Attention and Performance Flashcards
What is attention?
Allocating cognitive resources: The ability to focus on specific information while ignoring distractions
What is Automaticity?
The ability to perform a task with little or no central cognitive control (ex. reading)
What is the binding problem?
The question of how the brain combines information from different senses into a unified perception (ex. a red moving car)
What is the Dichotic Listening Task?
A task in which participants in an experiment are presented with two messages simultaneously, one to each ear, and are instructed to repeat back the words from only one of the messages (goal-directed)
What is Inattentional Blindness?
When you fail to notice something visible because your attention is focused elsewhere (the Gorilla video)
What is inhibition of return?
The tendency to avoid returning attention to a previously attended location
What is perfect time-sharing?
Doing multiple tasks at once with full attention on each, seamlessly switching between them without losing focus or efficiency (multitasking)
What is serial bottleneck/central bottleneck?
The brain’s limit in processing multiple tasks at once, causing delays when switching between tasks
(We can perform separate actions simultaneously when the actions involve different motor systems (such as walking and chewing gum), we have difficulty in getting one motor system to do two things at once)
What is the cocktail party effect?
The brain’s ability to focus on a specific auditory stimulus, such as a single conversation, while filtering out background noise, like other people talking in a crowded room (stimulus driven attention)
You can easily hear when someone mentions your name in another conversation
Automatic processing vs controlled processing?
Automatic processing happens without effort or awareness, like walking.
Controlled processing requires focus and effort, like solving a math problem
What is early selection theory? (Broadbent’s Filter Model)
Suggests that we filter out irrelevant information right after sensory input, before deeper processing occurs
What is Attenuation Theory (Treisman)
Suggests that instead of fully blocking out irrelevant information, the brain weakens (attenuates) it, so we can still hear it, but it’s less noticeable unless needed
What is Late Selection Theory (Deutch & Deutch)?
Suggests that all information is processed fully first, and then the brain decides what to focus on based on importance
What is Goal-directed attention (endogenous/active control)?
When you focus on something based on your own intentions or goals, like looking for your keys because you want to leave (top-down processing)
What is Stimulus-driven attention (exogenous/passive control)?
When something in the environment grabs your attention, like a loud noise or a bright light (bottom-up processing)
What is selective attention?
Focusing on a specific task or stimulus while filtering out distractions
What is divided attention?
The ability to attend to multiple tasks simultaneously, though with reduced performance
What is Sustained Attention?
The ability to maintain attention over an extended period
What is Executive Attention?
The ability to control and focus your attention on tasks, especially when there are distractions or when you need to switch between tasks (goal-directed)
What is Space-based attention (spatial)?
When you focus on a specific area or location in your visual field, like looking at one part of a picture
Parahippocampal
What is object-based attention?
When you focus on a specific object in your environment, like paying attention to a particular person in a crowd
Fusiform gyrus
What is filter theory?
Similar to early selection theory: Sensory information comes through the system until a bottleneck is reached. At that point, a person can choose what message to attend to
What is Visual Search?
The process of looking for a specific item or feature in a visual scene, like searching for a red apple in a fruit basket
What is feature search?
A type of visual search where you look for an item based on a single feature, like finding a red apple among green ones, focusing just on the color
What is conjunction search?
A type of visual search where you look for an item that has a combination of features
What is feature-integration theory?
Suggests that we first detect individual features (like color, shape) of an object separately, and then combine them to recognize the object as a whole, like recognizing a red apple with a green stem
What is change blindness?
When you fail to notice changes in a scene you’re looking at, even though you’re paying attention (video with changing men)
What is dual-task interference?
When you try to do two tasks at the same time, and your performance on both tasks suffers because your brain has limited resources for processing information
What is the Stroop effect/task?
When you have trouble naming the color of a word when the word itself spells out a different color (e.g., the word “red” written in blue ink)
Describe the brain areas involved in attention
Parietal cortex: Involved in spatial attention and integrates stimuli in the environment. Shifts attention in tasks
Prefrontal Cortex: Helps with controlling and directing attention (goal-directed), especially in complex tasks. (executive control)
Parietal lobe/regions: control direction of attention. The left parietal regions seem to be more involved in object-based attention and the right parietal regions in location-based attention
Prefrontal region:
Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC): Monitoring attention, detecting errors, and adjusting focus, especially when we make mistakes or face conflicts in tasks (stroop task)
Dorsolateral prefrontal (DLPFC): Helps with higher-level attention control, such as focusing, planning, and managing working memory
Visual attention vs auditory attention?
Visual attention refers to focusing on and processing information from what we see, like paying attention to objects, faces, or scenes in our environment.
Auditory attention involves focusing on sounds or voices, such as listening to someone speaking or focusing on a specific noise in a crowded room.
What is the fusiform gyrus?
Face registration in the brain
What is the parahippocampal gyrus?
Places registration in the brain
What is unilateral neglect disorder?
When a person ignores one side of their environment, usually the left side, due to brain damage. This can make them unaware of things on that side, even though they can see them
What is central attention?
Refers to the brain’s ability to focus on specific tasks or stimuli, prioritizing certain information over others. It involves mental processes like concentration, decision-making, and filtering distractions.
How does attention relate to other topics?
