People ignore distracting stimuli through two factors:
- Perceptual load
- Processing capacity

Load theory of attention

Humans use two distinct cognitive systems:
- System 1 is fast, intuitive, unconscious and automatic.
- System 2 is slow, reflective, conscious and controlled.

Dual systems of cognition

There exists a progression of processing that starts at lower-level areas of the brain and moves to higher-level areas. These lower-level areas respond to simple stimuli and send their feedback to areas in charge of more complex tasks in pursuit of eventually forming a representation.

Hierarchical Processing

Concerns differences in how we process positive and negative information

Differences in Processing Positive and Negative Information 

- Dual systems: System 1 (automatic) and system 2 (controlled)
- Hierarchical processing
- Load theory of attention
- Differences in Processing Positive and Negative Information

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Alma College

Processing (cognitive)

Focuses of research on processing

There are two modes of processing in social cognition:
- Automatic Processing 
- Deliberate Processing

Dual Modes of Processing in Social Cognition

Traces the sequences of the different operations within the mind - similar to how a computer is broken down into memory units, an input processor, etc.

Information-Processing approach

This model suggests that when people are processing a negated message, they first internalize the core affirmative message, and then add on the negation. For example, if the sentence being processed is "Sue does not like cake", first "Sue likes cake" is processed, then the "does not" part is added in. Over time, people may forget the link between the core statement and the negation and start to misremember.

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