Attention 3

Question 1

Inattentional blindness refers to…

Answer 1

The failure to spot an obvious but unexpected object.

Question 2

What two studies looked into inattentional blindness?

Answer 2

-Simons and Chabris, 1999
-Hyman et al., 2010

Question 3

Describe Simons and Chabris (1999) study

Answer 3

-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

Question 4

Describe Hyman et al (2010) study

Answer 4

-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

Question 5

Change blindness refers to…

Answer 5

A change occurring within a visual stimulus which isn’t recognised
Once seen, it can be hard to unsee them

Question 6

Change blindness can take two different approaches…

Answer 6

-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

Question 7

What are the 2 main differences between inattentional blindness (IA) and change blindness (CA) ?

Answer 7

-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

Question 8

Structural MRI’s are used to…

Answer 8

-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

Question 9

What are the 4 main lobes of the brain?

Answer 9

-Frontal lobe
-Parietal lobe
-Occipital lobe
-Temporal lobe

Question 10

When referring to the front of the brain we say…

Answer 10

Anterior or rostal

Question 11

When referring to the back of the brain we say…

Answer 11

Posterior or caudal

Question 12

When referring to the top of the brain we say…

Answer 12

Superior or dorsal

Question 13

When referring to the bottom of the brain we say…

Answer 13

Inferior or ventral

Question 14

What is meant by a large scale attentional network?

Answer 14

-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

Question 15

What are the 2 dorsal attention networks?

Answer 15

-Frontal eye field
-Intraparietal sulcus

Question 16

Describe what the 2 dorsal attention networks do

Answer 16

-Involved in top down control
-Goal driven
-Involves both the left and right hemisphere
-Task focused

Question 17

What are the 2 ventral attention networks?

Answer 17

-Ventral frontal cortex
-Temporoparietal junction

Question 18

Describe what the 2 ventral attention networks do

Answer 18

-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

Question 19

Spatial neglect is…

Answer 19

-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

Question 20

What type of people does spatial neglect tend to affect?

Answer 20

-Those who have had a stroke or have Alzheimers

Question 21

Describe extinction

Answer 21

-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

Question 22

State statistics linked to spatial neglect

Answer 22

-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