Lecture 8 Flashcards

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1
Q

what is the experiment for Attentional blink

A

Rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) presentation
¤ Continuous & rapid presentation of stimuli in the same location on a screen
¤ Stimuli includes targets and distractors

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2
Q

what is Attentional blink

A

If two targets are presented within a short time interval (500 ms), there is a reduced ability to identify the second target

Attention takes up resources that need to be replenished ¤ This means attention is limited by processing time

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3
Q

Frontal lobe regions help do what

A

¤ focus and hold information in our minds

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4
Q

is attention processing divided int he brain

A

yes

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5
Q

what are the two divisions of attentional processing

A

¤ Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC

¤ Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)

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6
Q

what is ¤ Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) good for

A

¤ Focusing attention

¤ Response selection

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7
Q

what is Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC)

A

Selecting task relevant information

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8
Q

what is Inattentional blindness a consequence of

A

selective attention

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9
Q

what is Inattentional blindness

A

Failure to attend to new events in our environment that we ‘should’ see
¤ “Looking without seeing”

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10
Q

is Inattentional blindness the same as change blindeness

A

Similar but not exactly change blindness

¤ Change in a stimulus that was there before versus missing a new stimuli

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11
Q

what are the Four characteristics of inattentional blindness

A

¤ People fail to notice an event/object ¤ The object/event is fully-visible
¤ It can been seen
¤ The inability to notice the object/event is because of attention and not because of visual features
of the input
¤ The object/event is unexpected
¤ The effect is not due to being distracted or not engaging attention

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12
Q

explain An inattentional blindness task

A

¤ Two main features of this task
¤ Participants aren’t expecting a target but are looking
in the general area
¤ Participants are using attention resources for some task

Over a series of experimental trials:
¤ A cross with vertical and horizontal ‘arms’ of different lengths are presented very quickly that is followed by a mask
¤ Respond with which arm of the cross was longer (vertical or horizontal)
¤ Critical Trial: A small black square in introduced
¤ Later, participants are asked if they saw this black square

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13
Q

do people notice the square in the attentional blindness task

A

People don’t notice the small square

¤ An inability to perceive unexpected information

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14
Q

what is Déjà vu

A

The impression of having experienced a situation even thought it is a new situation
¤ 2 out of every 3 people report at least one déjà vu experience

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15
Q

who s Déjà vu more common in

A

¤ More common in:
¤ People with higher education ¤ People who are more travelled ¤ With age

¤ Can be associated with some brain diseases
¤ Epilepsy

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16
Q

what is the The inattentional blindness explanation of deja vu

A

¤ The result of implicit priming + inattentional blindness
¤ A new location is ‘perceived’ under distraction (inattentional
blindness)
¤ The next time that location is encountered, it is consciously registered as new, but is familiar due to implicit priming
¤ First, you see it, aren’t aware of it but still ‘register it’
¤ Next, you see it again, now you are aware of it and it feels oddly familiar

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17
Q

what parts of the brain are activated with deja vu

A

¤ Induced déjà vu in the lab (modified a false memory task) and monitored brain activity
¤ Reports of déjà vu was NOT associated with activity in memory areas but with brain regions involved in resolving conflict
¤ Déjà vu is not a false memory by activating conflict resolution processes between information learned during a period of inattention and a period of conscious attention

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18
Q

what is Attentional capture

A

¤ This can be thought of as the opposite of inattentional blindness
¤ A new stimuli is so powerful that it is noticed, even when attention is focused elsewhere

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19
Q

is Attentional capture bottom up or top dowm

A

¤ These are bottom-up cues from the environment
¤ Automatic, reflexive
¤ Physical properties of some stimuli grab our attention
¤ The sound of a car crashing; sirens; seeing a mouse scurry in the corner of a room

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20
Q

what is ‘Meaningful’ attentional capture

A

¤ Attentional capture directs us to information important for survival
¤ This means it is determined by the importance of stimuli
¤ There are specific types of stimuli that are more important than others. ¤ These stimuli have functionally specialized processes
¤ Typically, they are biologically and/or socially important (help us survive)

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21
Q

explain the Attentional capture measured with a go no-go task and how it proves that Faces are a type of stimuli that automatically captures our attention

A

¤ A ‘signal’ (circle) is superimposed on different types of visual stimuli (faces, objects, nothing)
¤ Go Trial: When the signal is green, indicate which side the vertical line is on
¤ No-go Trial: When the signal is red, press a task neutral button

Faces slowed down the ability of participants to apply attentional processes to other tasks (react on the go/no-go task) because they capture attention

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22
Q

how to Measuring visual attention (via tasks and theories)

A
¤Posner spatial cuing task          
     ¤Spotlight theory of attention
¤Visual search tasks
     ¤Feature integration theory of attention
¤Eye-tracking – overt visual attention 
     ¤An embodied cognition approach
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23
Q

what is the Spotlight theory of attention

A

¤ Location based view of attention
¤ Posner’s (1980) attentional spotlight theory
¤ Focus on a central view and ignore what is located ‘outside’ of the spotlight
¤ When moving our spotlight
¤ Attention will be disengaged from where it is currently focused
¤ It is physically shifted to another location and focus is centered there

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24
Q

explain Posner cuing task

A
  1. Fixation display: Fixate on the center a screen
  2. Cue Display: A ‘space’ cue directs attention to an area (left or right)
  3. Target Display: A target is presented and reaction time to detect it is measured

(valid trial—- Target appears in the SAME location as the cue
invalid trial– Target appears in a DIFFERENT location as the cue)

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25
Q

what is the result of Posner cuing task

A

Attention effect:
Reaction times to valid trials area FASTER than to invalid trials
Target appears in a DIFFERENT location as the cue

Duration between the cue and target is critical! This is the effects of varying the SOA – stimuli onset asynchrony
• Short time interval (SOA) < 200 ms
• Long time interval (SOA) ~ 300 ms

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26
Q

what is Inhibition of return (IOR) and how was it found

A

found from Posner cuing task

¤ Attention is inhibited in returning to a recently attended location after
a longer duration between cue and target

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27
Q

what is the point of inhibition of return (IOR)

A

¤ Novelty seeking: Helps us search our environment efficiently

28
Q

is estrogen related to IOR

A

Estrogen is related to IOR (Inhibition of Return) effect

29
Q

how is estrogen related to IOR

A

¤ Participants performed a cued target-detection task that measured inhibition of return (IOR) at
different stages of menstrual cycle (different estrogen levels)
¤ Greater IOR effects were related to higher estrogen levels
¤ A bias to take in new information

30
Q

what is Feature integration theory of attention

A

Focuses on how we analyze visual scenes ¤ Object based attention
¤ Objects are collected of features and we pay attention to this feature differently for phases of attention

31
Q

what are the different phases of attention in the Feature integration theory of attention

A

Pre-attention

Focused attention

32
Q

what is Pre-attention

A

Different visual features are coded in parallel in separate feature maps automatically

33
Q

what is Focused attention:

A

Features are integrated together to guide a search, which is done in a serial order

34
Q

what are the two Visual search tasks

A

Feature Search

Conjunction Search

35
Q

what is Feature Search

A

¤ Search for an object that is different from the distractors based on one feature

36
Q

is Feature Search top down or bottom up

A

¤ Bottom up ; Exogenous; Reflexive

37
Q

what attention phase is Feature Search

A

¤ Pre-attention phase

38
Q

what is Conjunction Search

A

Search for an object that is different from the distractors on a many features

39
Q

is Conjunction Search top down or bottom up

A

Top down ; Endogenous ; Voluntary

40
Q

what attention phase is Conjunction Search

A

Focused attention phase

41
Q

Cognition – including attention is limited by what

A

the constraints of our physical body

42
Q

what are the 2 Eye-tracking tools to measure visual attention

A

Our eyes determine what visual information is attended

  1. Overt visual attention
  2. Covert visual
43
Q

what is Overt visual attention:

A

Attending to something with your eye movements

44
Q

what is ¤ Covert visual attention:

A

Attending to something without eye movements

45
Q

further explain Overt visual attention and what people fixate their eyes on typically

A

¤People fixate mainly on eyes and mouth when viewing faces

¤People fixate on faces in a scene first, followed by the form of one figure in the scene

46
Q

are there Cultural differences in visual attentional processing

A

¤ Measured eye movements measured as two groups (Western, East Asian) attended to complex images with a central object and background
¤ Suggests that cultural differences can affects attentional processing

47
Q

what are the Other varieties of attention

A

Sustained attention

Divided attention

48
Q

what is Sustained attention

A

¤The ability to focus cognitive activity on one task ¤Vigilance or concentration
¤Baggage scanners

49
Q

what is ¤Divided attention

A

¤The ability to ‘attend’ to more than one thing at a time ¤Restaurant servers

50
Q

A common task to measures sustained attention is what

A

the sustained attentional response task (SART)

51
Q

what is the sustained attentional response task (SART)

A

A series of numbers is presented with th e task of responding to EVERY number except a given target (e.g., 4)

52
Q

what is Vigilance decrement

A

a decrease in performance as a function of time

53
Q

explain the experiment of Vigilance decrement

A

¤ Participants: 60 undergraduates
¤ Task Watch one-hour videos of lectures
¤ At various points, a screen would appear asking if they were mind wandering (not paying attention)
¤ Tested on lecture material

54
Q

what are the 2 views that came from the Vigilance decrement experiment

A

¤ Overload:

¤ Underload:

55
Q

what is the overload view

A

high attentional demands over time

56
Q

what is the underload view

A

boredom–> mind-wandering –> divided attention

57
Q

explain Divided Attention: Task switching

A

¤ Changing from working on one task to working on an another task ¤ Involves switching between specific mental sets

58
Q

is Divided Attention: Task switching top down or bottom up

A

Top-down method of organizing information based on the goals of a task

59
Q

what is the Task switching paradigm (explain with experiment)

A

¤ Over a series of trials, stimuli (e.g., numbers or digit) is presented and people switch the task they must do on the stimuli
¤ Changing the task associated with the stimuli comes with a switch cost
¤ A performance decline immediately following a switch between tasks
¤ This is because ‘cognitive system’ has to be ‘re-set’ to engage the correct behavior

60
Q

explain Divided Attention: Mind wandering

A

¤ Can act like a ‘dual task’ situation
¤ A shift in mental resources away from a primary task and toward internal thoughts ¤ We are not often aware of mind wandering
¤ Action slips

61
Q

what are the Benefits of mind wandering

A

Future thinking: As we mind wander, we can simulate our plans and possible outcomes
¤ Creative thinking: generate new solutions to old problems
¤ Think of as many uses for a brick
¤ After mind wandering, people generate more creative responses
¤ Relief from boredom: Mind-wandering may “speed up” how we perceive time during boring activities

62
Q

summarize Inattentional Blindness

A

¤ Looking without seeing

¤ Can be thought of as a consequence of selective attention

63
Q

summarize ¤ Attentional Capture

A

¤ Bottom up information that necessarily grabs our focus

64
Q

summarize ¤ Spotlight versus search approaches to studying visual attention

A

¤ Trying to figure out how we move our attention in the world

65
Q

summarize ¤ Sustained Attention

A

¤ Attention may wane over time

66
Q

summarize ¤ Task Switching

A

¤ The attentional cost of multitasking

67
Q

summarize ¤ Mind wandering

A

¤ Maybe it has a bad reputation