The Cocktail Party Phenomenon
Researchers have recently re-examined the well known "cocktail party phenomenon," an occurrence which relies heavily on selective attention/listening. In their study, participants were asked to repeat a message that they heard in one ear, ignoring the irrelevant/distracting information presented simultaneously in the other (that is, their name). The researchers found that individuals with lower working memory scores were three times more likely to hear their name, the message they were supposed to be "tuning out," than those with higher scores. This suggests that individuals with poorer working memory abilities are less able to control their attention in the face of distracting information.
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