Attention I

Question 1

What is Rod Monochromacy?
(Color Vision Defeciancy)

Answer 1

= complete color blindness due to
- absence of cones
- absence of cone functions

-> only perception of shades of gray
-> includes other impairments
(servere light sensitivity, reduced visual acuity)

other forms of “complete” color blindness
-> blue-cone monochromacy
(intact S-cones and rods, some color discrimination in twilight)
-> cerebral achromatopsia
(Damage to brain areas processing color, intact rods and cones)

Question 2

What is inattentional blindness
(attentional selection)

Answer 2

= Not perceiving a stimulus that is not attended, despite directly looking at it
(also with more naturalistic stimuli and with longer viewing time)

Test by Mack & Rock, (1998)
-> subject sees an reticle
-> task to indicate which arm is longer
-> after few trials an object is placed near the reticle
-> recognition test which object was shown

=> Participants could not report the correct shape in
the recognition
=> focus of attention in primary task made observers
“blind” to unattended test object
(attention so important that, without it, we may fail to perceive things that are clearly visible in our fov)

Question 3

What is change blindness?
(attentional selection)

Answer 3

= difficulty to detect changes between two versions of an image

Connection to attention
-> We need attention to detect changes that are not
salient
-> without attention, we are “blind to changes”
-> cueing attention to overcome change blindness

Question 4

What is the definition of Attention?
(attentional selection)

Answer 4

-> Attention as a filter of incoming information
-> Attention selects certain stimuli for further
processing while ignoring others

Question 5

How does the Dichotic listening experiment by Cherry (1953) work?
(attentional selection)

Answer 5

Goal
-> Test selective attention

Instruction
-> Focus on and shadow left ear, ignore right ear

Results
-> could shadow left message
-> heard right message, could report whether voice
was male or female
-> Unaware of contents of unattended message

Question 6

What is Broadbent’s Filter model of attention (1958)?
(attentional selection)

Answer 6

Goal
-> explain dichotic listening experiments
(ability tofocus on one message and ignore other)

For stages
1. Sensory Memory
-> holds information for a fraction of a second
2. Filter
-> identifies to-be attended message
-> filters out all other messages
3. Detector
-> processes higher-level characteristics of
attended message (meaning)
4. short-term memory
-> information is sent to short-term memory

Question 7

What is the difference between the bottleneck and the early selection model?
(attentional selection)

Answer 7

Bottleneck model
= only information with specific characteristics passes the bottleneck

=> filter completely cancels out unattended information

early selection model
= Filter eliminates unattended information before meaning is analysed

Message => sensory Memory => Filter -> detector -> to memory

=> “all information”
-> “only attended information”

Question 8

How does the Adapted dichotic listening experiment by Moray (1959) work?
(attentional selection)

Answer 8

After Broadbent’s
-> we should not be conscious of information in the
unattended message, but…

Instruction
-> Focus on and shadow left ear, ignore right ear

Result
-> -1/3 of participants noticed their name

Interpretation
-> some meaning in unattended message analysed

(cocktail party effect)

Question 9

What is the Dear Aunt Jane Experiment by Gray & Wedderburn (1960)?
(attentional selection)

Answer 9

Dichotic listening
-> attend only to information on left ear
- attended ear: “Dear 7 Jane”
- Unattended ear: “9 Aunt 6”

Result
-> Participants reported hearing
“Dear Aunt Jane”

Interpretation
-> some meaning of unattended message recovered
-> Attention “jumped” from one ear to the other
-> not a strict filter based on physical characteristics
(location of sound)

Question 10

How does the attenuation model of attention by Treisman (1964) redefine the early selection model?
(attentional selection)

Answer 10

Goal
-> Modify Broadbent’s model to account for unattended information passing the filter

Two stages
1. Attenuator selects incoming messages for further
processing
2. Dictionary unit compares incoming messages to “dictionary” of important / frequent words

Messages => Attenuator --=> Dictionary unit -> To memory

• : Attendded message
  _ : unattended message

Question 11

What is the Attenuator’s role in the Attenuation model?
(attentional selection)

Answer 11

Attenuator
-> select incoming message for further processing
- not only based on physical characteristics but
also language and meaning

-> not an “all-or-nothing” filter, rather a “leaky filter”
model
- selected message emerges at full strength
- unselected messages are attenuated (“toned down”)

Question 12

What is the role of the dictionary in the attenuation model?
(attentional selection)

Answer 12

Dictionary unit compares incoming messages to “dictionary” of important / frequent words

-> Dictionary contains words and concepts with
different activation thresholds
-> low-threshold words are activated even by weak
signals (even unattendence)
- own name
- words indicating danger
-> high-threshold words require a strong signal to be
activated (must be attended)

Question 13

What attentional selection models propose early selection?
(attentional selection)

Answer 13

Broadbent and Treisman
-> propose early selection
(Bottleneck and Attenuation model)
=> filter before analysis of meaning

no ease, single answer to early-late-controversy
-> depending on task/stimuli
=> cognitive load as important factor

Question 14

How was evidence for late selection proposed by MacKay (1973)?
(attentional selection)

Answer 14

-> Ambigous sentence to one ear
-> Biasing word presented to the other ear
-> Which sentence is closest to what you just heard?
-> Choice depended on biasing word

=> meaning of unattended message affected choice
==> considered evidence for selection after analysis
of meaning

Question 15

What is the Flanker Task?
(processing capacity)

Answer 15

= simple task to measure visual attention under different conditions

instruction
-> press left key when target is A or B, press right key
when target is C or D
-> Ignore flankers (letters around target letter)

Structure
Flanker - Target - Flanker
B - A - B : Compatible -> fastest response to target
C - A - C: incompatible -> Slowest response to target
X - A - X: Neutral -> Intermediate response to target

Question 16

What factors determine how much attential capacity is used?
(processing capacity)

Answer 16

Modern attention research thinks of attention as a limited resource

Several factors determine how much of this resource is used up by a task
-> perceptual load
-> cognitive load
-> selective vs. divided attention
-> practice / automatic processing

(importantly, these factor’s interact with each other)

Question 17

What is the perceptual load?
(processing capacity)

Answer 17

Perceptual load
= Amount of perceptual processing capacities used up by a task

low-load tasks
-> use up only small amount of person’s processing
capacity

high-load tasks
-> use up larger amount of person’s processing
capacity

Question 18

What is the cognitive load?
(processing capacity)

Answer 18

cognitive load
-> amount of executive/cognitive control capacities
used up by a task

(frontal lobe: cognitive control)

Memorize Numbers Task
-> memorized numbers are unrelated to flanker task, but using up cognitive resources impairs performance nonetheless

Question 19

What is the difference between selective and divided attention?

Answer 19

selective attention
-> focussing on one thing at a time (ignoring others)

divided attention
-> distributing attention across several tasks or stimuli at the same time

Question 20

How can you practice / automate processing?
(processing capacity)

Answer 20

Tasks can become well-practiced and eventually automatic after a certain amount of time

Memorize targets
-> report if they are presented in displays
-> participants had to repeat target to themselves
-> after 600 trials, automatic processing
(without intention, little cognitive resources)

=> practice may reduce the cognitive load of a task and therefore free up additional resources for divided attention

Question 21

What is the stroop effect by stroop (1935)?
(processing capacity)

Answer 21

Stroop effect (1935)
-> Name the color of the letters presented on the screen
-> Name is colored and spell out a different color

=> reading words is highly practiced (almost automatic)
==> meaning is difficult to ignore

Question 22

What Real-world applications for can be seen for driving?
(processing capacity)

Answer 22

-> 80% of car accidents involve some form of inattention

-> Talking on a phone:
- four times higher risk of accident

-> texting while riding your bike makes you use more
space

-> simulated driving task with vs without mobile
phone
- more red lights missed
- longer reaction time
(any task/activity requiring cognitive resources can degrade driving performance)

Question 23

What kind of attentional selection in space exist?
(visual attention)

Answer 23

-> we can direct attention to different locations in space

Two mechanisms to direct attention
-> overt attention
- directing attention in space by moving our eyes
-> covert attention
- directing attention withut eye movements

Question 24

What is the Posner Cueing Task by Posner et al (1978)?
(visual attention)

Answer 24

= Measures covert orienting of attention

cues induce expectation where target appears
-> endogenous cues
- appear at the centre of the screen
- top-down attention (attention shifted voluntarily)
-> exogenous cues
- appear at one of possible target locations (higlighting)
- bottom-up attention (reflexive shift of attention)

typical result
-> shorter reaction times for valid vs. invalid trials

Question 25

In how far is Covert attention very effective?
(visual attention)

Answer 25

Information processing is more effective at the place where attention is directed
-> attentional spotlight

Question 26

What is object based attention?
(visual attention)

Answer 26

object-based attention test
-> attention is cued to part of an object
-> target appears in one of three locations
-> Response still faster even if target appears at another
location within the same

3 locations
-> Valid (same object at cue)
-> Invalid (same object bottom)
-> Invalid (different object top)
(reaction time increases for each)

=> attention is not just a “spotlight”, it can “spread” across an object like a gradient

==> Information processing is more effective across the object that is cued

Question 27

What is RSVP?
(visual attention)

Answer 27

RSVP
(can measure capacity limitation over time)
-> Stream of stimuli is presented on screen
(around 100 ms per stimulus)

Task
-> Report identity of presented letters
- Letters are targets
- Numbers are distractors

Manipulation
-> presence of second target (T2, 50% of trials)
-> time between T1 and T2

Question 28

How does an attentional blink effect RSVP?
(visual attention)

Answer 28

-> Interference of first target with processing of a second
target
-> T2 often missed if it appears shortly after T1
(ca. 200-500 ms)

Attentional blink:
-> “recovery” period of attention

Question 29

How are location-based and object-based attention similar?
(visual attention)

Answer 29

Both
-> describe where we focus our attention
-> given that attention is capacity limited, it also
varies over time

Question 30

What is the Hemispatial neglect?
(attentional failures)

Answer 30

= inability to attend to one entire half of the visual field

cause
-> Usually result of a lesion (damage) in the right parietal lobe
=> neglect affects left field

can be diagnosed using different tasks
-> cross out all black lines you see
-> copy drawing of a house

Question 31

What is extinction in the context of attention?
(attentional failures)

Answer 31

Extinction
-> similar to neglect (mild form?)

Difference
-> stimuli can be detected anywhere
when presented alone

-> When presenting stimuli on both sides simultaneously,
- stimulus in affected half of the visual field is not
detected
(not detected = deleted)

-> not only in visual domain

Question 32

What is Simultanagnosia?
(attentional failures)

Answer 32

-> inability to attend to more than one object at a time (dimension)

-> patients reports show inability to understand overall meaning in muti-layered image

-> paintings by patient at different points after stroke
- before stroke
- weeks after stroke
- years after stroke