Someone a short distance away, to whom we have been paying no attention, quietly speaks your name, and suddenly you are attending to that conversation. This is an example of ________.
A) Broadbent's filter theory
B) shadowing
C) the cocktail party phenomenon
D) cue-controlled inhibition

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The scenario described is an example of the cocktail party phenomenon, where we are selectively attending to one conversation in a noisy environment and suddenly shift our attention to another conversation when our name is mentioned. Broadbent's filter theory suggests that our attentional filter only selects one input for processing at a time based on physical characteristics, while shadowing refers to repeating back information from the attended channel. Cue-controlled inhibition is a phenomenon where attention is suppressed for irrelevant information based on a cue.

Someone a Short Distance Away, to Whom We Have Been