Chapter 3

Question 1

Attention

Answer 1

A concentration of mental activity that allows you to take in a limited portion of the vast stream of information available from both our sensory world and your memory
Both bottom-up and top-down processing

Question 2

Divided-attention task

Answer 2

Trying to pay attention to two or more simultaneous messages, responding appropriately to each
Both speed and accuracy suffer

Question 3

Drivers on cell phones showed a form of…

Answer 3

Inattentional blindness

Question 4

Selective-attention task

Answer 4

Requires people to pay attention to certain kinds of information, while ignoring other ongoing information
Resolving response conflict

Question 5

4 different kinds of selective-attention tasks

Answer 5

Dichotic listening
The Stroop Effect
Visual Search
Saccadic eye movements

Question 6

Dichotic listening

Answer 6

Each ear is listening to a different thing
People are more likely to process the unattended message when both messages are presented slowly, the main task is not challenging, and the meaning of the unattended message is immediately relevant

Question 7

Working memory

Answer 7

The brief, immediate memory for material that we are currently processing

Question 8

The Stroop Effect

Answer 8

People take a long time to name the ink color when that color is used in printing an incongruent word

Question 9

Emotional Stroop task

Answer 9

People are instructed to name the ink color of words that could have strong emotional significance to them
Takes longer to name the color because they cannot ignore their emotional reactions

Question 10

Attentional bias

Answer 10

A situation in which people pay extra attention to some stimuli or some features

Question 11

Visual search

Answer 11

The observer must find a target in a visual display that has numerous distractors
More accurate in identifying it if it appears more frequently

Question 12

Isolated-feature/combined-feature effect

Answer 12

If the target differs from the irrelevant items in the display with respect to a simple feature such as color, observers can quickly detect the target
People can locate an isolated feature more quickly than a combined

Question 13

Feature-present/feature-absent effect

Answer 13

People can typically locate a feature that is present more quickly than one that is absent

Question 14

Saccadic eye movements

Answer 14

Purpose is to bring the center of your retina into position over the words you want to read

Question 15

Orienting attention network (what is it, where is it located)

Answer 15

Responsible for the kind of attention required for visual search, in which you must shift your attention around to various spatial locations
Located in the parietal lobe

Question 16

Executive attention network (what is it, where is it located, what type of processing)

Answer 16

Responsible for the kind of attention we use when a task focuses on conflict
Inhibits automatic responses to stimuli
Located in prefrontal cortex
Primarily involved during top down processing

Question 17

Feature-Integration theory

Answer 17

Sometimes we look at a scene using distributed attention, other times we use focused attention
Often the attention we use is on a continuum between those two

Question 18

Illusory conjunction

Answer 18

An inappropriate combination of features

Question 19

Binding problem

Answer 19

When the visual system does not represent the important features of a unified object as a whole

Question 20

Consciousness

Answer 20

The awareness that people have about the outside world and about their perceptions, images, thoughts, memories, and feelings

Question 21

3 interrelated issues concerned with consciousness

Answer 21

Our inability to bring certain thoughts into consciousness
Our inability to let certain thoughts escape from consciousness
Blindsight

Question 22

Ironic effects of mental control

Answer 22

How our efforts can backfire when we attempt to control the contents of our consciousness

Question 23

Blindsight

Answer 23

A condition in which an individual with a damaged visual cortex claims not to see an object; however, he or she can accurately report some characteristics of that object
Based on the information registered in other cortical locations

Question 24

Covert orienting

Answer 24

This is when we move our attention around without moving our eyes

Question 25

Overt orienting

Answer 25

Moving our attention while also moving our eyes

Question 26

Difference between Stroop task and Flanker task?

Answer 26

Stroop: Looking at ability to select part of a stimulus from a whole
Flanker: Looking at selection in space

Question 27

2 areas of the brain particularly active in the incongruent part of the Stroop task

Answer 27

Anterior cingulate cortex

Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

Question 28

Feature vs conjunction search

Answer 28

Feature: looking for the “odd man out”. It’s easy and does not depend on set size. Happens without attention
Conjunction: looking for something that has 2 features (red AND circular). RT varies with set size. Requires attention

Question 29

Exogenous covert attention

Answer 29

Attention manipulated by things happening in the world (bottom-up)
Something in the world catches our attention (without moving our eyes)

Question 30

Endogenous covert attention

Answer 30

Attention can be allocated voluntarily (top-down)

We can direct our attention to certain areas

Question 31

How do your eyes know which words to skip while reading?

Answer 31

Link between covert and overt attention

Send covert attention ahead of where our eyes are, and it chooses places for our eyes to land

Question 32

Asymmetrical perceptual span dimensions

Answer 32

4-5 letters to the left

About 15 letters to the right

Question 33

Dual task interference

Answer 33

Attention is a limited capacity cognitive system
The more two tasks depend on the same systems or resources, the more they interfere
Interference can be cross modal

Question 34

Task switching

Answer 34

We don’t multitask!

Every time you switch tasks you incur a switch cost

Question 35

Mind wandering

Answer 35

A kind of dual task interference with internal distractions

We fluctuate between being on and off task

Question 36

Sustained attention to response task determines…

Answer 36

Your off task performance