Donald Broadbent facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Donald Eric Broadbent
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| Born | May 6, 1926 |
| Died | April 10, 1993 (aged 66) |
| Alma mater | University of Cambridge |
| Spouse(s) | Margaret E. Wright; Margaret Gregory |
| Children | 2 |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | Applied Psychology Research Unit |
Donald Eric Broadbent was a very important experimental psychologist from the United Kingdom. He was born in Birmingham on May 6, 1926, and passed away on April 10, 1993.
Broadbent's work helped connect older ideas about the mind with a newer field called Cognitive Psychology. This new field became popular in the late 1960s. He is considered one of the most important psychologists of the 20th century.
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About Donald Broadbent
Donald Broadbent was born in Birmingham, but he felt a strong connection to Wales. He spent a lot of his childhood there. His mother worked hard to send him to a top school, Winchester College. She wanted him to have the best education possible.
Before joining the military, he tried studying different subjects. He explored classics, history, and science. Science was his favorite subject. While training in the United States, he discovered psychology. This field really caught his interest.
When he returned to England, he went to University of Cambridge. He decided to study experimental psychology. His teacher was Frederic Bartlett, who believed in using evidence to form theories. After graduating in 1949, Broadbent joined the Applied Psychology Unit at Cambridge.
Broadbent's Important Work
In 1958, Broadbent became the director of the Applied Psychology Research Unit. This unit was set up to study how people's minds work. Even though much of their work was for the military or businesses, Broadbent became famous for his theories.
He developed ideas about how we pay attention (selective attention). He also studied how our short-term memory works. He was one of the first to use computers to understand how the human mind processes information. These ideas led to his "single channel hypothesis."
His most famous idea was Broadbent's filter model of attention. This model suggested that our brains act like a filter. It lets us focus on one sound or message at a time. For example, it helps us pick out a friend's voice in a noisy room. This filter helps us avoid getting too much information at once.
Broadbent put all these theories into his 1958 book, Perception and Communication. This book is still a classic in cognitive psychology today. Later, he also studied implicit learning. This is when we learn things without even realizing it.
Working with the Government
The Applied Psychology Unit also advised the government. Broadbent worked on studies about noise and technology. His interest in attention came from wanting to improve communication for pilots. He had started this work while serving in the Royal Navy.
In 1958, his book Perception and Communication was published. It became very influential. That same year, he became the director of the Applied Psychology Unit. He helped it become a world leader in applied psychology.
In 1974, he moved to the Department of Experimental Psychology at Oxford. There, he created the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (CFQ). This questionnaire looked at how jobs affect people's health. He continued his research on attention and memory.
Donald Broadbent wrote several other books, including Behaviour, Decision and Stress. He retired and passed away in 1993.
Broadbent's Filter Model of Attention
Broadbent's Filter Model of Attention suggests that our brains have a special "filter." This filter is located between what our senses take in and our short-term memory. It works like a gatekeeper.
Imagine you hear many sounds at once. This filter lets only one sound or message pass through at a time. The other sounds wait in a "buffer" for later. This prevents our short-term memory from getting overloaded.
Broadbent came up with this idea from an experiment. People heard three numbers in one ear and three different numbers in the other ear at the same time. Most people remembered the numbers from one ear first, then the numbers from the other ear. For example, if they heard 496 in one ear and 852 in the other, they would say "496852." They didn't mix them up like "489562."
However, this theory has trouble explaining the famous cocktail party effect. This effect describes how we can focus on one conversation in a noisy room. We can still hear our name or something interesting from another conversation.
Personal Life
In 1949, Donald Broadbent married Margaret E. Wright. They had two daughters together. Later, in 1972, he married Margaret Gregory. She had been his research assistant and they worked together for many years.
Honours
To honor Donald Broadbent, a special lecture is given each year. This happens at the annual meeting of the British Psychological Society.
