Attention Flashcards
Define attention
the ability to focus on a stimulus, sustain that focus, an shift that focus at will.
Define an example of overt attention
shifting your gaze (adjusting sensory receptors) from the textbook to the window to notice your friend’s arrival
Define an example of covert attention
Focusing on something else than the textbook without moving your eyes (adjusting sensory receptors)
Describe the covert attention experiment
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.
Define endogenous attention, as well as an example
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
Define exogenous attention as well as an example
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
Define spatial attention
directed towards a specific location of a particular stimuli
Define object attention
directing your attention towards a specific object in a location
Define feature attention
attention to the feature of an object (specific picture on a food stand)
Define selective attention
pick specific info to focus on out of a number of stimuli
Define the cocktail party effect
while we do this, we retain the ability to covertly monitor auditory information going on around us
Describe the dichotic-listening set up
2 different messages in the ears; we can totally understand one but not the other
Name the 2 main brain structures involved in attention
- Dorsal-frontoparietal system
* Ventral-frontoparietal system
What is the dorsal frontoparietal system responsible for?
Endogenous attention and top-down control of attention
What is the ventral frontoparietal system responsible for?
Exogenous attention and bottom-up control of attention
What is the top-down control of attention?
attention controlled by conscious thought, expectations, and goals
What is the bottom-up control of attention? How is it also called?
unexpected stimuli automatically shift your attention away from what you are currently attending to (AKA stimulus-driven attention)
Name the structures of the dorsal-frontoparietal system
○ 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
Name the structures of the ventral-frontoparietal system
○ 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)
What is the region of the thalamus involved in attention?
The pulvinar
Describe the link between selective attention and the pulvinar
Selective attention may depend on the synchronous firing of neurons in different brain areas. This synchrony may also be driven by the pulvinar
Define the balint syndrome. What type of brain damage is it associated with?
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
Define the 3 primary symptoms of the balint syndrome
• 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
Define unilateral neglect. What type of brain damage is it associated with? What is another name we give to this disease?
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)
Name the 2 early selection models of unimportant stimuli ***
○ 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)
Name the late selection model of unimportant stimuli ***
○ 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)
What is a conjunction search? Give an example ***
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).
What is a feature search? Give an example ***
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
Which is easier; conjunction or feature search? Why? ***
Conjunction search takes more time than feature search
What is the binding problem? ***
question of how different features of an object are perceived as a whole
Name one solution for the binding problem ***
Feature integration theory (FIT): A proposed solution to the binding problem, in which attention is the glue that binds the various features of objects.
Define illusory conjunction ***
Illusory conjunction: features of 2 distinct stimuli are erroneously conjoined when presented briefly
Why does illusory conjunction happen? ***
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.
