Zaira Partida Paper #2 rough draft Abstract Distraction is found to be associated with self-control; keeping focus on a task can be easily interrupted by some type of noise or movement in the background (CITE).The purpose of this study was to test the ability of being able to keep full awareness on the task at hand without getting distracted by an auditory stimulant heard in the background. In this study, 8 Indiana University students were asked to sit at a computer and count how many times the dots presented flashed while a potential distracting stimulant played at the same time. Using PowerPoint I was able to create 20 neutral slides as well as 20 incongruent slides and record the amount of time each participant spent on each slide. Results …show more content…
Moments later you hear discussion about what to grab for lunch right outside the office door, after listening in for a few seconds you come back to find several questions about your thoughts on the pitch being thrown at you. Becoming distracted is common among everyone, exactly how much focus goes into the task at hand depends on the level and the information load of said task (Lavie, N. (2010).). According to the perceptual load theory, unallocated capacity to the specific stimuli will flow into task irrelevant stimuli (CITE). If the perceptual work load is high, then awareness to what needs to be done increases, while if the perceptual work load is low then there is room for distraction. In a study on perceptual load done by Nilli Lavie, subjects were asked to locate the name of either a pop star or a politician among a list of either 4 or 6 words while ignoring an irrelevant distractor, in this case a face to the left or right of the words. Results showed that an increase in reaction time occurred when the perceptual load increased, supporting the idea that a higher amount of perceptual load leads a higher demand on ones’ attention to the task (Lavie, N., Ro, T., & Russell, C. …show more content…
The Stroop test brought together a set of ten words where the text color was designed to interfere with the participants’ ability to read the color written. Interference was shown to be present but it decreased the more times the experiment was done (Stroop 1935). The Stroop test brought new insight on how the human brain is conditioned to perform tasks that have been repeated over years, such as reading (Stroop 1935). In this within participant experiment, I will be testing the ability to maintain focus on a visual stimuli (the amount of times the dots flash) while an auditory stimuli (honking) is heard in the background. The expected result is for a successful distraction imposed by the auditory
Although correlation does not equal causation, we can conclude that similar cognitive processes, such as interference and automaticity, have influenced the results in our experiment. This can be expressed by the data and in identifying and saying aloud/reading a simple number compared to quantifying simple numbers. The cognitive load of reading familiar or smaller words is lower than that of counting, thus creating perchance a longer reaction time. In the experiment conducted in class as well as the one conducted by Stroop, the issue of divided attention may have been a great factor in interference or prolonged reaction time in the conditions. Psychological refractory period which states that the response to a second stimulus is slowed down by the first stimulus being processed; this can be a cause for the finding of increased reaction time when conflicting information is given. Attention may unconsciously be given to the less complex task, which is reading/identifying, and counting the main and more complex task may be interfered by the simpler stimulus. The expectation of having a longer reaction time when conducting the incongruent task was referenced back to the Stroop effect due to the similar implications of identifying and saying aloud the color presented in the print of the color descriptive word (Stroop,
Due to its key in understanding attention, the study that lead to many other related investigations, originated by examining interference in reading automaticity. Stroop furthered his research by creating tasks involving color naming and reading. He first compared the time it took to read color names printed in incongruent ink colors to a base line reading of color words. For the second part of his study, Stroop compared the time it took to name the ink color when congruent with the color word (e.g., blue printed in blue ink) to the time it took to name the ink color.
A Separate Peace “It wasn’t the cider which made me surpass myself, it was this liberation we had torn from the gray encroachments of 1943, the escape we had concocted, this afternoon of momentary, illusory, special and a separate peace,” (128) reflects Gene Forrester after his carefree outing at the winter carnival. John Knowles in a Separate Peace uses an unusual plot to give the reader an illusionary sense of peace and security, found only at Devon, during a time of great war, through isolating specific idealistic moments from the sin and evil that encompasses them.
For examining the influence of age and gender on the Stroop effect, the experimenter adopted the Stroop paradigm. In Stroop paradigm there are three: neutral or control, congruent and incongruent groups. Neutral / control group will receive stimuli in which only the text or colors are presented (van Maanen L, van Rijn H& Borst JP, 2009). When the color of the word and the text of the word refer to the same color (for example the word "red" printed in red) is a congruent stimulus. In Incongruent stimulus, the color of the word and color of the text differ (for example the word "red" printed in blue).
Processing capacity is a very broad and flexible category according to many researchers. In fact, the quote above mentioned suggests that we often fail to notice things that happen just in front of us (unexpected events that are often salient) either because we were completely absorbed by something else or because we had so many things to do at the same time that we couldn’t pay attention to it. We have all at least once failed to see a friend who was waving at us while eating in the cafeteria or walking in a crowded street. The primary question that we should ask ourselves is: how many things can we attend at the same time? The truth is that we didn’t perceive this friend because of a phenomenon called “inattentional blindness”. The problem is that the richness of our visual experience leads us to believe that our visual representation will include and preserve the same amount of detail (Levin et al 2000). In this paper we’ll see the different theories of inattentional blindness, and the classical theories demonstrating this paradigm.
Humans are creatures that spent more time looking for the distraction from work than actually working. Humans are naturally easily distracted and need something to help us focus on the tasks at hand. Two stories that clearly reflect this are "Stopping by Woods on a snowy evening" by Robert Frost and "Effort by Distraction" by Josephine Miles. In Frost 's story, it shows how humans are easily distracted so we need something so push us forward the goal in mind. Mile 's poem supports this by explaining on how humans focus more on trying to distract themselves than actually working and paying attention. My artifact extends the meaning of my poem because it analyzes how humans are naturally lazy and how we need to push ourselves to continue working.
The experiment found that unconscious semantic processing of words on an unattended channel was intruding upon a task of naming ink colours. This was consistent with the Stroop effect. The extent of the effect was dependent on the neutrality of the control stimulus. Future research conducted in this area should attempt to manipulate task similarity in a more definite manner and be careful to ensure that the dual tasks are presented simultaneously.
Performing well in at certain tasks and retaining information both require a high level of attention. Multitasking requires that this attention be divided amongst different tasks. As a result, the some of the attention used for a certain task must now be used for other tasks, which affects the factors needed to complete it. Referring to an experiment that was discussed earlier, Wieth and Burns (2014) stated that even with the reward, the promise of incentive could not override the limits of people’s attention. Retaining information requires undivided attention. The key word is ‘undivided.’ According to this experiment, it is nearly impossible to have the same high level of focus while working on multiple tasks that a person would while working on one task. Once someone has reached the end of their attention span, their performance begins to falter. In a final experiment involving media multitasking and attention, Ralph, Thomson, Cheyne, and Smilek (2014) stated that multitasking can lead to mind wandering and lapses in attention, which distracts people from their tasks. These results show that once their attention is divided, it can lead to distractions and difficulty completing different tasks. It is difficult to complete one assignment while focusing on several others at the same time. Multitasking affects the attention needed for a task, which can affect everything
The purpose of our experiment, called The Stroop Effect, is an outcome of our attentionalvitality and flexibility. Most humans can read words more quickly and automatically than they can name colors. Therefore, if a word is shown in a different color ink than the color actually spells; for example, if the word blue is actually written in reen ink, we will have a harder time separatin the word from the color. !e are testin to prove that youner children "approximatelyaes # to $%& will be able to complete the Stroop Test faster than older adults "approximately aes $' to %(&. The procedure is rather simple; we athered a wide rane of test sub)ects varyin by their aes and showed them the Stroop *hart. Then we told them the directions in
Macleod and Mathews (1991) induced attentional biases within a laboratory setting to determine that a ca...
Some people believe that songs with lyrics and melody can distract a student while studying, and hence, the speed of doing work will decrease. However, it must be recognized that there are other types of music, such as classical or instrumental music. These types of music promote in gaining higher concentration than compared to music with lyrics. As Cho suggests, with this state, when the brain is relaxed and calm,work is d...
In Betty White’s opening monologue to Saturday Night Live, she said, “I didn’t know what Facebook was, and now that I do know what it is, I have to say, it sounds like a huge waste of time. I would never say the people on it are losers, but that’s only because I’m polite.” Originally intended for the use of students at Harvard University in 2004, Facebook grew exponentially to be an online phenomenon in the years following. In 2006, it became accessible to anyone and everyone with internet connection. Aside from the advantages that give the site its popularity, creating a profile comes with a number of significant disadvantages inherit to online social networks. What do more than 500 million active users use their Facebook for? Communicating with long distance friends and spreading awareness of causes are common responses. Unfortunately, Facebook has it flaws, from limiting the privacy of relationships to creating a form of almost unmanageable bullying, making one reconsider their involvement and think, “do I really want my Facebook account?”
Change it so that there is a quitter working space for the test subjects to work in. This is pretty important to do because this can greatly affect the time that the test subject gets. For example if there were no distraction the test subjects might get faster times because they would be more focused. Also make two copies of the Stroop Effect chart so that there is data on how many times the test subject made an error. Add more trials to all the tests. For example if there were three trials for reciting the color of the word than there would be a better average to compare the data to. Do the same; add more trials to reciting just the word. Next there could be the same test for adults to see if adults do better than the middle school students. Next time make changes to the style of Stroop Effect. For example, change the experiment so that it is more in sync with the actual Stroop Effect test. “In two classic experiments, Stroop first compared reading a list of words printed in black with reading the same list of words printed in incongruent colors. Stroop found that there was little difference in reading time for the two lists. Stroop then compared the naming of colors for a list of solid color squares with the naming of colors for a list of words printed in incongruent colors”(Backround). Finally make sure that the test subjects are not distracted by music or peer pressure to go faster. If this research was pursued further, then the question might be changed to ask if the Stroop Effect has a different effect on different age groups. This question came in the research of this topic. It says that “However, the older group continued to show a larger interference effect throughout practice. These findings indicate that older adults show the same trend in practice-related improvement on the Stroop task as younger adults”(Davidson).
...er helpful technique was frequently taking timed tests to music on YouTube. This helped work our minds into the habit of clearing all distractions and noise. Noise(Insert hyperlink to noise) is anything type of distraction or interruption that will get in the way of getting things done, or even get in your way of understanding something; For example, pets, emotion, attitude, and interest. Those are just a few of the many types of noise.
Strayer, D. L. & Johnston, W. A. (2001) Driven to distraction: Dual task studies of simulated driving and conversing on a cellular phone. Psychological Science, 12, 462-466