attention Flashcards
attention
focusing awareness on specific stimuli
- effort
- perception
- act as a filter
vigilance
- a global level of alertness of the individual.
ex: scanning the environment, ready to attend to something new or relevant
selective attention
process by which we select or focus on one or mores
stimuli for enhanced processing and analysis
overt attention
** attention in which the focus coincides with sensory orientation
- attending to what you are looking at
ex: glancing at phone when it buzzes
covert attention
** attention in which the focus can be directed independently of sensory orientation
- attending to one thing while looking at something else
ex: listening to a convo behind you without turning around
cocktail party effect
** selective enhancement of attention in order to filter out distractors
- like in a noisy restaurant or party
attentional bottleneck
attention acts as filter so our resources are directed to what is MOST important
early selection models
** unattended information is filtered out right away, at the level of sensory input.
- the meaning is not yet processed and the filter only lets through information based on physical characteristics of
the information
- unattended information not available in consciousness
late selection models
** all incoming stimuli are processed for meaning before any selection occurs for attention
- no feature-based filtering occurs
inattentional blindness
the failure to perceive stimuli that are not actively being attended to
shadowing experiments
** participants focus their attention to one of two streams of stimuli
- dichotic listening- focus on one ear and repeat the message
change blindness
a visual perception phenomenon where people fail to notice a change in a visual scene
divided attention
** the act of processing two or more stimuli at the same time
attention acts as a spotlight
- helps focus our cognitive resources
- helps direct our behavior
- tunes out extraneous information
perceptual load
** processing demands imposed by the task
- easy task: resources left over to process task-irrelevant stimuli
- difficult/complex task: no more resources to spare. extra stimuli excluded immediately
sustained attention
** stimulus or location is held in the attentional spotlight for a prolonged period of time.
- measures basic attentional abilities
ex: working to solve a problem
voluntary attention
** voluntary; conscious, top-down; in line with goals
- endogenous
reflexive attention
** involuntary; bottom-up process; mediated by lower levels of the nervous system
- exogenous
feature search
search for a target based on a unique attribute
conjunction search
search for a target on the basis of a combination of features
why are conjunction searches harder?
they require more cognitive effort; take longer
- binding problem
binding problem
question of how the brain understands which individual attributes blend together into a single object, when these different features are processed by different regions in the brain
how to measure brain activity?
EEG
brain regions responsible for shifts in attention
- superior colliculus
- pulvinar nucleus
event-related potential (ERPs)
averaged EEG recordings measuring brain responses to repeated presentations of a stimulus
attention shift - superior colliculus
- controls eye movement toward objects of attention
- helps direct covert attention
attention shift - pulvinar nucleus
** posterior region of the thalamus
- important for orienting, shifting
attention, orientation in covert attention, and stimulus inhibition
- more distractors, greater activation of this region
two major pathways to select and shift attention
dorsal frontoparietal
- top-down , voluntary attention
right temporoparietal
- bottom-up reflexive attention
dorsal frontoparietal
intraparietal sulcus (IPS)
- increased rate of firing of neurons when attention is directed to specific stimuli
◦ can be visual or auditory stimuli
◦ important for steering attention
◦ damage - voluntary shifts of attention are difficult
frontal eye field (FEF)
◦ important for gaze being directed at stimuli according to cognitive goals (top down process)
◦ damage - cannot ignore distractors in periphery
right temporoparietal
temporoparietal junction (TPJ)
◦ meeting of the temporal and parietal lobes in right hemisphere
◦ directs attention toward new or unexpected stimuli
◦ flashes, color change, etc.
◦ stimuli will elicit a spike in the neural activity of this region regardless of location of stimulus in the environment (right vs left visual field)
◦ direct input from visual cortex
bálint’s syndrome
- characterized by bilateral parietal lobe damage
◦ cculomotor apraxia: unable to appropriately direct visual gaze horizontally.
◦ optic ataxia: cannot reach for objects using visual cues
◦ simultagnosia: only one object or feature consciously observed at a time
hemispatial neglect
individuals ignore stimuli on the left side of their midline.
◦ these individuals usually have normal vision
◦ may ignore people and objects
◦ lesions in the frontoparietal attention network
what is consciousness?
the state of being aware that we are conscious and that we can perceive what is going on in our minds and around us
brain regions involved in consciousness
- default mode network: circuit of brain regions active during quiet introspective thought
◦ frontal, parietal, and temporal regions - claustrum: sheet of neurons in the forebrain (lateral to the basal ganglia)
elements of consciousness
◦ theory of mind: understanding other
have their own beliefs, knowledge, and desires.
◦ mirror recognition: ability to recognize the self as depicted in a mirror
◦ imitation: ability to copy the actions of others; may be important for empathy and self awareness
◦ empathy & emotion: the ability to imagine the feelings of other individuals.
◦ tool use: ability to employ objects to achieve goals
◦ language: use of a system of arbitrary symbols, with specific meanings and strict grammar, to convey information to other individuals.
◦ metacognition: the ability to “think about thinking.”
executive functions
** is the higher-level cognitive processes that control and organize our thoughts, behaviors, and feelings.
◦ like a supervisory system
◦ task switching, working memory, inhibition of thoughts/behaviors, thought suppression, and monitoring of ongoing performance.
◦ ex) delay of gratification
◦ important brain region - prefrontal cortex - working memory and task switching
