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Describe three theories of attention

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Attenuation Theory
The attenuation theory was proposed by Treisman (1960). Attenuation theory is essentially a slight modification of early selection theories. According to this theory unattended information is not completely blocked from further analysis beyond sensory memory rather it is attenuated or turned down. Thus the early filtering of information is not complete, it is partial, hence we may still get to process some unattended to information. Unattended information although weak can make its way to working memory. Riesman as cited by Riegler & Riegler,(2004) proposed that some words in our mental dictionary are permanently more available than others because of their personal importance. Similarly some words are temporarily more available due to a current circumstances

Late selection theories
According to this theory all incoming information (attended and unattended makes it past the sensory and enters working memory for identification. After identification only selected piece enjoys further cognitive processing. Non selected information is quickly forgotten due to limited capacity of working memory. The late selection easily accounts for identification of unattended message. Attention according to late selection theory is limited and this limitation operates at a late stage. Hence although all incoming information is identified we cannot reason about the respond to or remember all of it. Notably, attenuation and late selection theory share similarities because both theories make prediction about allowing for identification of unattended information. However, in the Attenuation theory, identification of unattended information is the exception rather than the rule. This means that not all the unattended to information is further processed. Whether information is identified depends on the context of the exact nature of the information. On the other hand late selection theory argues that the identification of meanings is the rule rather than exception. That means even if we are not paying attention we still make meaning out of the information we receive.

Chatelaine answered the question on June 17, 2021 at 12:06

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