10 - Attention Flashcards
attention
the selective focusing of awareness to a specific part of the sensory environment or to a class of stimuli
automatic processing
- bottom-up
- data driven
- unconscious
- involuntary
conscious processing
- top-down
- conceptually driven
- controlled
- requires attention
Perceptual Model of Feature Search
- cognitive strategy for scanning for specific features of stimuli
- features present in the same fixation of attention are combined to form a single object
Alerting Network
- based on the ascending Reticular Activation System (RAS) which is located in midbrain & helps to maintain alertness
Orienting Network
- prioritizes sensory inputs by selecting a sensory modality
- includes dorsal & ventral orienting networks
dorsal orienting network
- focuses attention
- synchronizes visuospatial orienting activity
- top-down process
- strongly right lateralized
ventral orienting network
- synchronizes orienting system activity with incoming bottom-up sensory input
- reduces influence of other competing sensory inputs
- influenced by the pulvinar nucleus in the thalamus
Executive Control of Attention Network
- includes frontoparietal network (relates task instructions at beginning)
& cingulo-opercular network (sustained activity across a task)
attentional blink
failure to detect a 2nd visual target because attention to 1st target prevents awareness of 2nd one
sensory neglect
- inability to respond to sensory stimulation
- occurs when R. parietal region is damaged
Neural Correlates of Consciousness
- sensory areas
- memory structures
- emotion
- executive control
serial processing
- act of attending to and processing one item at a time
- conjunction search (combination of features) is a serial process
features
- biologically significant stimuli
- properties that the visual system codes cells to detect
evidence of attention experiments
must show that the same stimulus activates a neuron at one time & not at another time
parallel processing
- processing multiple objects in the attentional spotlight
- presents a binding problem
inattentional blindness
- failure to perceive an unexpected stimulus due to lack of attention
-Ex: failure to notice person in a gorilla suit when asked to count # of basketball passes
change blindness
failure to detect change in the presence, identity, or location of objects in a scene
consciousness
- level of responsiveness of the mind to impressions made by the senses
- a collection of many processes
prerequisites of consciousness
arousal
perception
attention
working memory
