Two Examples That Illustrate the Limitations of Attention, Are These Limitations Advantageous or Disadvantageous?

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Yet in the real world this can be a major disadvantage particularly with regard to riders of bicycles and motorbikes with 24% of motorcycle accidents in 2012 being caused by a car driver admitting that they did not see the motorcycle (Downes, 2015); the consequence of limited attention. When that limitation leads to our attention being divided or shifted it becomes a major disadvantage when driving. This can happen when the drivers visual attention is focused on any one area, as has become increasingly so in recent years with car drivers using their mobile phones at the wheel whilst driving. Car drivers are four times more likely to have an accident whilst using a mobile phone, with their divided attention causing their reaction times to become around 50% slower (“Mobile phones,” n.d.). In a driving simulation carried out by researchers at the Monash University in Australia young drivers in particular had their eyes off the road whilst texting for 400% longer than drivers not using phones whilst driving (Hosking et al., 2005).

Two examples that clearly illustrate the limitations of attention and the advantages and disadvantages of those limitations; being aware of those limitations allows people to circumvent the possible disadvantages whilst using the advantages to the best possible effect.

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References

Dawson, M. E., & Schell, A. M. (1982). Electrodermal responses to attended and nonattended significant stimuli during dichotic listening. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 8(2), 315.

Derrfuss, J. (2016). attention3_handout

Downes, A. (2015, March 3). New accident stats show large decrease. Retrieved November 30, 2016, from Motorcycle News, http://www.motorcyclenews.com/news/2015/march/new-accident-stats-show-large-decrease/

Hosking, S. G., YOUNG, K., & Regan, M. A. (2005). The effects of text messaging on young novice driver performance (No. 246).

James, W. (1890). The Principles of. Psychology, pp. 403, 404

Lachter, J., Forster, K. I., & Ruthruff, E. (2004). Forty-five years after Broadbent (1958): still no identification without attention. Psychological review, 111(4), 880.

Mobile phones. Retrieved December 2, 2016, from http://think.direct.gov.uk/mobile-phones.html

Simons, D. J., & Chabris, C. F. (1999). Gorillas in our midst: Sustained Inattentional blindness for dynamic events. Perception, 28(9), 1059–1074. doi:10.1068/p281059

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