Attention Flashcards
Attention
cognitive brain mechanisms taht allow one to process relevant thoughts or actions while ignoring the irrelivant ones
cocktail effect
even with a bunch of noise in a room, we can focus our attention on one person
dichotic listening
both ears recieve stimuli in synchrony and participants are asked to only attend to one channel => participants dont notice change in language but do notice changes in voice (m/f) or speech to beeps
shadowing
participants repeat stimuli aloud from the attended channel and ignore the stimuli presented in the unattended channel
early selection theory
selecting information is made at early processing stages => physical properties are filtered immediately and blocks semantic processing
broadbents filter theory
information is filtered after a sensory buffer but before short term memory based on physical characteristics (early selection theory)
what did Moray find?
high priority input in unattended ear was not always filtered out
what did von wright find?
even related words that arent the same can increase GSR (anxious response)
what did Treisman find?
the shadowed story changed from attended to unattended ear but participants continued shadowing the story => meaning is extracted
what did Mackay find?
the unattended ear influences interpretation and bias ambiguous sentences but the message is still interpreted
late selection theory
within sensory limits, all stimuli (unattended and attended) are processed to the same deep level of analysis until stimulation identification occurs => most important stimuli are selected for further processing (perception is automatic)
Treisman Attenuation Model
non attended channels are not shut down but adjusted so if meaningful information in unattended channel reaches threshold levels of intensity it is selected
how did head up display affect pilots?
they were more likely to crash and less likely to see another plane
perceptual load theory
perception is automatic until it runs out of capacity (early or late depending on task) => amount for main task depends on perceptual load (when things are more complicated we need more attention for them)
when does the incongruent distractor affect us more?
when we have a low perceptual load => late bottle neck when perceptual load is low
when does breadbent argue the bottleneck occurs?
early
when does traisman argue the bottleneck occurs?
early/midway
when does deutsch and Deutsch argue the bottleneck occurs?
late
when does Lavie argue the bottleneck occurs?
variable
dual task interference
multitasking => the more resources a task draws the more interference it causes on the other tasks
what do similar tasks share?
task specific limitations due to drawing on the same brain region and further interfering with one another
when are people worse at sharing attention in tasks?
when tasks are similar instead of difficult
response selection
finding the proper response when we percieve a sensory input => linked thorugh rules
response selector
can only map one stimuli at a time => for general attention resources
what happens when we practice multitasking?
interference is reduced but not eliminated
effectiveness of multitasking depends on what 2 things?
task specificity and task general (including the response selector)
interference when driving is more prevalent if?
we are driving and having a conversation rather than listening to the radio => conversing requires thinking
when does interference happen more with driving conditions?
more in harder courses => less dual task issues when driving conditions are easy
what does sequential processing require?
task switching
patients with frontal lobe damage have a hard time doing what with tasks?
switching between them
multiple demand system
set of frontoparietal regions involved in attention, task control, fluid intelligence, etc. => neurons are flexible
what happens to neurons when we task switch?
the have to be properly configured with takes time to adapt
independent features
features are coded by separate systems in the brain such as motion, location, color, orientation, etc.
binding problem
how we select one object with different features and combine them together
feature investigation theory
attention constructs the features after independent processing
assumptions of feature investigation theory
attention is what sticks object features together, we code an object at a time on the basis of its location, we bind together whatever features are at a location
after we see an object and move to preattentive stage, what do we do?
analyze the object
after the preattentive state we move to the focused attention stage, what do we do?
combine features together and percieve them (perception)
feature search
target item has a unique feature (1 feature)
conjunction searth
we must combine features to find a target => with time restrictions we put different features from different objects together at random
spatial attention
enhances the detection of events we focus on
overt attention
distinct eye movements (saccades)c
Covert attention
attention/mentla shifts without direct eye movement
posner paradign
design for determinng covert attention => if distractors are on opposite sites, participants may covertly pay attention
endogenous cues
cues presented at the center of focus where fixation crosses it => voluntary and top down in direct spotlight
exogenous cues
cues presented outside the center of focus (peripheral)
how do we know if someone uses covert attention is posners paragidm?
higher reaction times when shown invalid exogenous cues comapred to neutral
hemispatial neglect
unilateral brain damage in the right hemisphere usually (eat from right) => left is ignored
how to test for neglect
copying, spontaneous drawings, line cancellation
cause of hemispatial neglect (usually)
stroke that interrupts blood flow to right parietal lobe
hemianopia
deficit in part of the visual field but patients are aware and will turn their heads
extinction
left object is neglected when competing stimuli are present
visual extinction
neuro disorder that occurs after parietal lobe of the brain is damaged that cuases extinction
pseudoneglect
tendency to be biased toward the left side of space => younger patients are left biased
