Attention

Question 1

Reticular nucleus

Answer 1

Sheet around thalamus that can gate or block information. Regulated by reticular formation (brain stem) (Attention is not arousal but no attention without arousal)

Question 2

Selective attention

Answer 2

Covert brain mechanism that enables you to attend to relevant info and ignore the rest

Question 3

Overt attention

Answer 3

Attention that is directed to where you’re looking

Question 4

Covert attention

Answer 4

Attention that is directed somewhere you’re not looking

Question 5

Endogenous (top-down)

Answer 5

voluntary attention, goal driven

Question 6

Exogenous (bottom up)

Answer 6

Involuntary attention, stimulus driven

Question 7

Early selection

Answer 7

Select what we want to attend to. (high attention)

Question 8

Late selection

Answer 8

Holds that selection occurs after some higher level semantic processing (low attention)

Question 9

Attenuation theory

Answer 9

Early selection with difficult tasks when you know what to attend to. Late selection with easy tasks when you don’t know what to attend to.

Question 10

Cues

Answer 10

Valid cues - faster reaction. Invalid cues - slower reaction. ONLY when there’s 200 ms between cue and target.