Attention and Performance

Question 1

What is attention?

Answer 1

Allocating cognitive resources: The ability to focus on specific information while ignoring distractions

Question 2

What is Automaticity?

Answer 2

The ability to perform a task with little or no central cognitive control (ex. reading)

Question 3

What is the binding problem?

Answer 3

The question of how the brain combines information from different senses into a unified perception (ex. a red moving car)

Question 4

What is the Dichotic Listening Task?

Answer 4

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)

Question 5

What is Inattentional Blindness?

Answer 5

When you fail to notice something visible because your attention is focused elsewhere (the Gorilla video)

Question 6

What is inhibition of return?

Answer 6

The tendency to avoid returning attention to a previously attended location

Question 7

What is perfect time-sharing?

Answer 7

Doing multiple tasks at once with full attention on each, seamlessly switching between them without losing focus or efficiency (multitasking)

Question 8

What is serial bottleneck/central bottleneck?

Answer 8

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)

Question 9

What is the cocktail party effect?

Answer 9

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

Question 10

Automatic processing vs controlled processing?

Answer 10

Automatic processing happens without effort or awareness, like walking.

Controlled processing requires focus and effort, like solving a math problem

Question 11

What is early selection theory? (Broadbent’s Filter Model)

Answer 11

Suggests that we filter out irrelevant information right after sensory input, before deeper processing occurs

Question 12

What is Attenuation Theory (Treisman)

Answer 12

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

Question 13

What is Late Selection Theory (Deutch & Deutch)?

Answer 13

Suggests that all information is processed fully first, and then the brain decides what to focus on based on importance

Question 14

What is Goal-directed attention (endogenous/active control)?

Answer 14

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)

Question 15

What is Stimulus-driven attention (exogenous/passive control)?

Answer 15

When something in the environment grabs your attention, like a loud noise or a bright light (bottom-up processing)

Question 16

What is selective attention?

Answer 16

Focusing on a specific task or stimulus while filtering out distractions

Question 17

What is divided attention?

Answer 17

The ability to attend to multiple tasks simultaneously, though with reduced performance

Question 18

What is Sustained Attention?

Answer 18

The ability to maintain attention over an extended period

Question 19

What is Executive Attention?

Answer 19

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)

Question 20

What is Space-based attention (spatial)?

Answer 20

When you focus on a specific area or location in your visual field, like looking at one part of a picture

Parahippocampal

Question 21

What is object-based attention?

Answer 21

When you focus on a specific object in your environment, like paying attention to a particular person in a crowd

Fusiform gyrus

Question 22

What is filter theory?

Answer 22

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

Question 23

What is Visual Search?

Answer 23

The process of looking for a specific item or feature in a visual scene, like searching for a red apple in a fruit basket

Question 24

What is feature search?

Answer 24

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

Question 25

What is conjunction search?

Answer 25

A type of visual search where you look for an item that has a combination of features

Question 26

What is feature-integration theory?

Answer 26

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

Question 27

What is change blindness?

Answer 27

When you fail to notice changes in a scene you’re looking at, even though you’re paying attention (video with changing men)

Question 28

What is dual-task interference?

Answer 28

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

Question 29

What is the Stroop effect/task?

Answer 29

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)

Question 30

Describe the brain areas involved in attention

Answer 30

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

Question 31

Visual attention vs auditory attention?

Answer 31

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.

Question 32

What is the fusiform gyrus?

Answer 32

Face registration in the brain

Question 33

What is the parahippocampal gyrus?

Answer 33

Places registration in the brain

Question 34

What is unilateral neglect disorder?

Answer 34

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

Question 35

What is central attention?

Answer 35

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.

Question 36

How does attention relate to other topics?