Chapter 7: Attention

Question 1

Arousal

Answer 1

The global physiological and psychological state of an organism, ranging from deep sleep to hyperalertness.

Question 2

Bottlenecks

Answer 2

A stage of information processing where not all of the inputs can gain access or pass through.

Question 3

Covert attention

Answer 3

Directing attention without overtly changing sensory receptors.

For example, attending to a conversation without turning the eyes and head toward the speakers.

Question 4

Dorsal attention network

Answer 4

Also called occipitoparietal stream. A processing pathway for visual stimuli that is specialized for spatial perception (for determining where an object is) and for analyzing the spatial configuration between different objects in a scene.

Question 5

Early selection

Answer 5

The theoretical model positing that attention can attenuate or filter out sensory input at early stages of processing before perceptual analysis is complete and the information has been encoded.

Question 6

Endogenous attention

Answer 6

Also called voluntary attention. The volitional, or intentional, focusing of attention on a source of input, train of thought, or action.

Question 7

Endogenous cuing

Answer 7

An experimental method that uses a symbolic cue to induce or instruct participants to voluntary direct attention according to task requirements.

Question 8

Exogenous attention

Answer 8

Also called reflexive attention. The automatic orienting of attention induced by bottom-up, or stimulus-driven, effects, such as when a flash of light in the periphery captures one’s attention.

Question 9

Exogenous cuing

Answer 9

Also called reflexive cuing. An experimental method that uses an external sensory stimulus to automatically attract attention without voluntary control.

Question 10

Extinction

Answer 10

In a patient with neglect, the failure to perceive or respond to a stimulus contralateral to a lesion when presented with a simultaneous stimulus ipsilateral to the lesion (ipsilesional).

Question 11

Feature integration theory of attention

Answer 11

A psychological theory of visual perception based on the idea that the visual system can process in parallel elementary features such as color, shape, and motion, but requires spatial attention to bind the features that define an object.

Question 12

Inhibition of return (IOR)

Answer 12

Also called inhibitory aftereffect. The phenomenon, observed in an exogenously cued spatial attention task, where after the attention is reflexively attracted to a location by the exogenous cue, there is a slower behavioral response to stimuli in that location that are presented later that 300 ms after the exogenous cue.

Question 13

Late selection

Answer 13

The theoretical model positing that all inputs are equally processed perceptually, but attention acts to differentially filter these inputs at later stages of information processing.

Question 14

Neglect

Answer 14

Also called unilateral spatial neglect. A behavioral pattern exhibited by neurological patients with lesions to the forebrain, in which they fail at or are slowed in acknowledging that objects or events exist in the hemispace opposite their lesion. Neglect is most closely associated with damage to the right parietal cortex.

Question 15

Overt attention

Answer 15

Turning the head to orient toward a visual, auditory, olfactory, or other sensory stimulus.

Question 16

Pulvinar

Answer 16

A large region of the posterior thalamus comprising many nuclei having interconnections with specific regions of the cortex.

Question 17

Reflexive attention

Answer 17

Also called exogenous attention. The automatic orienting of attention induced by bottom-up, or stimulus-driven, effects, such as when a flash of light in the periphery captures one’s attention.

Question 18

Reflexive cuing

Answer 18

Also called exogenous cuing. An experimental method that uses an external sensory stimulus to automatically attract attention without voluntary control.

Question 19

Selective attention

Answer 19

The ability to focus one’s concentration on a subset of sensory inputs, trains of thought, or actions, while simultaneously ignoring others. Selective attention can be distinguished from nonselective attention, which includes simple behavioral arousal.

Question 20

Superior colliculus

Answer 20

A subcortical visual structure located in the midbrain. The superior colliculus receives input from the retinal system and is interconnected with the subcortical and cortical systems. It plays a key role in visuomotor processes and may be involved in the inhibitory component of reflexive attentional orienting.

Question 21

Thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN)

Answer 21

A thin layer of neurons surrounding the nuclei of the thalamus, which receives inputs from the cortex and subcortical structures and sends projections to the thalamic relay nuclei.

Question 22

Unilateral spatial neglect

Answer 22

Also called neglect. A behavioral pattern exhibited by neurological patients with lesions to the forebrain, in which they fail at or are slowed in acknowledging that objects or events exist in the hemispace opposite their lesion. Neglect is most closely associated with damage to the right parietal cortex.

Question 23

Ventral attention network

Answer 23

A proposed attention control network, involving ventral frontal cortex and the temporoparietal junction of the right hemisphere, that mediates reflexive attention on the basis of stimulus novelty and salience.

Question 24

Visual search

Answer 24

The visual task of finding a specific stimulus in a display or scene with multiple stimuli.

Question 25

Voluntary attention

Answer 25

Also called endogenous attention. The volitional, or intentional, focusing of attention on a source of input, train of thought, or action.