AFFECTIVE ASSESSMENT IN SELECTIVE ATTENTION

RICHARD NEPHI WILLIAMS, Purdue University

Abstract

Contemporary models of selective attention were presented and the experimental literature which supports them was reviewed. Filter theories and parallel processing theories of selective attention were both found to be based on quasi-mechanistic cybernetic analogues. Attention arises from the function of limited capacity processes and processors which function on the basis of various features of the incoming information and the cognitive task at hand. Logical Learning Theory proposes that human mentation is a teleological process. Available information is affectively assessed and affirmed and made meaningful for the individual and then utilized as the grounds for mental or overt behavior through a process of meaning-extension. The activity of affective assessment for the Logical Learning Theorist is attention. The literature on Logical Learning Theory was reviewed, giving attention to validations of the effects of affective assessment in human learning. It was proposed that affective assessment could be demonstrated at the level of attention. Some research on selective attention has demonstrated higher-order processing of unattended material; this literature was reviewed. Such research gives support to parallel-processing models of selective attention and is compatible with the view of Logical Learning Theory. The relative merits of the two approaches to explanation were discussed in terms of their respective implications for the image of human consciousness and human nature. Affective factors in selective attention have not been widely researched. The available research on the topic was reviewed showing that effects for affect have been demonstrated. Two studies were conducted to investigate the possible effects of affective assessment, operationalized as reinforcement value according to Logical Learning Theory, on selective attention in a dichotic listening task. In the first study subjects shadowed one message of a dichotic presentation, both channels of which consisted of common monosyllabic words prerated for affective assessment. Four combinations of affective assessment were possible between the words of the two channels: both words liked, the attended word liked and the unattended word disliked, the attended word disliked and the unattended word liked, or both words disliked. The dichotic presentation was halted at random places and one group of subjects was asked to recall the immediately preceding unattended word. Another group of subjects was asked to recognize the unattended word from a group of four alternatives. It was predicted that positively assessed words would yield superior recall and recognition scores. The data from this study revealed no memory effects due to affective assessment. The second study utilized shadowing response latency as a dependent measure. It was predicted that latencies would be shortest for dichotic pairs, both members of which were liked, and that latencies would be longest for disliked pairs, with latencies for affectively mixed pairs falling between these two extremes. The means arrayed themselves according to prediction, however, the effects were not statistically significant. The results were discussed in terms of the difficulty of the dichotic listening tasks and the nature of the words employed. Suggestions for further research on the topic of affective factors in attention were given.

Degree

Ph.D.

Subject Area

Social psychology

COinS