Automatic and Controlled Processing

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Automatic and Controlled Processing

• Old questions
• What is attention?
• Sometimes, we can only pay attention to one
  thing.
• Sometimes, we can pay attention to many different
  things.
• Why is it?

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Famous theory

• Capacity theory by Kahneman (1973)
• Attention can be conceptualized as a limited
  resource.
• You can divide this resource any ways you want
  to.
• But, each task requires different amount of
  attentional resource.

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• So, sometimes, you can do many different things.
• Sometimes you can do only a few things.

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• Question
• Does performing a task always require attentional
  resource?
• Answer
• Not always.
• If the processing becomes automatic, no resource
  needed.

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What is automatic processing?

• Posner Snyder (1975)
• Processing that occurs without
• intention.
• conscious awareness
• attentional resource

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How do we develop?

• Shiffrin and Schneider (1977) - two very
  important variables
• consistency
• repetition
• Demonstrated these by using Visual Search task

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Visual Search

• Very similar to Sternbergs (1969) additive
  factor method
• Memory set - 8
• Search set 1 - A 7 3 B D F 2 1
• Search set 2 - X 2 9 P G H 9 3
• Search set 3 - A 7 3 T D J 8 4

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9
9
X G 7 QH 1 3 D2 8 R V
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4 2 1 HB V T I7 3 1 V
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H 3 M NY Q P B9 G U S
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• You can use
• single frame
• multiple frames
• What would be the indication of automatic
  processing?

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If the detection is automatic..

• Shouldnt matter
• the number of items you have to search for
  (Memory set size).
• The number of items from which you need to find
  the targets (Frame set size)

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Did they find it?

• They manipulated two conditions.
• Consistent mapping (CM)
• Variable mapping (VM)

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Consistent mapping

• Across the trials, the targets were never used as
  distractors.
• Trial block 1
• memory set (3 4)
• distractors (1 2 7 9 A B C D)
• Trial block 2
• memory set (5 0)
• distractors (1 2 7 9 A B C D)

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Variable mapping

• Targets are sometimes used as distractors.
• Trial block 1
• memory set (3 4)
• distractors (0 2 5 9 A B C D)
• Trial block 2
• memory set (5 0)
• distractors (1 3 7 4 A B C D)

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Automatic processing occurred

• Only in CM condition after many trials.
• Over 600 trials.

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Present Experiment

• An extension of Shiffrin and Schneider (1977)
• A replication of Fisk and Schneider (1983)
• Question
• Can automatic processing be developed with
  complex materials?
• Use category search.

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• Given a category name to search for (e.g., fruit)
• Given two words on top on the other
• Chair
• Apple
• Decide yes or no

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Two conditions

• CM
• Two categories will always be targets and never
  be used as distractors.
• VM
• six categories will be used as targets or
  distractors.

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How do we know automatic processing was developed?

• First 3 blocks - search for one category at a
  time.
• On the fourth block - search for 2 categories.
• If it is automatic, it does not matter whether
  you search for one or two categories. Reaction
  time should stay the same.