Chapter 4: Attention Flashcards
Attention
focusing on specific features, objects, or locations or on certain thoughts or activities
Selective Attention
the ability to focus on one message and ignore all others
Distraction
occurs when one stimulus infers with attention to or the processing of another stimuli
Divided Attention
the ability to pay attention to, or carry out, two or more difficult tasks simultaneously
Attentional Capture
a rapid shifting of attentions, usually caused by a stimulus such as a loud noise, bright light or sudden movement
Visual Scanning
movement of the eyes from one location or object to another
Filter Model of Attention
model of attention that proposes a falter that lets attended stimuli through and blocks some or all of the unattended stimuli
Dichotic Listening
the procedure of presenting one message to the left ear and a different message to the right ear
Shadowing
the procedure of repeating a message out loud as it is heard, shadowing is commonly used in conjunction with studies of selective attention that use the dichotic listening procedure
Cocktail Party Effect
the ability to focus on one stimulus while filtering out other stimuli, especially at a party where there are a lot of simultaneous conversations
Filter
in Broadbent’s model of attention, the filter identifies the message that is being attended to based on it’s physical characteristics (things like the speaker’s tone of voice, pitch, speed of talking, and accent), and lets only this attended message pass through to the detector in the next stage
Detector
in Broadbent’s model of attention, the detector processes the information from the attended message to determine higher-level characteristics of the message, such as its meaning
Early Selection Model
model of attention that explains selective attention by early filtering out of the unattended message
in Broadbent’s early selection model, the filtering step occurs before the message is analyzed to determine its meaning
Attenuator
in Treisman’s model of selective attention, the attenuator analyzes the incoming message in terms of physical characteristics, language, and meaning
attended messages pass through the attenuator at full strength, and unattended messages pass through with reduced strength
Attentuation Model of Attention
Anne Treisman’s model of selective attention that proposes that selection occurs in two stages; in the first stage, an attenuator analyzes the incoming message and lets through the attended message, and also the unattended message, but at a lower (attenuated) strength
Dictionary Unit
a component of Treisman’s attenuation model of attention
this processing unit contains stored words and thresholds for activating the words
helps explain why we can sometimes hear a familiar word, such as our name, in an unattended
Late Selection Models of Attention
a model of selective attention that proposes that selection of stimuli for final processing does not occur until after the information in the message has been analyzed for meaning
Processing Capacity
the amount of information input that a person can handle, this sets a limit on the person’s ability to process information
Perceptual Load
related to the difficulty of a task, low-load tasks use only a small amount of a person’s processing capacity, high-load tasks use more of the processing capacity
Low-Load Tasks
a task that uses few resources, leaving some capacity to handle other tasks
High-Load Tasks
a task that uses most or all of a person’s resources and so leaves little capacity to handle other tasks
Load Theory of Attention
proposal that the ability to ignore task irrelevant stimuli depends on the load of the task the person is carrying out
high-load tasks result in less distraction
Stroop Effect
an effect originally studied by J.R. Stroop
using a task in which a person is instructed to respond to one aspect of a stimulus, such as the colour of ink that a word is printed in, and ignore another aspect, such as the color that the word names
the Stroop effect refers to the fact that people find this task difficult when, for example, the word “Red” is printed in blue ink
Fixation
in problem solving, people tendency to focus on a specific characteristic of the problem that keeps them from arriving at a solution
in perception and attention, a pausing of the eyes on places of interest while observing a scene
Overt Attention
shifting of attention by moving the eyes
Stimulus Salience
bottom-up factors that determine attention to elements of a scene
examples are color, contrast, and orientation
the meaningfulness of the images, which is a top-down factor, does not contribute to stimulus salience
Saliency Map
map of a scene that indicates the stimulus salience of areas and objects in the scene
Covert Attention
occurs when attention is shifted without moving the eyes
commonly referred to as seeing something “out of the corner of one’s eye”
Precueing
a procedure in which participants are given a cue that will usually help them carry out a subsequent task
this procedure has been used in visual attention experiments in which participants are presented with a cue that tell them where to direct their attention
Same-Object Advantage
occurs when the enhancing effect of attention spreads throughout an object, so that attention to one place on an object results in facilitation of processing at other places on the objects
Attentional Warping
occurs when the map of categories on the brain changes to make more space for categories that are being searched for as a person attends a scene
Automatic Processing
processing that occurs automatically without the person’s intending to do it, and that also uses few cognitive resources, automatic processing is associated with easy or well-practiced tasks
Experience Sampling
a procedure that was developed to answer the question; “what percentage of the time during the day are people engaged in a specific behavior?”
one way this has been achieved is by having people report what they are doing when they receive signals at random times during the day
Mind Wandering
thoughts that come from within a person, often unintentionally, in early research this was called daydreaming
Inattentional Blindness
not noticing something even though it is in clear view, usually caused by failure to pay attention to the object or the place where the object is located
Visual Search
occurs when a person is looking for one stimulus or object among a number of other stimuli or objects
Inattentional Deafness
occurs when inattention causes a person to miss an auditory stimulus
for example, experiments have shown that it is more difficult to detect a tone when engaged in a difficult visual search task
Change Detection
detecting differences between pictures or displays that are presented one after another
Change Blindness
difficulty in detecting changes in similar, but slightly different, scenes that are presented one after another, the changes are often easy to see once attention is directed to them but are usually undetected in the absence of appropriate attention
Continuity Errors
in film, changes that occur from one scene to another that do not match, such as when a character reaches for a croissant in one shot, which turns into a pancake in the next shot
Binding
process by which features such as color, form, motion, and location are combined to create perception of a coherent object
Binding Problem
the problem of explaining how an object’s individual features become bound together
Feature Integration Theory
an approach to object perception, developed by Anne Treismann, that proposes a sequence of stages in which features are first analyzed and then combined to result in perception of an object
Pre-attentive Stage
the first stage of Treismann’s feature integration theory, in which an object is analyzed into its features
Focused Attention Stage
the second stage of Treismann’s feature integration theory, according to the theory attention causes the combination of features into perception of an objects
Illusory Conjunctions
a situation, demonstrated in experiments by Anne Treismann, in which features from different objects are inappropriately combined
Balient’s Syndrome
a condition caused by brain damage in which a person has difficulty focusing attention on individual objects
Conjunction Search
searching among distractors for a target that involves two or more features, such as “horizontal” and “green”
Feature Search
searching among distractors for a target item that involves detecting one feature, such as “horizontal”
Ventral Attention Network
a network that controls attention based on stimulus salience
Dorsal Attention Network
a network that controls attention based in top-down processing
Effective Connectivity
how easily activity can travel along a particular pathway between two structures
Synchronization
occurs when neural responses become synchronized in time, so positive and negative responses occur at the same time and with similar amplitudes
it has been proposed that synchronization is a mechanism responsible for enhanced effective connectivity and enhanced communication between two areas that accompany shifts of attention
Executive Functions
a number of processes that involve controlling attention and dealing with conflicting responses
Cognitive Control
a mechanism involved in dealing with conflicting stimuli
related to executive function, inhibitory control, and willpower
Inhibitory Control
a mechanism involved in dealing with conflicting stimuli
related to executive function, inhibitory control, and willpower
Willpower
a mechanism involved in dealing with conflicting stimuli, related to executive function, inhibitory control, and cognitive control
What is attention?
the ability to focus on specific stimuli or locations in our environment
What is selective attention?
attending to one thing while ignoring others
we do not attend to a large fraction of the information in the environment
we filter out some information and promote other information for further processing
What is divided attention?
paying attention to more than one thing at a time
What is the research method of dichotic listening?
one message is presented to the left ear and another to the right ear
participant “shadows” one message to ensure he is attending to that message
can we completely filter out the message to the unattended ear and attend only to the shadowed message?
What are the results of dichotic listening?
participants could not report the content of the message un unattended (overshadowed) ear, knew that there was a message, knew the gender of the speaker
however unattended ear is being processed at some level: cocktail party effect, change in gender is noticed, change to a tone is noticed
What are the models of selective attention?
early selection model
intermediate selection model
late selection model
What is the early-selection model?
filters message before incoming information is analyzed for meaning
What is sensory memory?
holds all incoming information for a fraction of a second
transfers all information to next stage
What is a filter?
identifies attended message based on physical characteristics (e.g. pitch of the speaker’s voice)
only attended message is passed on to the next stage
What is a detector?
processes all attended information to determine higher-level characteristics of the message
What is short-term memory?
received output of detector
holds information for 10-15 seconds and may transfer it to long-term memory
What are some things that Broadbent’s model could not explain?
participant’s name gets through (cocktail party phenomenon)
participants can shadow meaningful messages that switch from one ear to another
effects of practice on detecting information in unattended ear (you can’t be trained to detect in unattended ear, based on the meaning of the message)
What is the immediate-selection model?
attended messages can be separated from unattended message early in the information-processing system
selection can also occur
What is an attenuator?
analyzes incoming messages in terms of physical characteristics, language, and meaning
What is Treisman’s Attenuation Theory?
attended to message is let through the attenuator at full strength
unattended message is let through at a much weaker strength
What is a dictionary unit?
contains words, each of which have thresholds for being activated
words that are common or important have low thresholds
uncommon words have high thresholds
What is the late-selection model?
selection of stimuli for final processing does not occur until after information has been analyzed for meaning
What was the McKay (1973) experiment demonstrating late selection models?
in attending ear, participants heard ambiguous sentences, “they were throwing stones at the bank”
in unattended ear, participants heard either “river” or “money”
the participants had to choose if the word “bank” in the sentence referred to a river bank or a money bank
the meaning of the biasing word affected participants’ choice
participants were unaware of the presentation of the biasing words
What is processing capacity?
how much information a person can handle at any given moment
What is perceptual load?
the difficulty of a given task
What are high-load perceptual tasks?
use higher amounts of processing capacity
What are low-load perceptual tasks?
use lower amounts of processing capacity
What is the Stroop task?
not only the load but also the property of the irrelevant stimulus or dimension
name of the word interferes with the ability to name the ink color
cannot avoid paying attention to the meanings of the words
What is an explanation of the Stroop effect?
observers (especially college undergraduate) have automatized the process of reading
thus, the color names of the words are always processed very quickly, regardless of the color of the ink
on the other hand, identifying colors is not a task that observers have to report on very often and, because it is not automatized, it is slower
the fast and automatic processing of the color name of the word interferes with the reporting of the ink color
What is overt attention?
eye movements, attention, and perception
saccades: rapid movements of the eyes from one place to another
fixations: short pauses on points of interest
studied by using an eye tracker
What is stimulus salience?
areas that stand out and capture attention
bottom-up processes
depends on characteristics of the stimulus
color and motion are highly salient
What are scene schemas?
knowledge about what is contained in typical scenes
help guide fixations from one area of a scene to another
What is precueing?
directing attention without moving the eyes
participants respond faster to a light at an expected location than at an unexpected location
even when eyes kept fixed
What are attentional cues?
focus visual attention to an area by using a cue, “spotlight” or “zoom lens”
measure time to identify target item when: observer does not know where item will appear, and the observer does know where item will appear
cue is briefly presented arrow indicate where the item will appear
What are exogenous cues?
outside generating
low-level “reflexes”
sudden changes (e.g. flash or movement)
draws attention automatically
bottom-up control of attention
based on what’s actually happening in the environment
What are endogenous cues?
inside generating
high-level control
instruction (via some kind of visual sign or pattern)
sends attention to requested location
top-down control of attention
based on what observer believes
What is location-based visual attention?
moving attention from one place to another
What is object-based attention?
attention being directed to one place on an object
What was the Egly et al. (1994) study on object-based visual attention?
participants saw two side-by-side rectangles, followed by a target cue
reaction time fastest when target appeared where indicated
reaction time was faster when the target appeared in the same rectangle
How can attention be based on the environment?
static scenes or scenes with few objects
How can attention be based on a specific object?
dynamic events
What is divided attention?
practice enables people to simultaneously do two things that were difficult at first
automatic processing occurs without intention and only uses some of a person’s cognitive resources
What is inattentional blindness?
a stimulus that is not attended is not perceived, even though a person might be looking directly at it
What is change blindness?
if shown two version of a picture, differences between them are not immediately apparent
task to identify differences requires concentrated attention and search
What is the explanation of why change blindness occurs?
attention is need to see change because without it, observers are “change blind”
the impression we have of rich sensory representations us illusory, actual sensory representations are sparse, little is retained over time
What is binding?
the process by which features such as color, form, motion, and location are combined to create our perception of a coherent object
What is the preattentive stage?
automatic
no effort or attention
unaware of process
object analyzes into features
What is focused attention stage?
attention plays key role
features are combined
What is Balient’s syndrome?
inability to focus attention on individual objects
high number of illusory conjunctions reported
What is the physiology of attention?
attention enhances neural responding
attentional processing is distributed across a large number of areas in the brain
How is attention processing distributed across the cortex?
using fMRI to detect cortical activity during a search task
attention to an expected direction of motion caused brain activity to increase in a number of brain areas
What was studied in the attentional blink Coglab?
if visual search reflexes the spatial properties of our attention, attentional blink reflexes the temporal properties of our attention
by looking at recognition of the second target as a function of separation between the two targets, we can estimate the time required to focus and break attention for stimuli
