Attention

Question 1

What is an automatic process

Answer 1

involuntary “capture”
fast and efficient

Question 2

What is a controlled process

Answer 2

conscious attention
slow, effortful

Question 3

What is salient information

Answer 3

info that naturally pops out at you

Question 4

What are the types of visual attention

Answer 4

conscious and unconscious
- attention shifts faster than the eye
- we are better at tasks when our attentional spotlight is fixed on the object/location we need to work with

Question 5

What is the difference between spotlight and filter effect

Answer 5

s: enhances stimnulus (visual)
f: suppress (noise)

Question 6

What are the two models of attention

Answer 6

spotlight and filter

Question 7

What is the single filter model

Answer 7

attentional filter selects important info based on physical characteristics, which allows for further processing

• physical filter
• only attended information is filtered through for deeper processing

Question 8

What does the single filter model explain

Answer 8

cocktail party effect: focusing on a particular stimulus (usually auditory) while filtering out a range of other stimulus

• shadowing paradigm

Question 9

What is the dual filter model

Answer 9

physical and semantic filter for meaningful stimuli
- physical –> attenuates (makes smaller)

Question 10

What does dual filter model explain

Answer 10

cocktail party
breakthrough effect: someone calling your name in a crowded room

Question 11

What is the stroop task

Answer 11

pushes our attention skills to the limit
- manipulates congruency of text colour and text meaning
- congruent = faster
- incongruent = slower
shows that automatic processes can be consciously controlled

Question 12

What is the proportion congruent manipulation
how does congruency effect SE

Answer 12

change ratio of congruent to incongruent tasks
75% c + 25% in = increased stroop effect
25% c + 75% in = decreased stroop effect

• high congruency tests bias attention to task irrelevant information -> higher stroop effect
• low congruency test bias attention to task relevant info -> smaller stroop effect

Question 13

What are the types of visual search test

Answer 13

set size
pop out effect
conjunction searches
contextual cueing

Question 14

Set size

Answer 14

of items to search throuhgh
- increase number = harder

Question 15

pop out effects

Answer 15

when object of a visual search is easily found, regardless of set size
- easily induced by colour

Question 16

conjunction searches

Answer 16

use 2+ features to create a more difficult search
- ie. colour and shape)

Question 17

contextual cueing

Answer 17

cues on our attention and improve reaction time
- filters to refine search

Question 18

Minor vs major attention error

Answer 18

minor: forgetting milk
major: chronic attention roles

Question 19

What is bottom-up processing

Answer 19

stimulus-driven mechanism whereby we perceive events or stimuli by piecing together smaller pieces of sensory information

Question 20

What is top-down processing

Answer 20

memory-driven mechanism whereby we perceive events or stimuli more holistically based on prior experiences or context

Question 21

Overt attending

Answer 21

attending to what you are looking at

Question 22

Covert attending

Answer 22

attending to something that you are not looking at

Question 23

Change blindness

Answer 23

looking for a change but not seeing it

change has occured but observer does not notice it or can’t identify it