Chapter 4

Question 1

what is attention

Answer 1

Attention is the clear and vivid focusing of the mind on one out of several possible objects or trains of thought, involving withdrawal from some things to effectively deal with others

Question 2

What are some variations of attention discussed in the chapter?

Answer 2

selective attention
involuntary attention,
attempting to attend to multiple things
simultaneously
switching attention between tasks

Question 3

What is selective attention?

Answer 3

attending to relevant information while ignoring irrelevant information.

Question 4

Describe the cocktail party phenomenon.

Answer 4

the ability to focus on one conversation in a crowded room while ignoring other conversations.

Question 5

What is the Stroop task used for?

Answer 5

to demonstrate interference in attention by requiring participants to name the color of ink in which words are printed, rather than reading the words themselves.

Question 6

What is the distinction between controlled and automatic processes in attention?

Answer 6

Controlled processes require attention for proper execution
automatic processes operate without requiring attention.

Question 7

What brain regions are implicated in Stroop task performance?

Answer 7

The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) are commonly involved.

Question 8

What is the spotlight metaphor of spatial attention?

Answer 8

The spotlight metaphor suggests that spatial attention works like a spotlight, selectively illuminating objects for conscious perception.

Question 9

What is attention capture?

Answer 9

the automatic focusing on stimuli, such as when someone hears their name and turns to look.

Question 10

Define inattentional blindness.

Answer 10

the failure to notice expected events because of a focus on something else.

Question 11

What experiment did Neisser & Becklen conduct in 1975?

Answer 11

Neisser & Becklen conducted an experiment using two videos to study focused attention.

Question 12

What did Simons study in 2000?

Answer 12

Simons studied inattentional blindness using a basketball video where participants failed to notice a gorilla due to their focus on counting passes.

Question 13

What was the focus of Mack & Rock’s 1998 study?

Answer 13

Mack & Rock’s study used crosses and added new features, showing that participants failed to notice the added features due to their focus on the crosses.

Question 14

According to Lavie et al. (2003), what stimuli tend to capture attention involuntarily?

Answer 14

Lavie et al. found that faces tend to capture attention involuntarily and interfere with tasks.

Question 15

What are domain-specific modules?

Answer 15

specialized brain areas for processing specific types of stimuli.

Question 16

What did Downing et al. (2004) discover about stimuli?

Answer 16

body stimuli, such as human silhouettes, capture attention more than other stimuli.

Question 17

What is the attentional blink?

Answer 17

the second of two stimuli presented in close temporal proximity is often not perceived if it occurs within about 550 milliseconds after the first stimulus.

Question 18

How does the attentional blink affect perception?

Answer 18

participants are usually aware of the first stimulus but fail to perceive the second stimulus, as their attention resources are still focused on processing the first stimulus.

Question 19

What did Olivers and Nieuwenhuis (2005) find regarding the attentional blink?

Answer 19

playing music during a task reduced the magnitude of the attentional blink, leading to improved accuracy in identifying the second target.

Question 20

Describe the Mackworth Clock Task.

Answer 20

involves monitoring a clock hand moving around a circle, with occasional skips in movement. Participants are required to detect these skips by pressing a button.

Question 21

What is the vigilance decrement?

Answer 21

refers to a decline in performance over time in vigilance tasks, such as the Mackworth Clock Task, where participants become less accurate in detecting rare events as the task progresses.

Question 22

What are the two dominant views regarding the cognitive mechanisms underlying the vigilance decrement?

Answer 22

overload view: suggests that performance declines due to the high attentional demands of vigilance tasks
underload view: suggests that performance declines because vigilance tasks are not stimulating enough, leading to boredom and attentional disengagement.

Question 23

What is overt attention?

Answer 23

involves attending to something by moving the eyes to focus on it.

Question 24

What is covert attention?

Answer 24

involves attending to something without moving the eyes, directing mental focus to a specific location or object.

Question 25

What are the rapid, seemingly chaotic movements called during reading?

Answer 25

saccades - interspersed with periods of relative stillness known as fixations.

Question 26

How do eye-tracking devices measure eye movements during reading?

Answer 26

use infrared light and cameras to locate reflections off the cornea and pupil, enabling precise measurement of eye movements.

Question 27

What is the typical duration of a fixation during reading?

Answer 27

typically ranges from 200 to 300 milliseconds, varying based on factors like word difficulty and interpretation.

Question 28

What are the two types of eye movements during reading, and what do they involve?

Answer 28

saccades (rapid movements)

regressions (movements back to previously read text).

Question 29

What is the difference between covert attention and overt attention?

Answer 29

Covert attention: mental focus without physical movement
overt attention: physical eye movements, such as those during reading.