attention Flashcards
Why is attention necessary for the brain?
The brain receives more information than it can handle; attention helps select relevant info and ignore the rest.
How did William James define attention (1890)?
Attention is the possession of the mind by one out of several possible objects, involving withdrawal from others.
What is bottom-up attention?
Attention captured by stimulus features (e.g., a red stall).
What is top-down attention?
Attention directed by internal goals or tasks (e.g., finding Wally).
What is the cocktail party phenomenon?
Ability to focus on one conversation in noise, but attention may be captured by personally relevant stimuli (e.g., hearing your name).
Describe Cherry’s (1953) dichotic listening task.
Participants shadowed one of two stories through headphones; noticed physical features of unattended story but not content.
What did Broadbent (1958) propose in Filter Theory?
A selective filter blocks unattended info based on physical characteristics before it reaches short-term memory.
What are the limitations of Broadbent’s Filter Theory?
Fails to explain name detection in unattended input and processing of semantic information.
What is Treisman’s Attenuation Theory (1964)?
Unattended info is weakened, not eliminated, and can break through if contextually or personally important.
What evidence supports Attenuation Theory?
Treisman & Geffen (1967) found 8% of target words in unattended ear were detected, contradicting Filter Theory.
What is the Late Selection Model (Deutsch & Deutsch, 1963)?
All stimuli are processed for meaning; filtering occurs after semantic analysis.
What is the main criticism of the Late Selection Model?
It is resource-demanding and rarely supported by evidence (e.g., Lachter et al., 2004).
What does Load Theory (Lavie, 2005) propose?
Selection depends on perceptual load: low load → late selection; high load → early selection.
What is space-based attention?
Attention directed to regions of visual space (like a spotlight).
What is object-based attention?
Attention directed to whole objects, not just spatial locations.
What are endogenous and exogenous cues?
Endogenous: goal-driven, slow (~300ms); Exogenous: stimulus-driven, fast (~100ms).
What is the Zoom-lens model?
Attention can be widened or narrowed like a zoom lens depending on the task.
What is split attention?
Attention can be allocated to multiple non-adjacent areas to avoid irrelevant info (Awh & Pashler, 2000).
What evidence supports object-based attention?
Egly et al. (1994): Faster reactions when cue and target are on the same object, even if spatially different.
What is visual hemi-spatial neglect?
Unawareness of the contralesional side due to brain damage (often stroke in right hemisphere).
Differentiate egocentric and allocentric neglect.
Egocentric: neglect of space on one side of body; Allocentric: neglect of one side of objects.
What is alternating vs divided attention?
Alternating: switching between tasks; Divided: processing multiple tasks at once.
What is the attentional blink?
In RSVP tasks, detection of a second target is impaired if it appears soon after the first.
What is the Psychological Refractory Period (PRP)?
Slower response to a second task when it closely follows a first, showing a cognitive bottleneck.
What does Threaded Cognition Theory (Salvucci & Taatgen, 2011) suggest?
Different cognitive resources can be used simultaneously if tasks don’t compete for the same resource.
