Sensation Perception and Attention

Sensation, Perception, and Attention
Sensation, perception, and attention are crucial when working in a learning team. What we sense, how we perceive, and how attentive we are to the task at hand are all extremely important. What we sense will not always be the same thing. How we perceive an assignment or how we perceive each other will differ. The attention that we pay to detail or to each other will also differ. Sensation, perception, and attention can either be our strengths or the reason we fail. In a learning team environment, it is important to communicate with each other so that these things do not interfere with the tasks at hand. This paper reflects on each team member’s threshold for auditory stimuli, dichotic listening, the cocktail party effect, divided attention, and problems within the group related to sensory perception.
As a whole, our group has a low threshold for auditory stimuli. What does this really mean? The question “What is your threshold for auditory stimuli?” is answered differently when taking into consideration distractions, environmental factors, and personal factors. Sickness, hearing loss, and tiredness can affect personal auditory thresholds. Background noise and interruptions can also affect personal auditory thresholds. Upon analyzing the answers to the question “What is your auditory stimuli?” from the members of the group, we concluded that we each work well without background noise, free from interruptions, when we are feeling well, and are well rested.
Dichotic listening is studying the auditory process of individuals. It allows one to see just how much they are receiving in each ear. A good example is having simultaneous conversations with more than one individual. According to Marciela and Tanisha, they have no problem with dichotic listening. This is due to the fact that they have incorporated motherhood in dichotic listening. They both have children and can divide attention between each individual conversation. For these two women, they are able to differentiate between the children, hear what each has to say or is requesting, and are able to effectively answer them, even though they are talking at the same time. Tanisha contributes her dichotic listening skills to being a police dispatcher. An occupation as such requires good skills to best concentrate on the importance of the call while collecting and recording key information needed in order to dispatch the call properly. Charleen, Kelley, and Candace have a more difficult time with dichotic listening. It is easier for them to hear one person at a time. Multi-tasking in conversation is more difficult for them because they are unable to separate the conversations being held in each ear. Important information can be missed when trying to hear more than one person. What is being processed tends to be translated into something else. When this occurs, what is thought to be heard may not actually be what was spoken at all. It follows with people coming up and speaking to one directly or in a lecture setting. In the lecture setting, one person talks while others take notes. It becomes a personal skill to figure out the best way to hear what is being said and to properly make sure all information is being recorded.
As many already know, everyone learns differently but there are still many similarities that affect how people learn. An example of this is how dividing attention can facilitate or impede an individual’s learning. In our team learning group, all of us agreed that trying to divide our attention on more than one task at a time will impede on our learning. Some of us feel that we are able to multi-task well but the fact of the matter is that multi-tasking leaves room for mistakes. Some team members felt that divided attention can also impede with memory. “Other researchers have found that working memory as a whole does seem to have a limited capacity—people cannot do and remember too many things at the same time.” (Kowalski & Westen, 2011) Sometimes it may seem that multi-tasking or focusing attention on more than one task at the same time is harmless and easy to do. What is actually happening is attention is not focused at all and information is not being adequately retained. For example, one team member thought it was a good idea to listen to music while studying. She later realized that it was not a good idea when she noticed that she had stopped reading to start listening to the words of the song. She understood that the progression to complete her reading assignment was delayed because of the distraction the music caused. As a majority, Learning Team D team members concluded that dividing attention is not a productive way to learn and could cause more damage than good.
Recognition and interpretation of sensory stimuli is solely based of an individual’s memory. Each individual within the team has a different sensory perception on how we work together in team form. Kelley sees a sensory perception problem in the way we can communicate with one another. She says, “The sensory problem I see within the team is that we are distracted by the inability to not communicate as a group in a group setting. We have to communicate within the forum and through email which creates the inability to concentrate at the actual task at hand. It diverts our focus not being able to be face-to-face.” Charleen agrees with Kelley and says, “Our sensory perception is lacking due to a failure to communicate properly. If we had better communication with one another then the group would be smooth sailing.” Tanisha also feels, “There is no auditory processing taking place because we are not speaking to each other and all the communication is being read, which leaves each person to be responsible for understanding what all the other team members are trying to express.” Maricela recognizes that our team is filled with auditory learners. She states, “I believe that being able to elaborate on a subject as a group, and really being able to cover a subject thoroughly can help everyone understand what they must do to complete the assignment. Checking in daily can cancel out any misunderstandings about the assignments and can even help our teammates that are struggling. Candace feels like sensory perception is hard to explain because, “It is taking a lot to really break down to receive an understanding. When trying to identify the sensory perception, I came across the sensory adaptation. It’s a change in response to our stimulus. Our responses vary each time we switch over from one task to another.” Our sensory perception is like mental organization. As a team, we must work together and be on the same page to acquire positive and organized sensory perception.
Everyone learns differently, whether they are auditory learners or sensation learns, even perception learners. Everyone has his or her own effective learning strategies. According to our team most of us are auditory learners meaning we need visual and auditory stimulation in order to understand the concept more effectively. Communication in the team forum allows the team members to ask questions and elaborate on the responsibilities of each individual in order to understand each assignment better. Checking into our learning teams daily helps to clear up misunderstandings about assignments and can even help our teammates that are struggling. Everyone has questions, and working as a team means we may have to answer those questions to clear up and prevent confusion. Team members can call one another if they need an answer to a question. The good thing about working in a team is we have several people to call. It is important that we each focus on what we are doing to contribute to each assignment. Each team member is responsible for a portion of each assignment and when they do not contribute their part, it hurts the team as a whole and the individual does not receive credit for the assignment. The most important rule in our team is to help our teammates by completing our portion of each assignment. Incorporating everyone’s learning requirements is easy but working as a team can be a change for everyone.
Although we are individuals, we still share a common ground within our team setting. We are all auditory learners meaning we need visual and auditory learning situations. Our comfort level varies due to our perceptions being different from one another. Most of us can only focus on the task at hand and have trouble communicating in variations all at once. Through this, we were able to identify our sensory perception on how the team is facilitated. We have the same yet different views on our sensory perception, but, feel like we share a common understanding. Suggestions were implemented to give direction for the team and its assignments due. As a team, our goal is to check in daily to observe the group’s needs, ask and answer questions when needed, and do assignments in a timely manner. As a team, we are working together through our sensation, perception, and attention differences to bring to the table the best of our teamwork and assignments directed by the professor. References
Kowalski, R., & Westin, D. (2011). Psychology (6th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley

References: Kowalski, R., & Westin, D. (2011). Psychology (6th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley