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Psychology 365- Cognitive Psychology > Chapter 4: Attention > Flashcards

Chapter 4: Attention Flashcards

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1
Q

What is attention

A
  • attention is the ability to focus cognitive resources on stimuli
  • internal or external
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2
Q

What is directed attention

what happens without it

A
  • directed attention gives us the ability choose what we want to focus on
  • it allows us to hold information for further processing
  • without directed attention we would be passively focusing on the brightest/ loudests stimuli
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3
Q

Why is attention a limited resource (2)

A
  • cant pay attention to everything all the time
  • attention is energy consuming
    ex. you are tired after a long drive or lecture
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4
Q

What is Selective Attention

A
  • attending to one thing while ignoring others

ex. conversation at a cocktail party, there are lots of distractions that you are able to ignore

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5
Q

What is a Distraction?

A
  • one stimulus interferes with the processing of other stimulus
    ex. noticing someone famous at a cocktail party
    ex. .hearing your name in someone else’s conversation
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6
Q

What is Divided Attention

A
  • paying attention to more than one thing at a time
    ex. music, conversation, eating, driving
  • this is basically mutli tasking but for attention
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7
Q

What is Attentional Capture?

A
  • rapid shift in attention due to novel stimuli
    ex. tray of glass falls and breaks
    ex. powerful stimuli
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8
Q

What are the two models of attention?

A
  • information processing model

- perceptual load model

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9
Q

What do information processing models ask

A
  • attention as information processing
  • ask what happens when we are not pay attention to investigate this
  • can we process unattended information semantically (meaning) or only physically ( tone of voice)
  • late and early selection models (only differences between the two is where the filter is placed)
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10
Q

What do early information processing models believe

- what are the two models

A
  • semantic processing requires attention
    1. Broadbent
    2. Treismann
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11
Q

What do late selection models believe

A
  • semantic processing does not require attention
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12
Q

What task did Broadbent’s filter model of attention use?

- what kind of attention does it use

A
  • Dichotic listening task: different information presented to both ears, next asked to repeat what is heard in the left ear
  • this uses selective attention, shows that we have the ability to focus on one stream of information and ignore others
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13
Q

What information leaks through to the unattended ear during dichotic listening tasks in Broadbents model

A
  • gender of speaker

- the unnattended ear does NOT pay attention to the content of the voice aka the words

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14
Q

How long can the Short term memory and sensory store/memory hold information for?
- What do these primarily hold information for?

A
  • STM: up to 15 seconds
  • sensory memory: fractions of a second
  • STM and sensory memory hold primarily audio and visual information
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15
Q

In Broadbents filter model of attention, what does the information pass through?

A
  • message comes in
  • sensory memory: holds all incoming information for a fraction of a second and transfers it to the filter (attended and unattended)
  • filter: identifies message to be attended to based on characteristics (tone, pitch, speed, accent) and ignores everything else ; this is why we are able to report these characteristics for the unattended ear
  • detector: process the information from the attended messages and determines content
  • memory
    (unattended information is excluded before semantic processing
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16
Q

What does the filter do in Broadbents Filter model

A
  • identifies messages to be attended to based on characteristics of speed, tone, accent, pitch and ignores everything else
  • this is why we are able to report these characteristics (not content/words) heard in the unattended ear
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17
Q

What does the detector do in Broadbents filter model of attention

A
  • processes the information from the attended messages and determines content
  • this is why we are unable to report the content of the unattended ear, because the content processing only occurs for attended information (content)
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18
Q

What are the Limitations of Broadbent’s filter model of attention

A
  • participants recognize their own name in unattended ear during dichotomous listening tasks (broadbents model would predict semantic processing is not possible for unattended information
  • our attention can shift involuntarily based on content
  • we automatically notice some stimuli; ex. smoke under the door, picture in an album
  • some amount of processing takes place even for the unattended information
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19
Q

What is Anne Treisman’s attenuation model

A
  • some processing of unattended information takes place
  • messages are analyzed by an attenuator (attended and unattended)
    -goes to dictionary unit: has different thersholds of activation for words (ex. important words like your own name have lower thresholds for activation)
    then to memory
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20
Q

Messages are analyzed based on what in the Treismans attenuation model
(what did Broadbents model say?)

A
  • physical characteristics (speed and pitch)
  • language (syllables and words)
  • meaning (how words create meaningful phrases
  • Broadbents model said only physical characteristics are processed for unattended messages
  • this model says the filter operates early in the flow of information
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21
Q

What does Treismans attenuation model explain

A

-can explain why a participant hears their own name and meaningful sounds in the unattended ear

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22
Q

What is the Leaky filter model

A
  • Treismans Attenuation Model

- unattended information is not filtered out but only attenuated (reduced in strength)

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23
Q

What does the Attenuator do in Treismans Attenuator model

A
  • sends information to the dictionary unit
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24
Q

What does the dictionary unit do in Treismans attenuator model
- does your name have a low or high threshold for activation

A
  • has different thresholds of activations for words
  • ex. important words like your own name have a lower threshold for activation
  • words that have a significance to a person (ex. fire!) are easily activated even when presented softly of obscured by other words
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25
Q

What is the Late selection model

A
  • proposes that meaning is processed before information is selected
  • information in unattended ear biased the
    interpretation of the sentence
  • semantic processing does not require attention
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26
Q

Are early or late selection models correct

A
  • both early and late models focus on what kind of information is used for selection (to attend to)
  • depending on the stimuli and task at hand, either model can be supported, aka attention is not limited by information features/content
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27
Q

What is the Perceptual load theory of Attention

- what can the ability to attend be affected by

A
  • perceptual load model
  • we are not limited by content or features on information but maybe by the capacity/load our attentional resources can handle
    NOT KIND OF INFORMATION, BUT THE AMOUNT
  • the ability to attend can be affected by the stimuli attended to and the nature of the distracting stimuli
28
Q

What are the Two factors affecting attention in the perceptual load theory

A
  • processing capacity : the amount of information a person can handle ; ex. number of images
  • perceptual load: difficulty of the task (high load vs low load tasks)
29
Q

Can high load tasks become low load tasks

A
  • yes with practice and experience
30
Q

What does the load theory of attention suggest

A
  • attention has a specific capacity which can be filled but not exceeded
31
Q

Do distracting stimuli affect low load or high load condition more

A
  • low load
  • with low-load tasks there is processing capacity available to process other stimuli, like listening to the radio when driving comfortably
  • with high load tasks, our attention is already near maximum so distraction affects performance less cuz there is little capacity remaining which can be taken up by the distractor
32
Q

What happens when high load conditions are distracted

A
  • rather than process both, the person stops attending to the primary task and switches to the secondary one due to limited capacity
33
Q

How can you test high vs low conditions

A
  • stroop test
    ex. shapes in different colors: name ink color not shape
    high load ex. colours written in words in different colors: name ink color not word
34
Q

What is the stroop effect

A
  • occurs because task-relevant stimuli (content of word) is a powerful distractor
  • we have to inhibit the tendency to read the word and focus on the colour the word is written in
35
Q

Is attention more like a lamp in a room or a flashlight in the dark

A
  • flash light in the dark
36
Q

How do we direct attention?

A
  • scanning a scene

- directing of attention depends on our goals, nature of stimuli etc

37
Q

What is scanning based on ?

A
  • eye movements
  • salience
  • cognitive factors
  • task demands
38
Q

how do we scan a scene with eye movements

A
  • overt attention: shifting attention by moving eyes
  • central vision only constitutes a small part of the visual field we fixate on
  • everything else in peripheral
39
Q

What two movements does overt attention require

A
  • eye fixations
  • saccadic eye movements
  • we constantly shift our visual focus between points when scanning a visual scene
40
Q

What are the two factors that affect how people shift attention by moving their eyes

A
  • Bottom-Up Factors : physical characteristics of the stimulus
    we looks at faces over objects
  • Top-down Factors: knowledge of the scene and past experiences with specific stimuli (architects might spend more time looking at buildings than faces)
41
Q

What are Bottom-up Factors in scanning a scene

A
  • Scanning based on stimulus salience (prominence)
  • color, contrast movement
  • Attentional capture: properties of unusual stimuli grab our attention
  • survival value
42
Q

What are Top-Down Factors in scanning a scene

  • Scanning based on cognitive factors
  • scanning based on task demands
A
  • scanning based on cognitive factors
  • experience, expectations, tastes
  • scene schemas
  • Prediction errors:we look at unusual elements more than common ones
  • scanning based on interests and goals
  • scanning based on task demands : visual fixations when making a sandwich (eye movement occurs just before the information is needed)
  • scanning based on predictions, we constantly predict what we expect to see
43
Q

How do we study the effects of attention

A
  • investigating covert attention which are observable shifts on attention
  • overt attention are observable shifts
44
Q

How does attention improve our ability to respond to a location

A
  • attention Is like a spotlight that improves processing when directed to a specific location
  • improves reaction time and ability to respond
45
Q

How does attention improve our ability to respond to objects

- presentation of a cue?

A
  • presentation of a cue increases accuracy of target identification
  • improves same-object identification
46
Q

How does attention affect perception (outcome of attention)

A
  • compared to unattended objects, attended objects are perceived as
    bigger, faster, more richly coloured , better contrast
  • attention also improves response to objects in a location and affects the way they are perceived
47
Q

What areas of the brain does attention increase activity in

A

FFA for faces

Parahippocampal Place area (PPA) for objects, buildings

48
Q

How does attention affect physiological repsonse

A
  • attention increases activity in the brain region that represents the attended location
  • based on task demands
49
Q

What are the limits of attention (4)

A
  • divided attention
  • distraction
  • consequences of inattention
  • change detection
50
Q

What is automatic processing

A
  • processing occurs without intention

- requires very little cognitive resources

51
Q

Does automation always occur

A
  • no it may never happen for some tasks

- automation switches off when the task becomes complex ( someone jumping infront of car)

52
Q

What can attention be divided for?

A
  • well rehearsed and easy tasks
53
Q

Distractions by cell phones while driving

A
  • 80% of car crashes associated with distraction 3 seconds prior
  • drivers miss red lights 2x as often when on the phone
  • take longer to apply breaks
  • no different between handheld and handsfree
    talking on the phone diverts mental resources away from driving (not inability to use hands, attention is the problem)
  • there is less info on phone so we need to pay more attention to process it
54
Q

Is texting or talking on the phone more distracting while driving

A
  • texting

- 23x more likely to cause a crash

55
Q

What is meta-cognition

A
  • thinking about thinking

- the ability to think about out own limits and max

56
Q

Are newer technologies worse ?

A
  • might be yes
57
Q

During a 15 min study session how much did collage students average before getting distracted

A
  • less than 6 min on task before getting distracted and interrupting study
58
Q

What is mind-wandering and day dreaming

A
  • can be disruptive to task at hand
  • associated with increased default mode network activity
  • not all bad: can be vital for creativity, problem solving and memory
59
Q

What are the consequences of inattention

A
  • attention is a limited resource
  • dividing attention is possible but limited
  • we are particularly bad at sustained attention tasks
60
Q

What is Inattentional blindness

A
  • lack of awareness for clearly visible stimuli

- gorilla video

61
Q

What is Inattentional Deafness

A
  • engaging in a difficult visual search task often miss a tone that is presented during display
  • more inattentional deafness more difficult tasks
62
Q

What is change blindness

A
  • inability to detect changes in a scene
  • size, number, color, faces of people are often unable to detect changes in
    we only detect changes when out attention is directed at the aspect that changes or we are looking for it
63
Q

Disorders of attention may result in functional abnormailites

A
  • poor school performance (ADHD)
  • inability to work/hold onto job (schizophrenia)
  • poor social functioning, failed relationships etc
64
Q

What is attention decifit

A
  • difficulty paying attention
65
Q

what is hyperactivity in ADHD

A
  • behaving over-actively

- impulsiveness

66
Q

What are the two types of attentional processes in the brain

A

type 1
- automatic and involuntary
Type 2
- deliberate and voluntary

ADHD

  • poor ability to engage in type 2 attention to override type 1
  • constantly hijacked
  • poor ability to achieve goals

Psychology 365- Cognitive Psychology (11 decks)

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