Chapter 4: Attention Flashcards
attention
the ability to focus cognition on specific information
selective attention
ignoring one stimuli for another
what is an example of selective attention
cocktail party effect
what is sustained attention?
the ability to sustain selective attention over time
what is divided attention
alternating attention between multiple stimuli
we allow low priority information to go through our filter, but…
you still hear things you’re not intentionally listening for, what is the benefit of this?
you can still listen to information that is pertinent to you and your safety
ex. FIRE
treismans (1965) attention model
- we sort all information as high an low priority (attenuation) depending on the goal
- we focus most cognition on high priority information
- low and high priority information can be switched (Dictionary Unit Ability) if your goals change “FIRE!!”
what is attenuation?
the ability to sort information into low and high priority
what is Dictionary Unit Ability?
the ability to switch high and low priority information when goals change
what is the attenuation model (probably should know the diagram)
(probably should know the diagram)
without selective attention….
irrelevant information uses up our cognition
what is processing (cognitive) capacity
how much information we can handle cognitively
what is the task load model?
how mentally effortful the current task were focusing on
our attention keeps this low
forster 2008
“is the letter N present”
measured performance as reaction time
-low task load : uses a small amount of our processing capacity for tasks
0
N 0
0 0
0
-high task load: uses a larger amount of our processing capacity for tasks
K
M Z
H X
W
researchers then added an irrelevant picture/distraction
task load and pikachu:
use some of the processing capacity for task and some for the distracting. Then looked at if high or low load was more impacted
in forster 2008 what happened when pikachu was added to the high load?
-2% lower response (+19ms)
-no change in errors
in forster 2008, what happened when pikachu was added to the low load?
-12% lower response (+60ms)
-42% more errors
why were the low load trials in Forster 2008 more impacted by the pikachu distraction?
**look at the circle diagrams
there is more cognitive room to devote to the distraction stimulus and that provides more opportunities to make errors. When you don’t have the cognitive space to intake a distraction you are more likely to ignore it
some information is more ____________ than others
distracting
what is attention capturing?
we automatically put attention on things we practiced
what is the Stroop effect (1935)
-reading words is a very practiced task
-it is hard not to read words
ppl were tasked to state the color of different words “red, blue, green” ppl are inclined to just read the color rather than answering what color the word is written in
** look at the circle chart
we direct our visual attention with our_________, this is called _________ ____________.
eyes
overt attention
what is central vision?
-visual attention priority
-detailed vision (cone cells)
-1% of our field of vision
what is peripheral vision?
-limited detail vision (rod cells)
-ability to grab attention as needed
you increase your limited central vision by…..
moving your eye (aka scanning)
what is saccadic movement?
-jerky movements between fixations
-occurs several times per second
what are fixation points?
brief pause in eye movements use to collect information
what is stimulus salience?
physical visual properties that capture our attention (fixation)
what are the different types of stimuli that usually capture our attention (stimulus salience)
- contrast (difference from surroundings)
- color and brightness
- movement
how does bottom up processing apply to stimulus salience?
-a visual stimuli sticks out based on the raw stimuli
example: upside down billboards
what are scene schemas?
knowledge, interests, and goals that also guide visual attention
how does top down processing apply to scene schemas?
-visual stimuli captures your attention because you have prior knowledge of it
example:
-where you look during sports
-noticing an unusual car brand
-THE CYBERTRUCK
what is goal driven attention?
we use our visual attention to achieve our goals
what is the Land (1999) Sandwich Study?
explains goal driven attention through watching eye movements while making a sandwich
Steps of attention:
1. locating object
2. directing movement
3. checking the state of next object
our fixations predict our next actionw
what is the yarbus 1961 painting study
discovered when looking at the paintings, people mainly focus on things in the center of the art piece, and they focus on faces
what is overt attention?
our eyes control new environmental information
what is covert attention?
our eyes may be somewhere, but our cognition may be elsewhere
what is visual cortex topography?
used to study covert attention
the physical space in the world matches physical space in the brain
Datta (2009)
“mind reading”
participants looked at Location A but focused attention at Location B
overt (A) v. covert (B)
used fMri to look at location greatest’s visual cortex activation and were able to map movement of attention across the cerebrum
found that the farther your attention is from where youre looking, your attention in the occipical lobe moves
what was shinoda (2001)?
assessed driving attention
“did they look at stop signs?”
when participants were told to drive normally they looked at the stop sign
-100% of the time at intersections
-33% of the time at non intersections
when participants were told to follow another car, they looked at the stop signs:
-15% of the time at an intersection
-8% of the time at non-intersection
why didn’t they see it? it is really hard to divide our attention
dividing attention requires…
free processing capacity
multiple high load tasks are _______ __ _________. why?
hard to balance because your cognitive capacity is full
practice can make cognitive loads __________, and frees up _________ __________.
lower, cognitive space
practicing a task can lead to what concept?
automatic processing (automaticity)
can driving become automatic?
driving can become so effortless (low load) that you can actually do it in your sleep (sleep walking)
humans have the impressive ability to develop _________
automaticity
what was Schneider (1977)
-participants were given target numbers to identify
-then shown 20 sets of 4 random letters (80 letters in .5 seconds)
-this was done VERY fast (making it high load)
-they were then asked “did the target numbers appear?”
after 10 trials participants had 55% accuracy with 1 target to look for
after 1000 trials, participants had 90% accuracy when given 4 targets to look for
this illustrates the concept of automaticity
automaticity is not always….
good
what was the naturalistic driving study?
from 2001 to 2005 the DOT had drivers volunteer to be recorded
-they recorded 109 cars for 12 months
-paid $137 a month
-most drivers had over 10 years of driving experience
this resulted in an 861 page write up from 43,000 hours of data
there were 82 crashes and 771 near crashes
in 80% of crashes, drivers were distracted for 3 seconds before the event (they were dividing their attention)
275 admitted to texting while driving
in driving distraction what examples are overt inattention?
- a secondary task
- driving related inattention
in driving distraction what is an example of covert inattention?
drowsiness
you’re looking at the road but your cognition is elsewhere
visual inattention
not looking for
cognitive inattention
looking but not seeing
what was strayer (2001)
-driving simulator study
-drivers were told to talk on the phone
-red light scenario (light changed from yellow to red)
-drivers:
A. ran 2x more red lights
B. took 100ms longer to hit the brakes
shows even talking takes away mental resources,, your cognitive capacity becomes filled
what is cognitive bottleneck?
when cognitive capacity becomes full, and you experience:
-slower processing
-inability to process additional information
distractions contribute to cognitive bottleneck
what is inattentional blindness
things with low importance/low salience are not likely to be prioritized,, therefore ignored
what was cartwright-finch (2007)
the cross visual test (visual inattention blindness)
but researchers have a grey box placed in the corner or the picture
“which arm is blue, vertical or horizontal?” (low load task)
when asked “did you see the box” 45% didn’t (blindness)
“which arm is longer, vertical or horizontal?” (high load task) \
when asked “did you see the box?” 90% didn’t
what was raven (2015)
(load induced inattentional deafness)
-“is letter X present?’ (low load)
then asked, “did you notice the tone?” 18% didn’t
0
N 0
0 0
0
-is the letter X present (high load)
then asked “did you notice the tone?” 55% didn’t
x
N K
H B
Y
trauma induced inattention
-unilateral visual neglect
-inferior parietal lobe damage
-medial temporal lobe damage
-loss of attention contralateral (opposite) the damage
9right side damage, left side neglect)
what does eye tracking data look like?
Patient GK
what was husain 2001
asked patients to look at a screen and find the T’s to assess brain damage and attentional blindness
