Chapter 4: Attention Flashcards
Attention
set of processes that increase or decrease the priority of information, either sensory or internal like imagination; the ability to focus on specific stimuli or locations
2 basic properties of attention
(1) limited number of activities we can focus on for a fixed period of time, (2) need for being selective by focusing on some events and withdrawing from others
What did participants notice from the unattended message during the dichotic listening task?
change in volume, gender of speaker, and language, nonsense words, speaker’s name
Distraction
one stimulus interfering with the processing of another stimulus
Divided attention
paying attention to more than one thing at a time
Attentional capture
a rapid shifting of attention usually caused by a stimulus like a loud noise, bright light, or sudden movement
Visual scanning
movements of the eyes from one location or object to another; influenced by a person’s preferences and predictions through top-down processing
Broadbent’s filter model of attention
explains how it is possible to focus on one message and why information isn’t taken in from the other message; an early selection model
Cocktail party effect
ability to focus on one stimulus while filtering out other stimuli
Stages in Broadbent’s filter model
(1) Sensory memory holds incoming info for less than a second, (2) Filter identifies only the attended message based on physical characteristics like speaker’s pitch, speed, accent, (3) Detector processes attended message to determine its higher-level characteristics like meaning, (4) Detector’s output is sent into the STM then the LTM
Early selection model
the filter eliminates the unattended information right at the beginning of the flow of information
Attenuator
analyzes the incoming message in terms of physical characteristics, language, and meaning
Treisman’s attenuation model of attention
i.e. leaky filter; both messages pass through an attenuator once they have been identified but the attended message emerges at full strength while the unattended message is attenuated; an early selection model
Dictionary unit
contains words, stored in memory, that each have a threshold for being activated
Late selection models of attention
propose that most of the incoming info is processed for their meanings before the message to be further processed is selected
Processing capacity
the amount of information people can handle with our limited ability to process incoming information
Perceptual load
the difficulty of a task
Lavie’s load theory of attention
low-load tasks require less processing capacity so there are resources available to process a task-irrelevant stimulus i.e. greater tendency to get distracted doing easy tasks; also dependent on strength of task-irrelevant stimulus
Central vision vs. Peripheral vision
the area you are looking at, which falls on the fovea and has better detail; everything off to the side
Saccadic eye movement
a rapid, jerky eye movement from one fixation to the next
Overt attention
shifting attention from one place to another by moving the eyes, either bottom-up (based on physical characteristics) or top-down (based on cognitive factors)
Stimulus salience
physical properties of the stimulus like color, contrast, movement; a bottom-up process of capturing attention
Saliency map
a combination of the physical characteristics of a scene at each location like color, orientation, and intensity
Scene schemas
an observer’s knowledge about what is contained in typical scenes
“Just in time” strategy
eye movements occur just before we need the information they provide (for movement)
Covert attention
shifting attention with the mind while keeping the eyes still; “looking out of the corner of your eye”
Finding of Posner’s precueing experiment
attention is like a spotlight that improves processing when directed toward a particular location by presenting a cue (e.g. an arrow pointing towards location of target)
Same-object advantage
faster responding occurs when enhancement spreads within an object (or the cue and the target are on the same object)
Attentional warping
the map of categories on the brain changes so more space is allotted to categories that are being searched for, even when the attended category isn’t actually present
Feature search
targets are defined by only one distinct feature, are found fast and automatically; search occurs in parallel and preattentively
Conjunction search
targets are defined by differences in two or more features and are found slowly; search is serial (one at a time) and requires conscious and effortful attention
Automatic processing
occurs without intention or automatically and at a cost of only some of a person’s cognitive resources e.g. practice can lead to ability for divided attention
Inattentional blindness/deafness
when people are unaware of clearly visible/audible stimuli if they aren’t directing their attention to them
Change detection
participants are tasked to identify the difference between one picture followed by another picture
Change blindness
difficulty detecting changes in scenes; occurs because our attention is often not directed at the place where change occurs; changes are easier to identify when they are central to attentional spotlight
Binding
process by which features like color, form, motion, location are combined to create our perception of a coherent object
Treisman’s feature integration theory
process of feature analysis occurs in two stages: preattentive stage then focused attention stage
Preattentive stage
ability to hone in on a relevant event to the exclusion of all else so rapidly that you may be unaware of stimuli that has been excluded; automatic and unconscious analysis of features of objects independently in separate areas of the brain
Focused attention stage
attention is focused on an object and its independent features are combined, leading to conscious awareness
Illusory conjunctions
combination of features from different stimuli where one object takes on properties of another due to divided attention in the preattentive stage when features are still “free-floating”
Balint’s syndrome
inability to focus attention on individual objects due to damage in the parietal lobe; able to find target in feature search but not in conjunction search; symptoms are optic ataxia, simultanagnosia, ocular apraxia
Ventral attention network
controls attention based on salience; something captures your attention
Dorsal attention network
controls attention based on top-down processes; guides where you’re looking
Effective connectivity
how easily activity can travel along a particular pathway; signals in different areas are synchronized when paying attention to a visual stimulus
Executive attention network
responsible for executive functions that involve controlling attention and dealing with conflicting responses; its development overlaps with other functions like inhibition, planning, task switching, working memory
2 attention systems
top-down: deliberate, conscious, toward our goals; bottom-up: involuntary, captures attention, despite our goals
Where does attention usually originate from in the eye?
fovea, where center of vision aligns
Posner spatial cueing task
reaction times are longest in invalid trials, when the cue and the target are incongruent, due to difficulty disengaging and shifting attention from the cued area; requires effortful attentional override of habitual response to the cue
Spatial attention
selective attention to an area of space
Feature-based attention
selective attention to the features of an object
Attentional sets
mental templates that allow us to selectively attend to a certain category of stimulus before it appears; involves holding in mind features or location of the object you’re expecting; can be preattentive
Emotional attentional bias
emotionally relevant information captures attention more readily than neutral information e.g. temporal order judgement task
Hemineglect
disorder of attention orienting/disengagement usually caused by parietal lobe damage; patients cannot voluntarily direct attention and don’t show bottom-up attention capture to half of the sensory fields (typically left side); still show precueing advantage and can attend to neglected field if the dominant field is empty
Attentional blink
when people are looking for two things, they fail to notice the second 180-450 ms after seeing the first; top-down selection fails to operate because lower-level attentive mechanisms are suppressing input; reduced by high emotional arousal
Hybrid search mechanism
attentional spotlight moves slowly (~500 ms); a fast but limited capacity conjunction search (serial) occurs in parallel at each location
Mind wandering
shift of attention away from external environment to internal thoughts that tend to be future-oriented or related to current personal concerns; more frequent with low working memory capacity
Are emotions better when mind wandering or when on task?
on task, however the mind wandering mood is not worse when thoughts are interesting and useful
Spotlight of attention or selective integration
low-level features like color and orientation are integrated
Preattentive salience or pop-out
attention is guided from the bottom up by contrast in the density of low-level features
Rensink’s attentional mechanisms
preattentive salience, lighting level or coercion by lighting, configural focus (intersections), center of gravity, high-level interest, automatic attention to eyes (except for those with autism) and meaningful words, automatic guidance by directives (e.g. arrows)
Inhibition of return
covert attention inhibits fast responding to stimuli in a previously cued location, 200 ms after the cue
Simultanagnosia
inability to perceive the visual field as a whole; poor gestalt of scenes
Ocular apraxia
inability to control voluntary gaze shifting or limited controlled attention
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
deficit in executive control that is prevalent in ~5% worldwide depending on the region; low heritability and mostly influenced by interactions between genetics and environment; develops during childhood but many don’t get diagnosed till adulthood
Symptoms of ADHD
difficulty sustaining attention and avoiding sustained efforts, easily distracted or overwhelmed by peripheral stimuli, blurting out statements and impulsivity, lack of patience
P300 ERP component
an endogenous response to a novel environmental stimulus characterized by a strong EEG signal in the parietal lobe
