Attention 3 Flashcards
Inattentional blindness refers to…
The failure to spot an obvious but unexpected object.
What two studies looked into inattentional blindness?
-Simons and Chabris, 1999
-Hyman et al., 2010
Describe Simons and Chabris (1999) study
-Video of teams passing a ball, with a gorilla walking through the middle of them
-When asked to count the white team passes, around 42% recognised the gorilla
-When asked to count the black team passes, around 83% recognised the gorilla
Describe Hyman et al (2010) study
-Ppts crossed a square at Western Washington University, passing a unicycling clown
-Question 1; “Did you notice anything unusual?”
-Question 2; “Did you notice the clown?”
-Results split people up into 4 groups; cell phone users, music users, walking alone or walking in pairs
-When asked Q2, 61% of music users recognised the clown yet 25% of cell phone users recognised the clown
Change blindness refers to…
A change occurring within a visual stimulus which isn’t recognised
Once seen, it can be hard to unsee them
Change blindness can take two different approaches…
-If taking an early selection approach, the stimuli will have never been perceived
-If taking a late selection approach, the stimuli may have been perceived but not remembered
What are the 2 main differences between inattentional blindness (IA) and change blindness (CA) ?
-Within IA, memory isn’t always required whereas in CA memory plays a huge role
-IA tends to occur when the individual is completing another task whereas CA occurs when finding the change is the assigned task
Structural MRI’s are used to…
-Look into the cerebral cortex and white matter in the brain
-Allows computational analysis to take place on the brain image, which can provide a visual map of the area
What are the 4 main lobes of the brain?
-Frontal lobe
-Parietal lobe
-Occipital lobe
-Temporal lobe
When referring to the front of the brain we say…
Anterior or rostal
When referring to the back of the brain we say…
Posterior or caudal
When referring to the top of the brain we say…
Superior or dorsal
When referring to the bottom of the brain we say…
Inferior or ventral
What is meant by a large scale attentional network?
-Large scale means they extend across many different lobes of the brain
-Attentional means their activity is modulated by attention e.g. within MRI’s
-Network as they are tightly interconnected by white matter, and they tend to be activated together
What are the 2 dorsal attention networks?
-Frontal eye field
-Intraparietal sulcus
Describe what the 2 dorsal attention networks do
-Involved in top down control
-Goal driven
-Involves both the left and right hemisphere
-Task focused
What are the 2 ventral attention networks?
-Ventral frontal cortex
-Temporoparietal junction
Describe what the 2 ventral attention networks do
-Involved in bottom up control
-Stimulus driven
-Involves the right hemisphere only
-For example, you may be working on notes and then you begin to pay attention to someone who is shouting your name rather than the work itself
Spatial neglect is…
-The consequence of damage to the ventral attention network
-Tends to be around one half of space ignored, referred to as spatial hemineglect
-Deficit tends to always be on left side and patients are normally unaware of it
What type of people does spatial neglect tend to affect?
-Those who have had a stroke or have Alzheimers
Describe extinction
-Seen in recovering patients from spatial neglect where one stimulus on the neglected side is perceived
-Suggests that spatial neglect isn’t a visual deficit
State statistics linked to spatial neglect
-Around 40% of patients show signs of spatial neglect
-In nearly 10% of patients, the defects are severe and symptoms can last more than 6 months
-Spatial neglect tends to be ignored within clinical settings
