limited capacity attention

brain limited in amount of information in outside world it can take in at one time
Kahneman: within the brain is a 'limited-capacity central processor' responsible for analysing incoming information and integrating it with that already held
idea supported by dual-task study that found people responded more slowly to a letter and a tone presented simultaneously
replicated study requiring different responses found that response time was not slowed - suggests that may have different pools of resources for different tasks - not one central processor
led to multiple resource theories of attention although difficult to establish how they are divided for different senses / information
1. could be different levels of the system
idea is important as we are aware of processing limitations in everyday life - different kinds of theory useful in stimulating research into how 'system' works

Resource summary

	Created by db56hse over 11 years ago