Chapter 7: Attention and Scene Perception

Question 1

Attention

Answer 1

Any of the very large set of selective processes in the brain. To deal with the impossibility of handling all inputs at once, the nervous system has evolved mechanisms that are able to restrict processing to a subset of things, places, ideas, or moment in time.

Question 2

selective attention

Answer 2

The form of attention involved when processing is restricted to a subset of the possible stimuli.

Question 3

reaction time (RT)

Answer 3

A measure of the time from the onset of a stimulus to a response.

Question 4

Cue

Answer 4

A stimulus that might indicate where (or what) a subsequent stimulus will be. Cues can be valid (giving correct info), invalid (incorrect), or neutral (uninformative).

Question 5

Stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA)

Answer 5

The time between the onset of one stimulus and the onset of another.

Question 6

visual search

Answer 6

Search for a target in a display containing distracting elements.

Question 7

target

Answer 7

The goal of the visual search

Question 8

distractor

Answer 8

In visual search, any stimulus other than the target

Question 9

set size

Answer 9

The # of items in a visual display.

Question 10

feature search

Answer 10

Search for a target defined by a single attribute, such a s a salient color or orientation.

Question 11

Salience

Answer 11

The vividness of a stimulus relative to its neighbors

Question 12

Parallel search

Answer 12

A search in which multiple stimuli are processed at the same time.

Question 13

serial self-terminating search

Answer 13

A search from item to item, ending when a target is found.

Question 14

guided search

Answer 14

Search in which attention can be restricted to a subset of possible items on the basis of information about the target item’s basic features.

Question 15

Conjunction search

Answer 15

Search for a target defines by the presence of two or more attributes

Question 16

scene-based guidance

Answer 16

Info in our understanding of scenes that helps us find specific objects in scenes

Question 17

binding problem

Answer 17

The challenge of tying different attributes of visual stimuli which are handled different brain circuits, to the appropriate object so that we perceive a unified object.

Question 18

preattentive stage

Answer 18

The processing of a stimulus that occurs before selective attention is deployed to that stimulus.

Question 19

feature integration theory

Answer 19

Anne Treisman’s theory of visual attention, which holds that a limited set of basic features can be processed in parallel preattentivley, but that other properties, including the correct binding of feature to objects, require attention.

Question 20

illusory conjunction

Answer 20

An erroneous combination of two features in a visual scene.

Question 21

Proto-object

Answer 21

A loose collection of unbound features that will be a recognizable object one attended.

Question 22

rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP)

Answer 22

An experimental procedure in which stimuli appear in a stream at one location (typically the point of fixation) at a rapid rate (typically about 8 per second).

Question 23

attentional blink

Answer 23

The tendency not to perceive or respond to the second of two different target stimuli amid a rapid stream of distracting stimuli if the observer has responded to the first target stimulus within 200-500 milliseconds before the second stimulus is presented.

Question 24

repetition blindness

Answer 24

A failure to detect the second occurrence of an identical letter, word, or picture in a rapidly presented stream of stimuli when the second occurrence falls within 200-500 milliseconds of the first.

Question 25

FFA

Answer 25

faces

Question 26

PPA

Answer 26

images of places than other stimuli

Question 27

response enhancement

Answer 27

an effect of attention on the response of a neuron in which the neuron responding to an attended stimulus gives a bigger response.

Question 28

Sharper tuning

Answer 28

An effect of attention on the response of a neuron in which the neuron responding to an attended stimulus responds more precisely.

Question 29

change blindness

Answer 29

The failure to notice a change between two scenes. if the gist of the scene is not altered, quite large changes can pass unnoticed.

Question 30

inattentional blindness

Answer 30

A failure to notice - or at least to report - a stimulus that would be easily reportable if it were attended.