Filter theory of attention

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The filter theory of attention was developed in 1958 by the British psychologist Donald Eric Broadbent . With this theory, he tried to uniformly explain the findings on dichotic hearing , the split-span paradigm and the psychological refractory period .

Basics

In dichotic listening, the test subject is presented with two different texts via headphones in the left and right ears, but they should only focus their attention on one. As a rule, the content of the text in the channel that is not to be taken into account (e.g. right ear) is not perceived, only a change from male to female speaker or a change from text to tones was noticed.

Analogous to dichotic hearing, the test subjects are presented with pairs of digits simultaneously in the split-span paradigm. It was found that the numbers were reproduced by ear and not by pairs. The psychological refractory period describes that a person needs a longer reaction time to the latter of two target stimuli presented in direct succession.

From these results, Broadbent concluded that task-irrelevant information is blocked before it is processed and that physical features of the information (e.g. left or right ear, frequency, etc.) are cues to distinguish different information or the selection of different information on the basis of these physical characteristics happens. Broadbent interpreted the latter finding as meaning that the processing of one stimulus must first be completed before the processing of the second stimulus begins.

The model

Theoretically, the model described has the following functional structure: All perceptions are initially stored in a sensory memory that records the sensory impressions for fractions of a second. Then based on physical characteristics such as B. the voice, and not the content, decided which information is processed. All other information is filtered out. Only then is the data transformed into perceptible information, e.g. B. Word recognition done. The recognized information is then stored in the short-term memory . It thus represents a theory of early selection. Since it contains many experimental findings, such as e.g. B. the cocktail party effect , can not explain, it is now considered out of date.

Opposing positions

With their theory of "late selection" in 1963 Diana Deutsch and J. Anthony Deutsch set up a counter-position to Broadbents' model, which assumes that information is filtered very early on ("early selection"). Their position means that the stimuli are first selected and then identified. This requires processing of all stimuli presented simultaneously. There is currently no uniform agreement.

swell

  1. ↑ M. Eysenck, M. Keane: Cognitive Psychology . Psychology Press, Hove (UK), 2000.

literature

  • John R. Anderson (2013). Cognitive psychology . Wiesbaden: Springer VS, 7th edition, ISBN 978-3-642-37391-6
  • Müller, HJ, Krummenacher, J. & Schubert, T. (2015). Attention and action control . Berlin: Springer
  • M. Spering and Th. Schmidt, Allgemeine Psychologie 1, 2nd edition.