Span of Attention

 Problem
o To relate span of attention with meaningfulness of the problem
 Basic concept
o Definition of attention
 Attention is the cognitive process of selectively
concentrating on one aspect of the environment while
ignoring other things. It is a complex mental function
that involves filtering, selecting, and focusing on
relevant stimuli
o Types of attention
 Sustained attention: the ability to maintain focus on a
task or stimulus over a prolonged period
 Selective attention: the process of focusing on a
particular object or task while ignoring irrelevant
information
 Divided attention: the ability to process different
information sources and carry out multiple tasks
simultaneously
 Alternating attention: the capacity to switch focus
between tasks that require different cognitive demands
o Span of attention
 It refers to the amount of information an individual can
focus on and hold in their STM at one time. Typically,
this is believed to be around 5-7 items, often referred to
as Miller’s Law (7 +- 2)
o Factor affecting span of attention
 Nature of the stimuli: stimuli that are clear, well-defined,
and interesting are more likely to hold attention
 Novelty: new and unfamiliar stimuli can attract and
maintain attention better than familiar ones
 Intentionality: the purpose or goal behind focusing
attention affects how well and how long it can be
maintained
  Mental set: the readiness or expectation to perceive or
respond to certain stimuli influences attention
 Meaningful material: information that is relevant or
meaningful to the individual is more likely to be
attended to and remembered
o Theories
 Broadbent’s Filter Theory
 Proposed by Donald Broadbent, this theory
suggests that attention acts as a filter, allowing
only certain information to pass through for further
processing while blocking out other stimuli
 Treisman’s Attenuation Theory
 Anne Treisman modified Broadbent’s theory,
suggesting that unattended messages are not
completely blocked but rather attenuated
(weakened), making it possible for some
unattended information to be processed at a lower
priority
 Kahneman’s Capacity Theory
 Daniel Kahneman proposed that attention is a
limited resource that can be allocated to different
tasks based on their demands. The capacity of
attention can vary depending on the individual’s
arousal and mental state
 Hypothesis
o Meaningful material has larger span of attention in comparison
to non-meaningful material
 Variables
o Independent variable: meaningfulness of the material
o Dependent Variable: span of attention
o Control variables
 Series is 7+-2
 Decreasing order
 Color of material- Blue
 Symbols & elements were readable & in CAPS on
 Size of cards
  Airy room
 Time of exposure to the sequence- 3 seconds
 Material required
o Enough 5 papers
o Pre-prepared lists of random letters
o 2 colored pens
o Screen
o Notepad for recording responses
o Stopwatch
 Sample
o Subject 1: A 27 years old female, psychology student
 Instruction
o Subject was seated towards the right of the experimenter
o The screen was placed on the table in front of the subject
o Each card was shown for 3 seconds
o Respond sheet was provided to the subject and was asked to
recalled what she saw on the card
o The card was not shown again
 Procedure
o Prepare several lists of random sequences of letters, numbers,
symbols or words in each card. Each sequence should vary in
length, starting from 5 items up to 9 items in case
o Material required for conducting the test are kept ready
o Explaining the experiment to the subject
o Execution
 Start with the decreasing order. The sequence is
displayed on the screen for 3 seconds
 After 3 seconds, the sequence is removed from the
screen
 The subject immediately has 10 seconds to write down
as many items as she can remember
 The number of items correctly remembered is recorded
 The length of the sequence is decreased and the process
is repeated
 This process is continued until the remaining sequences
have been tested
 o Data collection
 Create a table to record the number of items correctly
recalled for each sequence length by the subject
 Precaution
o Room was lit
o Free from distractions
o Conducive atmosphere
o Maintain a consistent duration for displaying the sequences
and the recall period
 Introspective reports
o The subject expressed a dislike for numbers. This bias could
have influenced her recall performance, especially with
sequences containing numbers
o As the sequence length decreased, the subject appeared
confidence. This confidence might have contributed to the
increased recall accuracy for shorter sequences
 Results
Cards Total items Respond items
1 9 8
2 8 6
3 7 7
4 6 6
5 5 5

o It is concluded from the above table that, the highest items

 Discussion
o Observation: from the results, we can observe that subject was
generally able to recall most of the items accurately, with a
slight increase in performances as the number of items
decreased
 For Card 1, with 9 items, the recall was 8 items,
indicating a high recall accuracy
  For Card 2, with 8 items, the recall dropped slightly to 6
items
 For Cards 3,4, & 5, with 7, 6, & 5 items respectively,
subject recalled all items correctly
o The high recall accuracy for Cads 3,4, & 5 suggests that
sequences of 5-7 items are well within the typical STM span
for the subject
o The slight drop in recall accuracy for Cards 1 & 2 indicates
that sequences longer than 7 items begin to challenge the
subject’s STM capacity
o The data aligns with the well-known concept of Miller’s Law,
which suggest that the average span of STM is 7+-2 items
o When we compared the results with those of other peers, we
found that there are individual differences. Each person's
attention span or working memory capacity is different
 Case studies
o “An Experimental Study on Span of Attend among prospective
teachers”
 The experiment effectively demonstrated variations in
attention for span for meaningful vs non-meaningful
words. Finding indicates that:
 Attention span for meaningful words: participants
generally displayed a higher span of attention for
meaningful words, with a mean value of 7.33. this
suggests that individuals can retain and process
meaningful information more effectively tha non-
meaningful information
 Attention span for non-meaningful words:
conversely, the mean value of non-meaningful
words was 6.83, indicating a shorter attention
span. The accuracy of responses decreased with
longer sequences of non-meaningful syllables,
highlighting the challenges in retaining such
information
 Experimental observations: the subject’s responses
to cards with meaningful words were generally
accurate, while responses to cards with non-
 meaningful words were less reliable, particularly
as the length of the sequence increased
 Overall, these results support the hypothesis that
attention span is longer for meaningful words compared
to non-meaningful words. This distinction is valuable for
understanding cognitive processes and could inform
strategies for improving attention and memory in
educational contexts
o “A comparison on the span of attention with meaningful and
non-meaningful words”
 The result form the experiment reveal distinct
differences in attention span for meaningful vs non-
meaningful words
 Non-meaninful words: the subject correctly
identified all non-meaningful words consisting of
3 or 4 letters. However, accuracy dropped to zero
for non-meaningful words with 5 letters, indicating
a significant reduction in attention span for more
complex sequences of non-meaningful syllables
 Meaningful words: the subject successfully
response to all but the last 2 letters of the
meaningful words. Despite this, when re-tested
with the 10th card, the subject failed to respond
correctly on 3 consecutive attempts, leading to the
discontinuation of the experiment with meaningful
words. This suggests that while meaningful words
had a longer attention span, there is a limit to this
capacity
 Attention span comparison: the span of attention
for meaningful words was notably longer
compared to non-meaningful words. The result
confirms the hypothesis that the attention span for
meaningful words exceeds those non-meaningful
words. Specially, the percentage of correct
responses for meaningful words was 75%, while it
was 66% for non-meaningful words
  Subject’s emotional state: the subject experienced
tension prior to the test, which eased slightly upon
reading the 1st meaningful word. The subject
remained focused during the meaningful word test
but showed increased tension during the
meaningless word test, finding the latter more
challenging
 Overall, these findings corroborate the hypothesis and
underscore the impact of word meaning on attention
span. The results provide valuable insights into cognitive
processes related to meaningful vs non-meaningful
information
 Conclusion
o The span of attention experiment aimed to investigate the
relationship between the meaningfulness of material and its
impact on attention span and short-term memory retention. By
analysing the recall performance of a 27-year-old female
psychology student, several key insights were obtained.
o Key Findings
 Meaningfulness Enhances Attention Span: The
experiment confirmed that meaningful material has a
larger span of attention compared to non-meaningful
material. This finding is consistent with previous
research showing that meaningful words are recalled
with greater accuracy, indicating that relevance and
significance enhance attentional and mnemonic
processes.
 Adherence to Miller’s Law: The subject’s recall
performance supported Miller’s Law, which suggests
that the typical span of short-term memory (STM) is 7 ±
2 items. The results demonstrated that the subject could
accurately recall sequences of 5-7 items, while longer
sequences (8-9 items) were more challenging. This
aligns with the observed mean values for meaningful
(7.33) and non-meaningful words (6.83), reflecting the
limits of short-term memory.
  Individual Differences in Attention Span: The
experiment revealed individual variability in attention
span and working memory capacity. As noted in earlier
research, there are differences in how individuals
process and retain information, which highlights the
importance of accounting for personal cognitive
differences in educational and psychological
assessments.
 Influence of Sequence Length: Consistent with previous
findings, shorter sequences were recalled with greater
accuracy. This supports the idea that shorter, more
manageable chunks of information are easier to process
and retain within the constraints of short-term memory,
corroborating the observation that attention span for
non-meaningful words is shorter compared to
meaningful words.
o Overall, these findings underscore the importance of
meaningfulness in enhancing attention span and recall
accuracy, validate Miller’s Law in the context of meaningful
and non-meaningful material, and highlight individual
differences in cognitive processing. The results contribute to a
deeper understanding of how meaning affects attention and
memory, providing valuable insights for educational and
psychological practice.