Attention and Perception

Question 1

What is sensation?

Answer 1

The stimulus detection process by which our sense organs respond to and translate environmental stimuli into nerve impulses that are sent to the brain

Question 2

What is perception?

Answer 2

The active process of organising the stimulus output and giving it meaning

Question 3

Explain the difference between top-down and bottom-up processing.

Answer 3

Bottom-up: system takes in individual elements of a stimulus and combines them to form a unified perception

Top down: sensory information is interpreted in the light of existing knowledge, concepts, ideas and expectations

Question 4

What are perceptual schemas?

Answer 4

A component of top-down processing – schemas provide mental templates that allow us to identify and classify sensory input, as each of our perceptions is essentially a hypothesis about the meaning of the sensory information

Question 5

What is assimilation?

Answer 5

Incorporating new experiences into existing schema

Question 6

What is accommodation?

Answer 6

The difference made by the process of assimilation

Question 7

Describe Humphrey and Riddoch’s hierarchical model of object recognition.

Answer 7

Visual perceptual analysis (knowing it is something)
Viewer centred representation (knowing it’s a meaningful object)
Visual object recognition (describing what the object is)
Semantic system (purpose of object)
Naming the object

Question 8

What is a critical period in perception development?

Answer 8

An important stage in the lifespan where one acquires a particular developmental skill, which is indispensable in their life span and can influence later development

Question 9

What are the factors affecting perception of physical symptoms?

Answer 9

Attention
Environmental cues
Expectation
Emotion

Question 10

What are the two different types of attention and how are they different?

Answer 10

Main are 1 & 2

1. Focused Attention: the ability to respond discretely to specific visual, auditory or tactile stimuli.
2. Divided Attention: the highest level of attention and it refers to the ability to respond simultaneously to multiple tasks or multiple task demands.
3. Sustained Attention – ability to maintain a consistent behavioural response during continuous and repetitive activity
4. Selective Attention – ability to maintain a behavioural or cognitive set in the face of distracting or competing stimuli; incorporates the notion of freedom from distractibility
5. Alternating Attention – ability of mental flexibility that allows individuals to shift their focus of attention and move between tasks that have different cognitive requirements

Question 11

What study was conducted into attention?

Answer 11

Cocktail Party Effect (Cherry, 1953)

-selective attention

Question 12

What two processes are involved in attention?

Answer 12

1) focusing on certain stimuli

(2) filtering out other incoming info

Question 13

What factors influence perception?

Answer 13

1. Attention
2. Past experiences
   Poor children and adults overestimate the size of coins compared to affluent people (Ashley et al., 1951)
3. Current drive state (e.g. arousal state)
   Hunger: when hungry, more likely to notice food-related stimuli (Seibt et al., 2007)
4. Emotions
   Anxiety increases threat perception (e.g. in PTSD)
   Individual values & expectations
   Telling people a stimulus might be painful makes them more likely to report pain in response to it (Colloca et al, 2008)
5. Environment
6. Cultural background

Question 14

Define attention

Answer 14

process of focusing conscious awareness, providing heightened sensitivity to a limited range of experience requiring more intensive processing.

Question 15

What personal factors affect attention?

Answer 15

1. Motives
2. Interest
3. Threats
4. Mood
5. Arousal

Question 16

What stimulus factors affect attention?

Answer 16

1. Intensity
2. Novelty
3. Movement
4. Contrast
5. Repetition