Describe Schneider and Shiffrin’s experiment that demonstrated automatic processing. What are some real-life examples of automated processing? When is automatic processing not possible?
Automatic processes refer to that processing with the ability to occur without any need for attention or regular awareness about the process’s operation or initiation (Fabio et al., 2019). Schneider and Shiffrin are experimented to demonstrate automatic processing. The experiment involved the participants concurrently performing their tasks while paying attention to any stimuli that may appear distractive to establish whether or not there is the presence of the target stimuli in the given distractor. The results of their experiment after 600 trials being automatically indicated that the many intentional trials resulted in few automatic processing in which there is no attention at any given cost. The practice also enabled the subjects to have divided attention about simultaneously dealing with the target and test items. In any case, the given task is difficult; then, automatic processing is not likely to occur.
Reference
Fabio, R. A., Caprì, T., & Romano, M. (2019). From controlled to automatic processes and back again: the role of contextual features. Europe’s Journal of Psychology, 15(4), 773-788.