... message in each ear at the same time whilst shadowing, or repeating, one of the messages. Results indicated that little or nothing of the unattended message could be recalled. This indicates that attention can be focused on one stimulus while most of the other attained information is blocked. However, Cherry found that some features of information presented to the unattended ear seem to get through the block when changes in intensity (i.e. from male to female) and volume (i.e. loud to quiet) occur. The sound of one's name may also capture attention, as a name contains meaningful and semantic information to one who owns it. Support for Cherry's work comes from Moray (1959). Seven words were repeated 35 times in the unattended ear, but subsequent recall was no better than chance. Broadbent (1954) used the split-span procedure to investigate focused attention. Three digits were presented to participants in one ear, ...

See this essay or coursework document in full right now