Attention

Question 1

Attention

Answer 1

considered a limited resource that is deployed to facilitate the processing of critical information. Allows us to focus our energy and our thoughts on one specific task despite all the other things that are happening around us

Question 2

External attention

Answer 2

selecting and controlling incoming sensory information; goal-directed processes and stimulus driven

Question 3

Internal attention

Answer 3

selecting control strategies and maintaining internally generated information such as task rules, responses, LTM and WM

Question 4

Two different aspects of directing attention to events in the external world

Answer 4

Top-down and bottom-up processing; ways of making sense of stimuli. They interact with one another to co-ordinate behaviour in the world

Question 5

Top-down processing

Answer 5

We use our background knowledge and expectations to interpret what we see. Goal driven

Question 6

Bottom-up processing

Answer 6

We allow the stimulus itself to shape our perception, without any preconceived ideas

Question 7

Cocktail party effect

Answer 7

the brain’s ability to focus on a single conversation or sound amidst a noisy environment, like a cocktail party, while filtering out other distractions.

Question 8

Cherry’s shadowing task experiment

Answer 8

involved participants listening to two different messages simultaneously in different ears and repeating one message aloud as quickly as possible. This helped demonstrate selective attention because participants were able to focus on one message while ignoring the other, showing the brain’s ability to filter out irrelevant information.

Question 9

Broadbent Filter theory

Answer 9

proposes that humans can only process a limited amount of sensory information at any given time due to an attentional “bottleneck.” proposes that selective attention acts as a filter, allowing only certain stimuli to be processed based on their physical characteristics (e.g., pitch, loudness) before higher-level processing occurs.
To takes:
- early selection: occurs when stimuli are filtered out based on their physical characteristics before reaching higher-level processing.

• late selection: occurs after stimuli have been fully processed for meaning, and selection is based on their semantic content or relevance to current goals.

Question 10

Lavie Load theory

Answer 10

suggests that perceptual processing capacity is limited and that the level of perceptual load (the amount of information processing demanded by a task) determines how much attention is available for processing irrelevant distractors. When perceptual load is high, attentional resources are fully engaged in processing task-relevant information, resulting in reduced processing of distractors. Conversely, under low perceptual load, spare attentional capacity allows for increased processing of distractors, making them more likely to interfere with task performance.

Question 11

Kahneman Resource theory

Answer 11

suggests that cognitive resources are limited and can be allocated among different mental tasks. According to this theory, tasks require varying levels of cognitive resources, and individuals must distribute these resources efficiently to perform multiple tasks simultaneously. When the demands of tasks exceed available cognitive resources, performance may suffer due to resource depletion or overload.

Question 12

Dual-task paradigm

Answer 12

research method used to study multitasking and cognitive workload. It involves presenting participants with two tasks to perform simultaneously or in close succession. By comparing performance on the dual tasks to performance on each task performed alone, researchers can assess the impact of dividing cognitive resources between tasks. This paradigm helps understand how individuals allocate attention and cognitive resources when faced with multiple concurrent tasks and provides insights into the limitations of multitasking abilities.

Question 13

Feature Integration theory (FIT) by Anne Treisman

Answer 13

explains how visual attention operates to bind individual features of an object into a unified perceptual whole. It provides insights into how visual perception works and how attention influences perception.

Two-stages of visual processing:
1. Preattentive stage: basic features (e.g., color, contrast, location in space, shape) are processed automatically, independently, and in parallel.
2. Attentive stage: other properties, including relations between features of an object, are processed serially, one object (or group) at a time, and are “bound” together to create a single object that is consciously perceived.

Question 14

Binding problem

Answer 14

refers to the challenge of understanding how the brain integrates separate sensory attributes, such as color, shape, and motion, into a unified perceptual experience. It raises questions about how the brain combines these individual features to form a coherent representation of objects and scenes.
FIT model solves this

Question 15

Illusory conjunctions

Answer 15

occur when features of different objects are incorrectly combined, leading to perceptual errors.

Question 16

Corbetta and Shulman 2002 model

Answer 16

suggests that two separate brain networks, the dorsal attention network (DAN) and the ventral attention network (VAN), work together to control attention. The DAN helps with goal-directed attention (top-down, endogenous), focusing on specific tasks, while the VAN is involved in responding to unexpected or salient stimuli in the environment (bottom-up, exogenous). This model helps explain how attention is controlled and shifted depending on the demands of the situation.

Question 17

Inhibition of return

Answer 17

if our attention has been focused in on one area and then moved away, that area will suffer in the later analysis process. Aids people to not refocus their attention on what they had just seen

Question 18

Attentional blink

Answer 18

is the phenomenon that the second of two targets cannot be detected or identified when it appears close in time to the first.

Question 19

The steps associated with seeing stimulus in the brain

Answer 19

1. Feedforward Processing: Visual information flows from the retina to the brain’s visual areas for basic feature analysis.
2. Recurrent Processing: Feedback loops refine and integrate visual information for a more complex understanding.
3. Receptive Field: Neurons respond to specific visual stimuli within their receptive fields, helping construct the visual scene.

Question 20

Normalization model of attention by Reynold & Heeger

Answer 20

It suggests that attention acts by scaling neural responses relative to the overall activity level, effectively normalizing or adjusting the responses to enhance the salience of attended stimuli while suppressing the influence of irrelevant stimuli.
meaning it suggests that when we pay attention to something, our brain adjusts how sensitive certain neurons are. It’s like turning up the volume on what’s important and turning down the volume on distractions. This helps us focus on what matters while ignoring things that aren’t as important.

Question 21

Change blindness

Answer 21

a perceptual phenomenon that occurs when a change in a visual stimulus is introduced and the observer does not notice it.

Question 22

Inattentional (perceptual) blindness

Answer 22

occurs when an individual fails to perceive an unexpected stimulus in plain sight, purely as a result of a lack of attention rather than any vision defects or deficits
e.g. Gorilla experiment

Question 23

exogenous attention

Answer 23

involves the involuntary allocation of attention due to external stimuli. It is triggered by salient or unexpected events in the environment, capturing attention automatically without conscious control.

Question 24

endogenous attention

Answer 24

refers to the voluntary allocation of attention based on internal factors such as goals, expectations, or intentions. It involves consciously directing attention to specific stimuli or tasks according to one’s cognitive objectives.