meaningful Words: Non-Meaningful words are those words which are nothing but the constitution of one or more than one letter of English alphabet which does not provide any meaning. The words refer to these words which are written on the card and used in tachistoscope. Review of Literature G. Humphreys (1981) Three experiments investigated whether subjects could selectively attend to a target item presented in close spatial proximity to a distractor element. Typically, the display consisted of two curved lines, one a target and the other a distractor. The task was to judge the direction of curvature of the target. When subjects attended to a target away from fixation, performance was affected by the presence of a distractor within an area of 1° around the target. In contrast, the distractor did not influence target processing when subjects fixated on the target location. Two modes of visual attention are proposed. When a target is located away from fixation, a “wide” attentional span is employed. With the present stimuli, this led to the detailed processing of items within 1° of the attended position. However, when targets are at fixation a “narrow” span can be adopted, with the result that there is differential processing of attended items even within the formerly critical area. Marc Pomplun, Eyal M. Reingold, Jiye Shen (2001) In three experiments, participants' visual span was measured in a comparative visual search task in which they had to detect a local match or mismatch between two displays presented side by side. Experiment 1 manipulated the difficulty of the comparative visual search task by contrasting a mismatch detection task with a substantially more difficult match detection task. In Experiment 2, participants were tested in a single-task condition involving only the visual task and a dual-task condition in which they concurrently performed an auditory task. Finally, in Experiment 3, participants performed two dual-task conditions, which differed in the difficulty of the concurrent auditory task. Both the comparative search task difficulty (Experiment 1) and the divided attention manipulation (Experiments 2 and 3) produced strong effects on visual span size.

Frey, Aline Bosse, Marie-Line (2018) Many lines of evidence have revealed limitations of the human visual system, most notably that only a portion of available information is processed in a single glance. A degree of conceptual confusion has emerged, however, regarding the underlying concepts or mechanisms explaining limited visual processing in reading; perceptual span, visual span, or visual attention span. While the original definitions of these three concepts are clear and well-differentiated, they are routinely used inconsistently in the literature. The primary goal of the present review is to respecify these three concepts in terms of what they correspond to and how they are determined. Further, we investigate whether these three spans refer to vision-related measurements and/or are based on general cognitive abilities. This review should lead to a better understanding of the involvement of visual functions in reading performance.

Method Hypothesis The span of attention for meaningful words is more than that of Non-meaningful words. Preliminaries information     

Name - xyz Age - 23 Gender - Male Education - Graduate Health - Healthy

Material Required     

Apparatus: tachistoscope Flashcards of meaningful words Flashcards of non-meaningful words Plain sheets Pen/Pencil and graph sheet

Rapport Information The participant was made to sit comfortably. The participant was engaged in an informal conversation to make them feel relaxed. Once it was ensured that they are comfortable, the experiment was introduced. The instructions for the experiment were given to the participant. The participant was assured that their results would be kept confidential and not shared with anyone. If the participant had any query, it was addressed and the procedure was started.

Independent Variable: Cards of meaningful and non-meaningful words. Dependent Variable: Subject’s response in different trials. Controls: 1. The environment was peaceful and appropriate for experimentation. 2. The distance between the subject and screen was maintained about one foot. 3. In each attempt the card was shown only after the shutter was connected with……… 4. After the completion of showing meaningful words, 5 minutes rest was given to subject. Precautions 1. Make sure that tachistoscope is placed at equivalent distance between the experimenter and the subject. 2. The flashcards should be made of the proper size. 3. The experimenter must move the board up from behind before placing the flashcards in it. 4. Make sure that there is proper lighting and no noise in the lab. Instructions: 1. Get prepared when ready signal is given. 2. As soon as say “yes” focus your attention on screen on which you will see some words. 3. Whatever you see you report it immediately. Procedure Adjust the tachistoscope so that it gives exposure of about 1/10 of a second. Let the subject be seated comfortably in front of the tachistoscope. Make sure that the exposed material is clearly visible. Then instruct him as follows: “When I say ready, you will look attentively in the centre of this fixation board (point out). Here, a card containing unrelated letters and small words will appear one at a time for fraction of 1/10 of a second. You have to see the content on the card closely and just after the exposure you have

to write this on response sheet (place answer sheet before him) whatever you have seen. Reproduced material should be in the same order as presented. Several cards will be shown to you one by one. Each time you try to do your best.” Now present one card at time. Cards are to be placed behind the tachistoscope so that they are not visible to the subject beforehand. Uplift the shutter of the tachistoscope and place the appropriate card on the card holder. Before each presentation, give ready signal. After 2 seconds, expose the card placed in the tachistoscope. After each exposure, allow sufficient time to write the presented material. Meanwhile, change the card for the next trial. Between two trials, allow one minute time interval to control the factor of eye strain.

Introspective Report “I enjoyed the experiment. I’d thought it’d be some boring experiment and I’d be able to do it without much effort, but it was harder than I’d thought. But that made it all the more exciting.”

Observational Report The participant was excited about the experiment. He found it a little hard to get used to the speed of the flashcards, but adapted soon. His performance was good in both the experiments.

Result Table Table 1: Shows the Span of attention for meaningful words S.NO.

Word Repeated

Result

Percentage

1

MEANINGFUL WORDS Bag

Bag

1

92.31%

2

Tea

Tea

1

3

Wall

Wall

1

4

King

King

1

5

Bank

Bark

0

6

Army

Army

1

7

Cap

Cap

1

8

Hat

Hat

1

9

Rupee

Rupee

1

10

Claim

Claim

1

11

Cover

Cover

1

12

Basis

Basis

1

13

Cattle

Cattle

1

14

Result

Result

1

15

Bearer

Beard

0

16

Office

Office

1

17

Quality

Quality

1

18

Courage

Courage

1

19

Members

Members

1

20

Manager

Manager

1

21

Majority

Majority

1

22

Teachers

Teachers

1

23

Emergent

Emergent

1

24

Election

Erection

0

25

Continent

Continent

1

26

Committee

Commitment

0

27

Secretary

Secretary

1

28

Amendment

Amendment

1

29

Confidence

Confidence

1

30

Continuous

Continuous

1

31

University

University

1

32

Management

Management

1

33

Battlefield

Battlefield

1

34

Accumulated

Accumulated

1

35

Immediately

Immediately

1

36

Association

Association

1

37

Circumstance

Circumstance

1

38

Presidential

Presidential

1

39

Championship

Championship

1

40

Mechanization

Mechanization

1

41

Consciousness

Consciousness

1

42

Accommodation

Accommodation

1

43

International

International

1

44

Psychological

Psychological

1

45

Classification

Classification

1

46

Discouragement

Discouragement

1

47

Communication

Communication

1

48

Unskillfulness

Unskillfulness

1

49

Exemplifications

1

50

Representatives

Exemplification s Representatives

1

51

Internalization

Internalization

1

52

Misconstruction

Misconstruction

1

Table 2: Shows the Span of attention for Non-meaningful words S. NO.

Result

Percentage

1

NONWord Repeated MEANINGFUL WORDS SUL SUL

1

89.3%

2

RAB

RAB

1

3

TBR

TBR

1

4

RBH

RBH

1

5

SKCPLIRHB

SKCPLRBH

0

6

NAKRSJHOP

NAKRSJHOP

1

7

CKLKRIOBZ

CKLKRIOBZ

0

8

BZSTKLMRC

BZZTKMRC

0

9

KPRSDBLK

KPRSDBLK

1

10

RAYKZDMT

RAYKZDMT

1

11

BCKTIPKR

BCKTIPKR

1

12

YSTURFAX

YSTURFAX

1

13

YRPZJLK

YRPZJLK

1

14

APCKTRE

APCKTRE

1

15

BPJRSUL

BPJRSUL

1

16

GKLJXTB

GKLJXTB

1

17

GKLJXTB

GKLJXTB

1

18

BCKT

BCKT

1

19

TAKRA

TAKRA

1

20

KPRSDB

KPRSDB

1

21

MRSQLP

MRSQLP

1

22

ZANTRA

ZANTRA

1

23

JPLMZ

JPLMZ

1

24

FAXCH

FAXCH

1

25

YSTUR

YSTUR

1

26

IPKRD

IPKRD

1

27

APCK

APCK

1

28

CTLI

CTLI

1

Table 3- Shows the Percentage for both Meaningful and non-meaningful words Meaningful words % of correct response = 48

Non-Meaningful words % of correct response = 25

Analysis of Data: 1. Percentage of meaningful words: Words shown – words correctly repeated -----------------------------------------Words shown = 52-48

X100

--------- x100 52 = 7.69

2. Span of attention in meaningful words: = 100-7.69 = 92.31 B. 1. Percentage of non-meaningful words: Words shown – words correctly repeated -----------------------------------------Words shown