Lecture 8

Question 1

asking questions

Answer 1

thy only go so far, we aren’t always aware of processes happening

Question 2

controlling attention

Answer 2

controlling where you are paying attention

Question 3

we are constantly bombarded with more sights, sounds, smells, and other stimuli than you can process

Answer 3

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

Question 4

bottom up attention

Answer 4

a loud noise or flashing light that suddenly grabs our attention
the peripheral stimuli control it

Question 5

top down attention

Answer 5

deliberately deciding to shift our attention

Question 6

three abilities of attention

Answer 6

alerting
orientating
executive functioning

Question 7

orienting

Answer 7

the movement or alignment of physical and mental resources towards a region of space

Question 8

executive functioning

Answer 8

frontal lobe
functioning of daily life
e.g. planning for the future

Question 9

exogenous orienting

Answer 9

a stimulus in the environment grasp your attention
generated from the outside

Question 10

endogenous orienting

Answer 10

you decide where or what to attend to
generated from the inside

Question 11

lab experiments

Answer 11

often give lots of information to how attention operates

Question 12

attention as a spotlight

Answer 12

items inside the spotlight are selected and processed further
items outside the spotlight do not receive much processing

Question 13

overt orienting

Answer 13

the movement of the sensory receptors (the eyes) to the location of an external stimuli
you attend to it and look at it

Question 14

covert orienting

Answer 14

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

Question 15

spatial cueing tasks

Answer 15

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

Question 16

unilateral neglect

Answer 16

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

Question 17

visual searches

Answer 17

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

Question 18

different areas process colours and shapes

Answer 18

attention/perception binds these features together

Question 19

computers

Answer 19

information comes from the same spatial location which puts stress on the attentional processes

Question 20

illusionary conjunctions

Answer 20

incorrect bindings
attention didn’t get to the space in time

Question 21

inattention blindness

Answer 21

no attention, we will miss it

Question 22

attention deficit disorder

Answer 22

easily distracted, impulsive, moody and failure to follow through with plans

Question 23

attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Answer 23

excessive activity and fidgetiness

Question 24

what causes these disorders?

Answer 24

individual differences - varies person to person
- genetics
- epigenetic - changes in gene expression
- brain abnormalities - especially frontal cortex

Question 25

attention deficit

Answer 25

can pay attention to anything they care about but have problems shifting their attention quickly and appropriately

Question 26

tasks sensitive to ADD/ADHD

Answer 26

choice delay task
stop signal task

Question 27

treatments

Answer 27

drug treatments - stimulant drugs
exercise and adequate sleep
behavioural therapy