Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM


Top Flashcards (Certified)
All Flashcards

dumb brain > 5 - Attention and Perception > Flashcards

5 - Attention and Perception Flashcards

1
Q

define attention

A

selecting sensory inputs, increasing their importance by focusing on them, and processing them further

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

define selective attention

A

mechanism to focus mental processing on a limited number of events/stimuli

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

define spatial attention

A

mechanism to focus on a particular position in space

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

what did James describe attention as

A

taking possession of the mind in vivid forms one out of what seems several simultaneous possible objects or thought streams

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

what is selective attention

A

focusing, filtering, awareness

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

difference between overt and covert attention

A

attention and gaze direction are different in covert but same in overt

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

define shifting attention

A

going from focusing on and processing one stimuli to another

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

what is focusing

A

enabling detailed processing of important sensory inputs

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

what is awareness

A

paying attention to what we’re conscious of

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

what is dichotic listening

A

one ear’s input channel is attended and the other is unattended

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

what’s shadowing

A

repeating what’s said

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

is information spoken in the unattended channel noticed

A

no but can report physical attributes like speaker’s gender and words with personal importance catch attention

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

define filter

A

nervous system inhibiting certain responses so distractor info isn’t let through but promotes processing of desired info

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

what’s exogenous selection and how is it tested

A

attention shifting to loud, bright, sudden stimuli

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

how do cueing paradigms work

A

fixation point in middle of screen, cue appears reflecting likely stimulus appearance

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

results from exogenous selectionb

A

valid had faster response than neutral and invalid, so eyes don’t need to move for attention shift

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

in exogenous cuing which neurons fire

A

ones corresponding to space where attentional cue is

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

define endogenous selection

A

controlled by own intentions and interest, guided by internal voluntary processes

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

what happens when thes stimulus is made more salient in endogenous selection

A

importance of it increases so more aware of that sensory info than others

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

how does paying attention to whole objects work

A

superimposed stimulus on top of others

focus on one object despite many being in same space

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

how does spatial selection work

A

directing attention to particular location enhances responses in corresponding neurons

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

how does attention to features work

A

we look for things w a combination of features

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

what is a parallel search

A

single feature difference can be distracting so target is easy to find
reaction time is the same regardless of # of distractors

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

what is a serial search

A

more feature differences/distractors make it harder to find the target

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
why is the reaction time longer in a serial search with more distractors
need to allocate more attention resources to distractors
26
define info bottleneck
channel of information processing has limited capacity and data volume is too much
27
describe the response selection model
selection occurs late in processing but before the response occurs
28
in the response selection mode, what happens after all signals get through
not all consciously experienced and unattended signals get through and processed late in information evaluation
29
describe the perceptual load model
task difficulty determines if selection is early or late and attention is selective when capacity is full
30
in the perceptual load model, when can the brain process information outside of attention
when we have spare capacity
31
in the perceptual load mode, when does late selection occur
if tasks have a light cog load
32
why do complex tasks have early selection, as stated in the perceptual load model
it shows us the difficulty of the task
33
describe the study which shows that a low load task had a stronger signal than a high load due to higher processing (perceptual load model)
moving dots in background to see V5 activity which deals w motion in 2 conditions: high and low effort when words presented
34
what is the spotlight metaphor and what type of attention does it refer to
spatial area being prepared and moved around | sustained visual attention, NOT eye movement
35
with spotlights, what do we focus on and why
visually prominent, interesting, important things | based on context, beliefs about the scene, expectations
36
define consciousness
interface between mental processes and world's sequential demands to prevent us being overwhelmed and track unconscious processes
37
define inattentional blindness
a usually obvious stimulus occurring when attention is distracted and not selected it as important, so don't 'see' it even when looking at it
38
why does inattentional blindness occur
eyes see the obvious event but attention hasn't so experience but don't remember the change
39
define change blindness
when a change occurs in the environment we're looking at but remainds unseen
40
define early selection
attended info selected and processed from the start, unattended info barely analysed
41
what has been found out about the brain in terms of early selection
electrical activity distinguishable between un/attended info after stimulus presented lateral geniculate nucleus activity affected
42
what's been found about nervous system activity in early selection
attention changes signals within the nervous system before they reach the brain
43
what is late selection
selection occurs after all input info is analysed
44
in late selection, can distractors still be perceived
yes
45
in late selection, when does selection occur
either before stimuli reach consciousness or after but only selected are remembered
46
define priming
preparing self for perception by activating detectors we believe we'll need to perceive the stimulus
47
how does priming explain inattentional blindness
stimulus falls on unprimed detectors which don't fire so goes unnoticed
48
how does priming allow selective listening
unattended output ignored so detectors are unprimed and there's no perception
49
define repetition priming
no resources needed for priming as activation level is high as already primed since we encounter the stimulus often
50
how does priming explain the cocktail party effect
detectors primed to fire when stimulus encountered often occurs even in unattended channels
51
define expectation-driven priming
deliberately priming detectors for expected stimulus only when prime allows prediction of what's coming
52
how does expectation-driven priming explain there being no difference between invalid and neutral cues in the exogenous cuing paradigm
priming wrong detector takes nothing away from needed detectors which so they're the same
53
the valid cues produced what compared to invalid cues
warm up effect and expectation effect compared to just warm-up
54
what is a limited capacity system in priming
priming the wrong detector takes away from others so less prepared for other targets
55
which brain pathways are involved
dorsal (spatial, where) | ventral (non-spatial, what)
56
modulation by attention affects processing where
early visual cortex, V5, left frontal language regions, fusiform face area
57
where does modulation come from
right parietal cortex
58
where does spatial selection occur in the brain
retinotopic maps in EVC
59
what cortex is responsible for sustained attention
right frontal cortex
60
keychain for orienting system
frontal/parietal cortices, superior colliculus listens, thalamus pays attention
61
brain areas responsible for the control system
visual areas in occipital cortex analyse incoming info, control signals amplify/inhibit signals to promote/inhibit processing
62
define unilateral visual neglect
failing to attend to or notice stimuli on side contralateral to hemisphere with lesion due to dorsal pathway and RP lobe damage
63
in unilateral visual neglect, what is there a failure to do
disengage attention from the target in the field contralateral to the unaffected hemisphere
64
what type of task is used to study unilateral visual neglect and why
line bisection as shows patients unconsciously aware of total line length through bisection
65
what do line bisection tasks show about awareness
neglected side unconsciously processes but conscious awareness can't reach this
66
why is UVN not blindness
no visual cortex lesions and light can be detected on contralesional side
67
what does the barbell study show
when red circle in unaffected visual field then rotated so it's on contralesional left side, attention still paid
68
what does the barbell study mean about the type of attention affected in UVN
target defines attention focus so object not spatially based
69
define object-based neglect
inability to process contralesional side of individual objects
70
what is Balint's syndrome
inability to shift visual attention to new locations due to damage to both brain sides so can't focus on objects outside spotlight even if looking at them
71
what is blindsight
residual vision in absence of cortical processing so consciously unaware of what's seen and can detect but not describe stimuli

dumb brain (9 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2025 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions