Chapter 4:Attention Flashcards
Attention
Ability to focus on specific stimuli or locations in our environment
- Selective - Divided
Divided Attention
Paying attention to to more than one thing at a time
Visual Scanning
Movements of eyes from one location or object to another
Selective Attention
Attending to one thing while ignoring other
- We do not attend to large fraction of the information in the environment
- We filter out some information and promote other information for further processingp
Distraction
One stimulus interfering with processing of another stimulus
Attentional Capture
Rapid shifting of attention usually caused by salient stimulus
Dichotic Listening
Presenting one message to left year and different message to right year
Shadowing
Procesure of repeating message out loud as it is heard
Dichotic Listening Results
Unattended ear is being processed at some level:
- Cocktail party effect - Change in gender is noticed - Change to a tone is noticed
Cocktail Party Effect
Ability to focus one stimulus while filtering out other stimuli
Early Selection Model
Eliminates unattended info right at beginning of flow of information
- Broadbent’s filter model
Broadbent’s Filter Model
Model of attention that proposes filter that lets attended stimuli through and blocks some or all of unattended stimuli
Sensory Memory
Holds all incoming info for fraction of second and than transfers all of it to filter
Filter
Indentifies message that is being attended to based on its physical characteristics
- lets only this attended message pass through to detector in next stage
Detector
Processes info from attempted message to determine higher-level characteristics of message, like meaning
- processes all info
Broadbent’s model couldn’t explain
- Why participant’s name gets through
- Why participants can shadow meaningful messages that switch from one ear to another
Intermediate selection model
Treisman’s attenuation model
Treisman’s Attentuation Model
Selection occurs in 2 stages:
1. Attenuator analyzes incoming message 2. Lets through attended message
Attenuator
Analyzes:
1. Physical characteristics 2. Language 3. Meaning
Dictionary Unit
Contains stored words and thresholds for activating words
Late Selection Models
Most incoming info is processed to meaning before message selected is further processed
- MacKay
MacKay
- In attended ear, participants heard ambiguous sentences
- “They were throwing stones at the bank”
- In unattended ear, participants heard either “river” or “money”
Load Theory of Attention
Proposal that ability to ignore task-irrelevant stimuli depends on load of task person is carrying out
- Processing capacity
- Perceptual load
Processing Capacity
Amount of info people can handle and sets limit on their ability to process incoming info
Perceptual Load
Related to difficulty of task
Low-Load Tasks
Task that uses few resources, leaving some capacity to handle other tasks
High-Load Tasks
Task that uses most or all of a person’s resources and so leaves little capacity to handle other tasks
- Result in less distraction
Stroop Test
Task-irrelevant stimuli are very powerful
In divided attention, required to simultaneously carry out:
- Holding info about target stimuli in memory
- Paying attention to series of “distractor” stimuli to determine whether one of the target stimuli is present among these distractor stimuli
Divided attention is […]
Automatic processing occurs without intention and only uses some of a person’s cognitive resources
- Associated with easy or well-practiced tasks - Becomes more difficult when tasks are harder
Inattentional Blindness
Stimulus that is not attended is not perceived, even though a person might be looking directly at it
- Caused by failure to pay attention
Visual Search
Occurs when peron is looking for one stimulus or object among number of other stimuli or objects
Inattentional Deafness
Occurs when inattention causes a person to miss an auditory stimulus
Change Detection
Detecting difference between pictures or displays that are present one after another
Change Blindness
Difficulty in detecting changes in similar, but slightly different, scenes are presented one after another
Ex. Continuity errors in movies
Experience Sampling
Procedure that was developing to answer what percentage of time during day are people engaged in specific behavior
Mind Wandering
Thoughts that come from within a person, often unintentionally
Overt Attention
Observable
Eye movements, attention, and perception
- Saccades
- Fixations
Saccades
Eye movements from one fixation point to another
Fixations
People’s tendency to focus on specific characteristics of problem that keeps them from arriving at a solution’ - Pausing of eyes in places of interest while observing a scene
Bottom-Up Determinants of Eye Movement
Stimulus Salience
Stimulus Salience
- Depends on characteristics of the stimulus
- Color and motion are highly salient
Saliency Map
Map of scene that indicates stimulus salience of areas and objects in scene
Top-Down Determinants of Eye Movements
- Scene Schema
- Eye movements are determined by task
Scene Schema
Observer’s knowledge about what is contained in typical scenes
Covert Attention
Occurs when attention is shifted without moving eyes
Precuing
Procedure in which participants are given a cue that will usually help them carry out subsequent task
- Participants are given cue that tells them where to direct their attention
Location-Based Visual Attention
Moving attention from one place to another
- When attention is directed to one place on an object, the enhancing effect of that attention spreads to other places on object
Object-Based Visual Attention
Attention being directed on one place on an object
- Attention can enhance our response to objects
Same-Object Advantage
Occurs when enhancing effect of attention spread throughout an object, so that attention to one place on an object results in facilitation of processing at other places on object
Binding
The process by which features such as color, form, motion and location are combined to create our perception of a coherent object
Binding Problem
Problem explaining how an object’s individual features become bound together
Feature Integration Theory
Approach to object perception that proposes sequence of stages in which features are first analyzed and then combined to result in perception of an object
- Preattentive stage: analyzes into features - Focused attention stage: combine features into perception of object
Illusory Conjunctions
Situation in which features from different objects are inappropriately combined
Balint’s Syndrome
Inability to focus attention on individual objects
- high number fo illusory conjunctions reported
Conjunction Search
Searching among distractors for a target that involves 2+ features
Feature Search
Searching among distractors for target item that involves detecting one feature
Feature Integration Theory is mostly […]
Feature Integration Theory is mostly bottom-up processing
- Top-down processing influences processing when participants are told what they would see
- Combines with feature analysis to help one perceive things accurately
Physiology of Attention
- Attention enhances neural responding
- Attentional processing is distributed across a large number of areas in the brain
Ventral Attention Network
Network that controls attenrion based on stimulus salience
Dorsal Attention Network
Network that controls attention based on top-down processing
Executive Attention Network
Deals with executing function
- Cognitive Control, Inhibitory Control, Willpower- mechanims involved in dealing with conflicting stumuli
Effective Connectivity
how easily activity can travel along particular pathway between two structures
Synchronization
Occurs when neural responses become synchronized in time
Hemineglect
- Unaware of deficit
- Loss of attention to half of visual field
- Stroke in right parietal
