Attention

Question 1

Cocktail Party Effect

Answer 1

Phenomenon of being able to focus auditory attention on one stimulus while filtering out range of other stimuli

Question 2

Capacity and Selectivity

Answer 2

There is not enough neural capacity to process all information in the environment
Selectivity allows some info to be processed and enter into consciousness

Question 3

Overt vs. Covert

Answer 3

Overt - eyes gazed upon attended item

Covert - direct attention without moving eye gaze

Question 4

Voluntary vs. Reflexive Attention

Answer 4

Voluntary (top-down) - pay attention to info relevant to goals
Reflexive (bottom-up) - certain info attracts attention due to ecological performance

Question 5

Spatial Cueing Paradigm

Answer 5

Posner (1980) - reaction times for expected locations significantly faster than those for unexpected or neutral locations

Question 6

Reflexive Attention Task

Answer 6

Hopfinger & Mangun (1998, 2001)
Had cued and uncued trials
There was an interval between the cue and the target
P1 is an ERP component
Short interval - enhanced P1
Long interval - reduced P1 due to inhibition of return (IOR) - reflexive attention prevented from returning to the same place for a short period

Question 7

Spatial Attention

Answer 7

Directing attention to a location in space

O’Connor et al. (2002) stronger activation in visual cortex and lateral geniculate nucleus when attended

Question 8

Feature-Based Attention

Answer 8

Abstract attention

Schoenfeld et al. (2007) stronger activation in the feature-specific visual cortex when feature is attended

Question 9

Object-Based Attention

Answer 9

O’Craven et al. (1999) stronger activation in object-specific brain areas when that object is attended

Question 10

Preparatory Bias

Answer 10

Providing visual cues before the onset of targets

Hopfinger et al. (2000) enhanced activity in contralateral visual cortex before targets appears

Question 11

Balints Syndrome

Answer 11

Bilateral damage to portions of posterior parietal and occipital cortices
Simultagnosia: inability to perceive more than one event in the visual field

Question 12

Unilateral Neglect

Answer 12

Unilateral damage to attentional network
Worse performance in contralesional (opposite side to the lesion) because awareness is impaired by competition from the ipsilesional side
RH damage leads to more severe outcomes as it’s more specialised for spatial vision