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PSY270 > Attention > Flashcards

Attention Flashcards

1
Q

What is the definition of attention?

A

the process of concentrating mental effort on sensory or mental events
- it has limited capacity and varies along certain dimensions

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2
Q

What are the different theories of the mechanisms of attention?

A
  • selective attention
  • vigilance
  • divided attention
  • visual search
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3
Q

What are the dimensions used to define attention?

A

exogenous vs. endogenous, overt vs. covert, and automatic vs. controlled.

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4
Q

What is exogenous attention?

A

Exogenous attention is the automatic allocation of attention to stimuli in the environment that capture our focus, often due to their salient characteristics such as brightness or movement. (driven by stimulus saliency)

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5
Q

Can you provide an example of exogenous attention?

A

An example of exogenous attention is when a loud noise or a bright flashing light draws your attention away from your current task, such as when an emergency vehicle passes by.

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6
Q

What is endogenous attention?

A

Endogenous attention is the voluntary allocation of attention based on an individual’s goals, intentions, or expectations, allowing them to focus on specific stimuli or tasks.

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7
Q

Can you provide an example of endogenous attention?

A

An example of endogenous attention is when you decide to focus on reading a book despite distractions in your environment, as this choice is driven by your intention to understand the material.

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8
Q

How does exogenous and endogenous attention differ in terms of control?

A

Exogenous attention is automatic and involuntary, while endogenous attention is controlled and requires conscious effort to direct focus based on personal goals.

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9
Q

What is overt attention?

A

Overt attention refers to the process of directing one’s gaze towards a stimulus to maximize visual information obtained about it. It involves moving the eyes to focus on what one is attending to.

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10
Q

What is covert attention?

A

Covert attention is the ability to focus on a stimulus without moving the eyes. It allows individuals to attend to objects outside their direct line of sight while keeping their gaze fixed on another location.

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11
Q

Give an example of overt attention

A

An example of overt attention is when a person turns their head and eyes to look directly at a friend speaking to them in a crowded room.

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12
Q

Give an example of covert attention.

A

An example of covert attention is when someone is watching a movie but is also aware of the conversation happening behind them without turning to look.

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13
Q

What are automatic processes?

A

Automatic processes are tasks that are so familiar that they can be performed without conscious attention, often as a result of extensive practice and learning.

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14
Q

What are controlled processes?

A

Controlled processes require conscious attention and cognitive resources; they are typically slower and can be modified or adjusted as needed.

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15
Q

Give an example of an automatic process.

A

Reading is an example of an automatic process; individuals can recognize words quickly and without conscious effort after extensive practice.

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16
Q

Give an example of a controlled process.

A

Solving a complex math problem is an example of a controlled process, as it requires focused attention and cognitive effort.

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17
Q

What is inattentional blindness?

A

Inattentional blindness is the failure to perceive an object or event that is in plain sight because attention is focused on another task or object.

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18
Q

What is change blindness?

A

Change blindness is the inability to detect differences in two alternating images or scenes, often due to a lack of attention to the changing element.

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19
Q

How can inattentional blindness be tested?

A

Inattentional blindness can be tested using videos or demonstrations where participants are asked to focus on a specific task, often leading them to miss unexpected events, such as a person in a gorilla suit walking through the scene.

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20
Q

What is a classic example of change blindness?

A

A classic example is the “flicker” paradigm, where two images are alternated with a brief blank screen in between, making it difficult for observers to notice changes between the images.

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21
Q

What role does attention play in both inattentional and change blindness?

A

Both phenomena illustrate that attention is a limited resource; when attention is directed elsewhere, we may fail to notice significant changes or objects in our environment.

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22
Q

What is the relationship between attention and consciousness regarding these types of blindness?

A

Attention and consciousness are closely linked, but they are not synonymous. Inattentional and change blindness demonstrate that we can be unaware of certain stimuli even when they are within our field of vision.

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23
Q

What is selective attention?

A

Selective attention is the process of focusing on one specific object or task in an environment filled with competing stimuli while ignoring others.

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24
Q

What is the cocktail party effect?

A

The cocktail party effect refers to the ability to focus on a single conversation in a noisy environment, demonstrating selective auditory attention.

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25
Q

What experimental method was used to study selective attention?

A

The dichotic listening task, where participants listen to different messages in each ear and must repeat the attended message while ignoring the other. (colin cherry)

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26
Q

What is the dichotic listening task?

A

A psychological experiment where participants wear headphones and listen to different audio streams in each ear, tasked with attending to one ear while ignoring the other.

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27
Q

What is the primary goal of the dichotic listening task?

A

To assess selective attention by determining how well participants can focus on one message while ignoring another.

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28
Q

What did Cherry’s research find about participants’ ability to process unattended messages?

A

Participants could notice sensory information (e.g., gender of the speaker) in unattended ear but could not recall the content or meaning of the unattended message.

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29
Q

What significant finding did Moray (1959) contribute to the understanding of the dichotic listening task?

A

Participants often recognized their own name in the unattended channel, suggesting that some meaning can break through the attentional filter.

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30
Q

What is Broadbent’s Early Selection Filter Model?

A

A theory proposing that attention acts as a bottleneck, filtering out irrelevant information early in the processing stage based on sensory input.

31
Q

What is the primary function of the attentional filter in Broadbent’s model?

A

The attentional filter selects relevant information for processing and filters out irrelevant information based on sensory input.

32
Q

How does Broadbent’s model explain the cocktail party effect?

A

It suggests that people can focus on one conversation (attended ear) while filtering out other conversations (unattended ear), processing only the sensory information of the ignored messages.

33
Q

What is sensory memory according to Broadbent’s model?

A

Sensory memory briefly holds a high amount of sensory information before the attentional filter selects which information to pass through for further processing.

34
Q

What are the limitations of Broadbent’s Early Selection Filter Model?

A

It does not account for instances where participants can recognize their own name or process meaningful information from the unattended ear.

35
Q

What is Triesman’s Attenuation Model?

A

A theory of attention that suggests that while some information is filtered out early based on sensory input, some unattended information can still be processed if it is deemed important or relevant.

36
Q

How does Triesman’s model differ from Broadbent’s Early Selection Filter Model?

A

Unlike Broadbent’s model, which posits that only one stream of information is processed at a time, Triesman’s model allows for some unattended information to be processed if it has high relevance or intensity.

37
Q

What does the term “attenuator” refer to in Triesman’s model?

A

The attenuator is a mechanism that reduces the strength of unattended stimuli, allowing some information to pass through for further processing based on its relevance.

38
Q

What role does the “activation level” play in Triesman’s model?

A

The activation level determines how easily a stimulus can pass through the attenuator; stimuli with higher activation levels are more likely to be processed, while those with lower levels may be ignored.

39
Q

How does Triesman’s model explain the cocktail party effect?

A

The model suggests that while we focus on one conversation, our attention can still be drawn to important stimuli (like our name) from other conversations, as these stimuli have a higher activation level.

40
Q

What is the significance of the “dictionary” concept in Triesman’s model?

A

The dictionary refers to a mental representation of words, where each word has a threshold of activation; words that are more relevant or frequently encountered have lower thresholds and can pass through the attenuator more easily.

41
Q

What are some limitations of Triesman’s Attenuation Model?

A

While it accounts for some flexibility in attention, it may not fully explain how complex meanings are processed in unattended channels or how context influences attention.

42
Q

In Triesman’s model, why can some unattended stimuli pass through the filter?

A
  • more intense
  • more important
  • more likely (Dear 6 Jane example)
43
Q

What is divided attention?

A

Divided attention refers to the ability to attend to multiple objects or tasks simultaneously, commonly known as multitasking.

44
Q

How does divided attention affect task performance?

A

When attention is divided among multiple tasks, performance on individual tasks tends to suffer, leading to slower reaction times and increased errors.

45
Q

What is a common example of divided attention in everyday life?

A

A common example is talking on a cell phone while driving, which can significantly impair driving performance and increase the likelihood of accidents.

46
Q

What is the concept of attentional load?

A

Attentional load refers to the amount of attentional resources required for a task. High-load tasks consume more resources, whereas low-load tasks require fewer resources.

47
Q

How does the Flanker compatibility task demonstrate divided attention?

A

The Flanker task shows that distractors (flankers) can interfere with task performance. Reaction times are slower when flankers are incompatible with the target compared to when they are compatible.

48
Q

What is the role of automatic and controlled processes in divided attention?

A

Automatic processes do not require attention and can occur without conscious control, while controlled processes require attention and are slower and more resource-intensive.

49
Q

How many objects can people typically track simultaneously in a multi-object tracking task?

A

Research suggests that people can effectively track around four to five objects concurrently in a multi-object tracking task.

50
Q

What is the significance of attentional load in the Flanker task?

A

Attentional load refers to the amount of cognitive resources required to perform a task. In low-load conditions, participants have spare processing resources that can be distracted by flankers, leading to slower reaction times. In high-load conditions, the task is more demanding, leaving fewer resources for processing flankers, which reduces distraction.

51
Q

What is the “spillover” effect in the context of the Flanker task?

A

The “spillover” effect refers to the phenomenon where processing resources allocated to a primary task inadvertently affect the processing of irrelevant stimuli (flankers), especially in low-load conditions, leading to slower reaction times.

52
Q

What is the Stroop Task?

A

A psychological test that demonstrates the interference in reaction time when the color of a word differs from the name of the word itself.

53
Q

What does the Stroop effect illustrate?

A

It illustrates the difficulty of naming the color of the ink in which a word is printed when the word itself is the name of a different color, highlighting the automaticity of reading.

54
Q

What are the two main conditions in the Stroop Task?

A

Congruent condition (word and color match) and incongruent condition (word and color do not match).

55
Q

Why do people take longer to name colors in the incongruent condition?

A

Because reading the word is an automatic process that interferes with the task of naming the color, leading to cognitive conflict.

56
Q

What cognitive processes are involved in the Stroop Task?

A

Automatic processing (reading) vs. controlled processing (naming colors).

57
Q

What is vigilance in the context of attention?

A

Vigilance refers to the sustained attention and readiness to respond to stimuli over a period of time, particularly in situations where the target may appear infrequently.

58
Q

What is Posner’s spatial cueing paradigm?

A

A study designed to measure how attention can be directed to a specific location in space, where participants respond to targets appearing in valid, invalid, or neutral cue conditions.

59
Q

What are valid, invalid, and neutral trials in Posner’s study?

A
  • Valid Trials: The target appears where the cue indicated.
  • Invalid Trials: The target appears in a location different from the cue.
  • Neutral Trials: There is no cue, and the target appears randomly.
60
Q

What is the effect of valid cues on reaction time?

A

Reaction times are significantly faster on valid trials compared to invalid trials, indicating that covert attention can enhance processing at expected locations.

61
Q

How does attention act like a spotlight according to the material?

A

Attention acts as a unitary spotlight that can be directed to specific locations, enhancing the processing of stimuli in those areas while inhibiting processing of stimuli in others.

62
Q

What is the binding problem in visual perception?

A

The binding problem refers to how separate visual features (like color, shape, and movement) are combined into a single coherent object in our perception.

63
Q

What are the two main questions related to the binding problem?

A
  1. How are separate features combined into a single object?
  2. How do brain processes construct phenomenological experience?
64
Q

What does patient data suggest about object feature identification?

A

Patient data indicates that object feature identification can occur without binding, meaning that features can be recognized without being combined into a single perceptual object.

65
Q

How does attention play a role in the binding problem?

A

Attention acts as a feature binder, helping to combine distinct features into unified objects. It is necessary for binding features together, as demonstrated by Treisman’s feature integration theory.

66
Q

What is Treisman’s feature integration theory?

A

Treisman’s theory posits that visual search is a two-stage process: the preattentive stage, where single features pop out automatically without attention, and the focused attention stage, where binding of features requires attention.

67
Q

What is a feature search?

A

A feature search is a visual search task where the target object is defined by a single feature (like color or shape) that stands out from distractors. This type of search is usually quick and efficient because the target “pops out.”

68
Q

What is a conjunction search?

A

A conjunction search is a visual search task where the target is defined by a combination of two or more features (e.g., color and shape). This search is more difficult and time-consuming because it requires attending to multiple features to distinguish the target from distractors.

69
Q

How does the number of distractors affect reaction time in conjunction searches?

A

In conjunction searches, as the number of distractors increases, the reaction time also increases linearly because each item must be processed individually to determine if it matches the target.

70
Q

What distinguishes automatic processing from controlled processing in visual searches?

A

Automatic processing occurs during feature searches where attention is not required, allowing targets to pop out, while controlled processing is needed in conjunction searches, where attention must be focused on each item to bind features together.

71
Q

What are the typical independent and dependent variables in a visual search task?

A

Independent:
- type of search
- number of distractors
- presence of target
dependent:
- reaction time to respond

72
Q

What is Feature Integration Theory?

A

Feature Integration Theory, proposed by Anne Treisman, suggests that attention is necessary to combine distinct features of objects (like color, shape, and movement) into coherent perceptual objects.

73
Q

What are the two stages of visual processing according to Feature Integration Theory?

A
  1. Preattentive Stage: Initial processing of features that occurs automatically without attention.
  2. Focused Attention Stage: Requires attention to bind features together into a single object.
74
Q

What experimental paradigm supports Feature Integration Theory?

A

Visual search tasks, where participants must locate a target object among distractors, provide evidence for the theory, demonstrating how attention is necessary for binding features.

PSY270 (10 decks)

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