Lecture 8 Flashcards
Visual Attention
asking questions
thy only go so far, we aren’t always aware of processes happening
controlling attention
controlling where you are paying attention
we are constantly bombarded with more sights, sounds, smells, and other stimuli than you can process
attention is a set of processes to help us respond to and remember some stimuli more than others
attention can be deployed to events around us
bottom up attention
a loud noise or flashing light that suddenly grabs our attention
the peripheral stimuli control it
top down attention
deliberately deciding to shift our attention
three abilities of attention
alerting
orientating
executive functioning
orienting
the movement or alignment of physical and mental resources towards a region of space
executive functioning
frontal lobe
functioning of daily life
e.g. planning for the future
exogenous orienting
a stimulus in the environment grasp your attention
generated from the outside
endogenous orienting
you decide where or what to attend to
generated from the inside
lab experiments
often give lots of information to how attention operates
attention as a spotlight
items inside the spotlight are selected and processed further
items outside the spotlight do not receive much processing
overt orienting
the movement of the sensory receptors (the eyes) to the location of an external stimuli
you attend to it and look at it
covert orienting
the alignment if mental resources to an external stimulus which can be involuntary or voluntary
e.g. trying not to look when someone enters the room
you attend to it but don’t look at it
spatial cueing tasks
in valid trails, the flash/cue appears the same side as the target
in invalid trails, the flash/cue appears the opposite side as the target
therefore participants have a longer response time to the target on invalid trails
unilateral neglect
happens after damage to the right partial lobe - the key area for orientation attention
patients cannot orient to one half of the visual field
neuropsychological tests ask patients to look at a drawing and try yo copy what they see - a drawing task
often neglect the left side of the drawing
neglect leads to poor perception - attentional disorder
visual searches
targets that don’t share features with the distractors = search times are quick - feature search
targets that share features with the distractors = search times are slow - conjunction search
the more distractors the harder it will be to find a target, not difficult to see but to find
different areas process colours and shapes
attention/perception binds these features together
computers
information comes from the same spatial location which puts stress on the attentional processes
illusionary conjunctions
incorrect bindings
attention didn’t get to the space in time
inattention blindness
no attention, we will miss it
attention deficit disorder
easily distracted, impulsive, moody and failure to follow through with plans
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
excessive activity and fidgetiness
what causes these disorders?
individual differences - varies person to person
- genetics
- epigenetic - changes in gene expression
- brain abnormalities - especially frontal cortex
attention deficit
can pay attention to anything they care about but have problems shifting their attention quickly and appropriately
tasks sensitive to ADD/ADHD
choice delay task
stop signal task
treatments
drug treatments - stimulant drugs
exercise and adequate sleep
behavioural therapy
