Summary
Two experiments investigated the effects of noise on the processing of global shape and local detail. Both experiments showed that noise improved ordered recall of local features but impaired recall of global shape, although the extent of the effect of noise was influenced by the size of the compound stimuli. Noise did not produce the same effects as those obtained when attention is manipulated by instructions, and it is possible that noise produced a change in the more passive aspect of attention rather than altering the active allocation of attentional resources.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Broadbent, D.E. (1971). Decision and Stress. London: Academic Press.
Broadbent, D.E. (1977). The hidden pre-attentive processes. American Psychologist, 32, 109–118.
Broadbent, D.E. (1982). Task combination and selective intake of information. Acta Psychologica, 50, 253–290.
Broadbent, D.E. & Broadbent, M.H.P. (1977). General shape and local detail in word perception. In S. Dornic (Ed.). Attention and Performance VI. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum.
FitzGerald, P. & Broadbent, D.E. (in press). Order of report and the structure of short-term memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human learning and memory.
Hockey, G.R.J. (1970a). Effect of loud noise on attentional selectivity. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 22, 28–36.
Hockey, G.R.J. (1970b). Signal probability and spatial location as possible bases for increased selectivity in noise. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 22, 37–42.
Kinchla, R.A. & Wolfe, J.M. (1979). The order of visual processing. “Top-down”, “bottom-up”, or “middle-out”. Perception and Psychophysics, 25, 225–231.
Martin, M. (1978). Retention of attended and unattended auditorily and visually presented material. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 30, 187–200.
Martin, M. (1979). Local and global processing: the role of sparsity. Memory and Cognition, 7, 476–484.
Miles, C. & Jones, D.M The effects of noise on the perception of visual stimuli (submitted).
Navon, D. (1977). Forest before trees: the precedence of global features in visual perception. Cognitive Psychology, 9, 353–383.
Navon, D. & Norman, J. (1983). Does global precedence really depend on visual angle? Journal of Experimental Psychology, Human Perception and Performance, 9, 955–965.
Smith, A.P. (1982). The effect of noise and task priority on recall of order and location. Acta Psychologica, 54, 245–255.
Smith, A.P. & Broadbent, D.E. (1982). The effects of noise on the naming of colours and reading of colour names. Acta Psychologica, 51, 257–271.
Smith, A.P. & Broadbent, D.E. (1985). The effects of noise on the naming of colours and reading of colour names. Acta Psychologica, 58 275–285
Wilding, J.M. & Mohindra, N.K. (1983). Noise slows phonological coding and maintenance rehearsal: An explanation for some effects of noise on memory. In G. Rossi (Ed.). Proceedings of the Fourth International Congress on Noise as a Public Health Problem. Milan: centro ricerche e studi amplifon.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Smith, A.P. The effects of noise on the processing of global shape and local detail. Psychol. Res 47, 103–108 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00309124
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00309124