Difference in Cognitive Performance:

Selective attention vs. Divided attention

George U. Smith
John Patrick D. Lagmay
Shereehanne Angelica P. Caoile
Chapter 1
The Problem

• Attention as defined by William James, is “the taking possession of the mind, in clear and vivid form, of one out of what
may seem several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thoughts... It implies withdrawal from some things in
order to deal effectively with others.” Attention is giving full focus to the task, even multiple tasks, at hand while
deliberately ignoring the presence of distractors.
• There are two main types of attention: selective attention or undivided attention, and divided attention. Selective
attention is defined as the focusing on one task in the midst of another stimulus. An example of this is a person
studying. Having full, undivided attention to reading the text and deliberately ignoring distractors such as the
temptation of using the cellphone is the utilization of the selective attention. Divided attention on the other hand, is
splitting attention in order to attend to multiple tasks at the same time. This is also called as multi-tasking. A person
driving to work whilst listening to the radio for news, or even while engaging in a phone conversation is the utilization
of the divided attention. “Divided attention technique has been widely used to measure the resources and component-
processes required to perform a cognitive task” (E.I. Skinner, M.A. Fernandes 2008).
• Differences in the performance in tasks while utilizing either divided and selective attention has been the subject of
many studies. Majority of these studies found that the utilization of selective attention produced better performance
output. This is because selective attention improves sensory discrimination or the ability to interpret information. It also
decreases reaction time, thereby showing that cognitive processing is improved (Odegaard, Wozny, & Shams, 2015). In
selective attention, information is given more focus while inputs that are unattended are filtered out since selective
attention describes the process of focusing on specific aspects of all input (Hahn et al. 2008). Divided attention, on the
other hand, is the allocation of resources between different sets of information by splitting of the attentional focus. It is
the limitation of performing more than one information-processing task simultaneously, (Hahn et al. 2008) therefore,
may result in a loss of efficiency (Naveh-Benjamin, Kilb, and Fisher 2006) as well as degradation (L. Casini et al. 2009).
Some studies show, however, that divided attention at retrieval affects memory performance only minimally, while
encoding significantly reduces memory.
Aims and Purpose of the study:

• The main purpose of this study is to determine whether there will be a significant
difference in the efficiency of memory retrieval between those who utilized selective
or undivided attention in doing two cognitive tasks simultaneously, and those who
utilized divided attention in doing the two cognitive tasks separately.
Hypothesis of the Study:

Null hypothesis: That there is no significant difference in the efficiency of

memory retrieval between those who utilized selective or undivided attention
in doing two cognitive tasks simultaneously, and those who utilized divided
attention in doing the two cognitive tasks separately.
Chapter 2
Research Design and Methodology:

Research Design:
• This experimental study is a quantitative approach and the research design that the
researchers were going to utilize would be between-subjects design. The independent
variable was the method of doing the tasks (either doing the two tasks simultaneously/with
divided attention or separately/with undivided attention), while the dependent variable
was the number of correct responses for both numbers and letters.
Participants:
• 30 randomly selected college students at UCU participated in the experiment. They were
instructed in doing two tasks, for the 1st task they were given a time limit of 1 minute and
for the 2nd task has also given a 2 minutes of time limit. These tasks were done separately
and simultaneously.
Materials to be used:
• The materials that the researchers are response sheets, papers, pens, and a stopwatch or timer in
cellphone were used in the experiment.

Data gathering procedure:

• The selected students were assigned into different task. For the first task, they were given one
minute to count down from 99-0. When they reached 0 and still have time, they repeat counting
down from 99. The experimenter noted the number of mistakes (which includes skipped numbers,
repeated numbers and counting back up) committed by the participant. The participant’s score
was computed by subtracting to 100 the last number mentioned and the number of errors. The
second task was writing the alphabet backwards (one letter for each box in the response sheet
provided). The participants were given one minute for this task. When they reach letter A, they go
back and start again from Z until time is up. The experimenter computed the participant’s score by
subtracting the number of boxes filled correctly to the number of mistakes. The average of the two
scores yielded the participant’s final score. The same task was done to the second group but they
were given two minutes and the two tasks were done simultaneously. The procedure for scoring is
the same.
Chapter 3
Presentation, Analysis, and Interpretation of data

Discussion:
• The experiment was carried out with the intention of clarifying several issues
related to the effects of divided attention in memory retrieval. It is common
knowledge that encoding new information is even more difficult when one’s
attention is divided. However, when it comes to retrieval, several studies show
that divided attention may improve memory retention. One known explanation
is the desirable difficulties hypothesis of Gaspelin, Ruthruff & Pashler, (2013).
• Research findings in this experiment determined that there is a significant
difference in the efficiency of memory retrieval between those who utilized
selective or undivided attention in doing two tasks simultaneously, and those
who utilized divided attention in doing the two tasks separately. Therefore, this
indicates that performance will be affected by whether one allots undivided or
divided attention in performing such tasks.
• The table of data below shows that the divided attention has gained more average than
undivided attention, resulting to the participants having more capabilities of multi – tasking
rather than selective tasking. Having divided attention increases the cognitive skills of
individuals, thus having ‘Automatic Processing”. Shiffrin and Schneider (1977) developed a
theoretical framework that supports both selective and divided attention, thus, calling
“Automatic and Controlled Processing”. This focuses on the relationship of the cognitive skills
of individuals to their selective and divided attention. The researchers confirmed that having
divided attention enhances your cognitive skills such as fast learning, multi – task, and more
unlike selective attention. This also results to choosing divided attention over selective
attention.
Tables:
STEPS IN COMPUTING THE T-STATISTIC & DETERMINING CRITICAL VALUE
Step 1: Compute the mean for each group
Table number 1: Posttest Scores for both treatment conditions
PersonUndivided attention Divided attention
•1 37.5 59.5
•2 39.5 55
•3 51 56
•4 25 52.5
•5 26 51.5
•6 47 54.5
•7 48.5 51.5
•8 47.5 57
•9 42.5 53.5
•10 40 51.5
•11 43 54
•12 46 53
•13 35.5 57
•14 43 51.5
•15 42.5 55.5
•∑ 614.5 813.5
•M 41 54.23
Step 2: Compute the variance of each group:
x1 x2
________________________________________________________________________________________
37.5 1,406.25 59.5 3540.25
39.5 1,560.25 55 3,025
51 2601 56 3,136
25 625 52.5 2,756.25
26 676 51 2,652.25
47 2209 54.5 2,970.25

•47.5
48.5  2,352.25
2,256.25
51.5 2,652.25
57 3,249
42.5 1,806.25 53.5 2,862.25
40 1,600 51.5 2,652.25
43 1,849 54 2,916
46 2,116 53 2,809
35.5 1,260.25 57 3,249
43 1,849 51.5 2,652.25
42.5 1,806.25 55.5 3,080.25
Total=614.5/15= 41 ∑x12=25,972.75 Total=813.5/15=54.23 ∑x12=44,202.25
Formula in getting the variance: Undivided attention:
S12= ∑ 2/ N M 2

S 2 = 25,972.75/15 -

S 2= 1,731.52-1,681=

S12= 50.52 is the variance

•Divided
  attention:

S22= ∑ 2/ N M 2

S 2 = 44,202.25/15 -

S 2 = 2,946.82 - 2,940.89=

S 2 = 5.93 is the variance

Step 3: Computing Standard Error of Difference Between Means
sM1 - M2 = √(N1S12 + N S 2/N1 + N2 -2) (N1 + N2/ N1N2)
sM1 - M2 = √( 15 (50.52) + 15 (5.93)/ 15 + 15 - 2) (15 +15/ 15*15)
sM1 - M2 = √( 757.8 + 88.95/ 28) (30/225)
sM1 - M2 = √ ( 846.75/28) (0.13)
sM1 - M2 = √3.93
sM1 - M2 = 1.98

Step 4: Compute for t-statistic

t= M1-M2 / sM1- M2 t= 41-54.23 / 1.98
t= -13.23/ 1.98
t= 6.68
Step 5: Determine the critical value

df= N1 + N2 - 2
df= 15 + 15 - 2
df= 28
α=.05
Step 6:
Compare the t-statistic (computed value) on critical value (from the table above)
t= 6.68
Critical value or table t= 2.048
Therefore, if the computed value is higher compared to critical value, then reject null hypothesis

Results:
The researchers’ null hypothesis states that there is a significant difference between the scores of those
who did the tasks simultaneously and those who did the tasks separately. The research design used is
between-groups design. The statistical test is t-test for independent samples. The null hypothesis is rejected
since the computed value is greater than the critical value (6.68 > 2.048), and it confirms the researcher’s
null hypothesis. Hence, there is a significant difference between the scores of the group who did the tasks
simultaneously (or with divided attention) and with the group who did the tasks separately (or with
undivided attention).
In conclusion, it was found that there is a significant difference between the scores of the group that was
asked to accomplish the two tasks separately, and the scores of the group that was instructed to complete
the two tasks simultaneously. Therefore, there is an evidence that proves that divided attention will have a
positive impact on performance, or in memory retrieval. An individual’s performance on the two tasks is
consistent even when he or she performs them with divided attention or selective attention.
THANK YOU ;)