Attention and Consciousness Flashcards
This patient has Balint’s syndrome, a severe disturbance of visual attention and awareness that results in only one or a small subset of available objects being perceived at any O…… time,
and these being M……….. in space.
One
Mislocalized
The patient can “see” each of the objects presented by the doctor- the comb, the spoon, and even the numbers on the clock.
But he fails to see them all T…………………. and cannot accurately describe their L…………….. with respect to each other or to himself.
Together
Locations
The fact that we are C………………………… aware of
only a S…………………………… of the vast amount of information available to our sensory systems from moment to moment.
Consciously
Small bit
In this chapter we investigate the mechanisms of attention and awareness. First, we will learn that attention involves both
T……-D………… (V…………………),
goal-directed processes and
B…………….-U…. (R…………………..)
stimulus-driven mechanism, and that they are in dynamic competition for control of the momentary focus of attention.
Top-down (voluntary)
Bottom-up (reflexive)
These effects of attention influence the way information is P………………… in the brain,
and can occur E………. during sensory processing. Widespread brain networks interact to enable us to
attend to relevant events and, importantly, to ignore those that are irrelevant.
Processed
Early
We can C………………..
the focus of our attention.
Control
In this chapter we focus on the mechanisms of selective attention- those cognitive processes that enable organisms to
P……………………. R……………………. I……………… thoughts,
or actions while ignoring irrelevant or distracting ones.
Process Relevant Inputs
We can divide attention into two broad categories:
(a) voluntary and
(b) reflexive.
Voluntary attention, a top-down,
G………………- directed influence,
is our ability to
I………………….. attend to something.
Reflexive attention, a bottom-up, stimulus-driven influence, describes the phenomena in which a sensory event captures our attention.
Goal
Intentionally
In 1894, Hermann von Helmholtz constructed a screen on which L………………..
were painted at various distances from the center.
Letters
Helmholtz noted that the screen was too large to view without moving the eyes.
Nonetheless, even when he kept his eyes fixed right at the center of the screen, he could
D………………………… I……….. A………………………
where he would pay attention; that is, he made use of something we now refer to as
C………………….. A………………………….
Decide In Advance
Cover Attention
By covert we mean that the location to which he directed his attention could be
D…………………………..
from the location at which he was locking.
Different
Through these covert shifts of attention, Helmholtz observed that, during the
B………………………period of illumination,
he could P………………………………….
letters located within the focus of his attention
B…………………………. than letters that fell
O……………………. T…………………. F…………………………
of his attention, even when his eyes remained at the
C………………………….
of the screen.
Brief
Perceive
Better
Outside The Focus
Center
“These experiments demonstrated, so it seems to me, that by a
V…………………………. K…………………….
of intention, even without eye movements, and without changes of accommodation, one can concentrate attention on the sensation from a particular part of our peripheral nervous system and at the same time exclude attention from all other parts.”
Voluntary Kind
British psychologist E. C. Cherry (1953) examined the so-called
C……………………. P………………….. E…………………….
Cocktail Party Effect.
By S…………………………………… attending, y
ou can perceive the signal of interest amid the louder noise, and remain charming in a difficult social context.
Selectively
These changes in
Global…………….. S………………….. O……….A……………………… can be related to specific neurons in the brain and are reflected by changes in the electroencephalogram (EEG),
the S……………. V……………………….
fluctuations that accompany neuronal activity in the brains of all animals.
Global State Or Arousal
Small Voltage
The EEG is a clear indicator of the state of global arousal and sleep in normal subjects; one can
P…………………………….
of change from wakefulness to sleep and to different stages of sleep by viewing the EEG alone.
Pinpoint
Attentive behaviors have a
H………………………………… structure.
At the most global level are states of alertness such as sleep and wakefulness
W…………………………..
includes more and less attentive and more and less selective states:
D………………… A………………….. and
H………………………..
such as when a life-threatening situation arises.
Hierarchical
Wakefulness
Drowsiness Alertness
Hyperalertness
At a finer level of description are levels within each
Awake
global state of awareness; here we reach levels of description that are appropriate for considering
S…………………………….,
as with the cocktail party effect described in this chapter.
Awake
Selectivity
For instance, finding that neurons are more active when an animal is
E………………………..
performing a task, as compared with drowsily watching stimuli, might be an example only of a nonspecific state difference induced by the arousal of the task, and
N…………… E……………………………..
of neuronal mechanisms of selective processing.
Excitedly
Not Evidence
Cherry investigated the effect by providing
C…………………………..
speech inputs to the two ears of a normal subject through headphones
(D…………………… L………………………..).
In different conditions he asked people to attend to and verbally
“S………………………………”
(immediately repeat each word) speech coming into one ear, while simultaneously ignoring similar inputs to the other ear.
Competing
(Dichotic Listening)
“Shadow”
Cherry discovered that, when different speech inputs were played into each ear and the subjects were asked to shadow what was played into only one ear at a time, they could
N…………………… R……………………………
any details of the speech in the
U……………………. E…………..
Not Report
Unattended ear
Are the effects of selective attention
E…………………..
- that is, before extensive perceptual analysis?
Or do they occur
L……………
- after the information has been analyzed, but before a later stage of processing, such as that associated with
Encoding
the information as a semantic code or prior to the control of actions.
Early
Late
Encoding
The British psychologist Donald Broadbent (1958), working at Cambridge University. He conceptualized the
I……………………..-P…………………. S………………………,
a term that encompasses all aspects of the brain’s processing of data, including sensory inputs, as having a
L………………………-C………………………
stage through which only a certain amount of information can pass.
Information-processing System
Limited-Capacity