Attention

Question 1

Define attention

Answer 1

the ability to focus on a stimulus, sustain that focus, an shift that focus at will.

Question 2

Define an example of overt attention

Answer 2

shifting your gaze (adjusting sensory receptors) from the textbook to the window to notice your friend’s arrival

Question 3

Define an example of covert attention

Answer 3

Focusing on something else than the textbook without moving your eyes (adjusting sensory receptors)

Question 4

Describe the covert attention experiment

Answer 4

While staring at the center of an array of letters on a screen in the dark, the experimenter could focus on a different part of the screen without moving his eyes. When a few letters were highlighted with light, he could only read those letters because his attention was directed there, even if his gaze was not.

Question 5

Define endogenous attention, as well as an example

Answer 5

voluntary and self-directed attention (internally directed;  one's own intention)
	• Ex: choosing to listen to a conversation with your friend in class rather than to the teacher

Question 6

Define exogenous attention as well as an example

Answer 6

attention drawn to a stimulus in a reflexive and involuntary manner (directed by an external stimulus; someone tells you to listen to them)
• Ex: when the teacher said “Okay listen up!” You shifted your attention towards them

Question 7

Define spatial attention

Answer 7

directed towards a specific location of a particular stimuli

Question 8

Define object attention

Answer 8

directing your attention towards a specific object in a location

Question 9

Define feature attention

Answer 9

attention to the feature of an object (specific picture on a food stand)

Question 10

Define selective attention

Answer 10

pick specific info to focus on out of a number of stimuli

Question 11

Define the cocktail party effect

Answer 11

while we do this, we retain the ability to covertly monitor auditory information going on around us

Question 12

Describe the dichotic-listening set up

Answer 12

2 different messages in the ears; we can totally understand one but not the other

Question 13

Name the 2 main brain structures involved in attention

Answer 13

• Dorsal-frontoparietal system

* Ventral-frontoparietal system

Question 14

What is the dorsal frontoparietal system responsible for?

Answer 14

Endogenous attention and top-down control of attention

Question 15

What is the ventral frontoparietal system responsible for?

Answer 15

Exogenous attention and bottom-up control of attention

Question 16

What is the top-down control of attention?

Answer 16

attention controlled by conscious thought, expectations, and goals

Question 17

What is the bottom-up control of attention? How is it also called?

Answer 17

unexpected stimuli automatically shift your attention away from what you are currently attending to (AKA stimulus-driven attention)

Question 18

Name the structures of the dorsal-frontoparietal system

Answer 18

○ Areas of the dorsal-posterior parietal cortex along the intraparietal sulcus / superior parietal lobule (IPs and SPL) and the frontal eye field (FEF) in the frontal cortex

Question 19

Name the structures of the ventral-frontoparietal system

Answer 19

○ Temporoparietal cortex (including inferior parietal lobule/superior temporal gyrus (IPL/STG) and the ventral frontal cortex (VFC) including inferior frontal gyrus/middle frontal gyrus (Ifg/MFg)

Question 20

What is the region of the thalamus involved in attention?

Answer 20

The pulvinar

Question 21

Describe the link between selective attention and the pulvinar

Answer 21

Selective attention may depend on the synchronous firing of neurons in different brain areas. This synchrony may also be driven by the pulvinar

Question 22

Define the balint syndrome. What type of brain damage is it associated with?

Answer 22

Not being able to perceive 2 objects at the same time (unable to grasp the relationship between objects in a visual scene)
• associated with bilateral damage to the parieto-occipital region

Question 23

Define the 3 primary symptoms of the balint syndrome

Answer 23

• Simultanagnosia: inability to perceive multiple objects in a visual scene
○ May also be unable to process all the characteristics of an object
• Optic ataxia: inability to accurately reach for objects
• Oculomotor apraxia: difficulty in voluntarily moving the eyes

Question 24

Define unilateral neglect. What type of brain damage is it associated with? What is another name we give to this disease?

Answer 24

brain-damaged patients can pay attention to only on side of visual space and completely ignore the other side (AKA hemispatial neglect)
• Damage to parietal and temporal cortex (side opposite to the damage will be hard to perceive)

Question 25

Name the 2 early selection models of unimportant stimuli ***

Answer 25

○ Early-filtering model: sensory info is filtered out early in the nervous system
§ Problem: info not attended to is sometimes still perceived
○ Attenuator model: unattended info is attenuated, but not blocked (some info has lower threshold to make it into perception, like your name)

Question 26

Name the late selection model of unimportant stimuli ***

Answer 26

○ Late-filtering model: perceptual systems process all info entering them; later on, a process selects which info makes it to our conscious awareness (info not into awareness might still influence our understanding of a situation)

Question 27

What is a conjunction search? Give an example ***

Answer 27

Conjunction search: info is processed serially
Ex: searching car in the parking lot; if it is very similar to most cars, you will look for specific features that make it your car (mags, sticker, etc).

Question 28

What is a feature search? Give an example ***

Answer 28

Feature search: no serial search, looking for one specific feature
Ex: Your car is bright pink and looks like no other car; you will only look for the bright pink car

Question 29

Which is easier; conjunction or feature search? Why? ***

Answer 29

Conjunction search takes more time than feature search

Question 30

What is the binding problem? ***

Answer 30

question of how different features of an object are perceived as a whole

Question 31

Name one solution for the binding problem ***

Answer 31

Feature integration theory (FIT): A proposed solution to the binding problem, in which attention is the glue that binds the various features of objects.

Question 32

Define illusory conjunction ***

Answer 32

Illusory conjunction: features of 2 distinct stimuli are erroneously conjoined when presented briefly

Question 33

Why does illusory conjunction happen? ***

Answer 33

The explanation for these results is that, when presented for a brief period, the features of objects cannot be accurately bound, because there is not enough time for the attentional spotlight to zoom into the feature map.