One example is driving.
Incognitive psychology, parallel processing refers to the ability to deal with multiple stimuli simultaneously.
This led to the ascendance of cognitive psychology.
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How Parallel Processing Works
In parallel processing, we take in multiple forms of information simultaneously.
This is especially important in vision.
In this instance, parallel processing helps you recognize that you must move before the bus gets too close.
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We engage in this process constantly, even though we’re not conscious of it.
Parallel processing also relies on a combination of top-down and bottom-up processing.
Say you see a person jump off a pier, and then you hear splashing.
Bottom-up processing uses your senses to build a picture of the incoming data.
Automaticity is the ability to act without conscious thought, which happens when a behavior becomes over-learned.
There are degrees of automaticity.
Automaticity enables people to perform impressive feats of parallel processing.
The participants learned to perform these tasks without difficulty over several weeks of practice.
This may be less efficient.
Serial Processing
This theory proposes that we process information in the order received.
Parallel processing is also limited by what psychologists call serial bottlenecks in information processing.
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Spelke E, Hirst W, Neisser U.Skills of divided attention.Cognition.
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