Cognitive Psychology in Education
By Isabella Carbajal
For first-year college students, the transition from high school to college can be challenging, especially when the ways of studying and learning begin to change. Luckily, there are beneficial ways of improving and overcoming these challenges if we understand the concept of load theory of attention. Do not fear, it is not as complicated as it may seem, and will change the way you think about studying!
By Sophia Simonis
Do you often have trouble studying for exams? Does it seem like even though you put in countless hours studying that you can never remember what you need to when it comes time to sit down and actually take a test? You may be studying wrong.
The load theory of attention explains how people can focus on a certain task while ignoring irrelevant stimuli. This theory includes two concepts, processing capacity and perceptual load. Processing capacity refers to the limited amount of information a person can focus on at one time. Your working memory can only handle so much at a time and still successfully carry out a task. Perceptual load refers to the amount of information a particular task involves. A high-load task, involving a large amount of information, will fill up your entire processing capacity. A low-load task, dealing with a small amount of information, will only take up a small portion of the processing capacity (1). In other words, a difficult task will require all of your attention to perform, while an easier task leaves room for distractions to take over your attention.
By Sarah C. McSparin
You feel as though everything is piling up and you’ll never get it all done. Join the club! Your not alone; there are thousands of students and employees with a mountain of responsibilities that seem too overwhelming. Not to mention the countless distractions life throws at you, especially cell phones. You wish there was some formula for completing all the tasks your assigned. Unfortunately there is not but by gaining knowledge about your ability to pay attention you can learn some tips and tricks to help you focus your attention on the things you want while ignoring the things that are distracting.