Paying Attention Flashcards
What is selective attention?
The skill through which a person focuses on one input or
one task while ignoring other stimuli that are also on the scene
What is dichotic listening?
When participants wear headphones and hear one input in the left ear and a different input in the right ear
What are the attended and unattended channels?
Attended: the input participants pay attention to
Unattended: the input participants ignore
What is shadowing?
When participants repeat back what they are hearing from the attended channel
What does it mean when someone filters distractors?
Non-desired information (the unattended channel) is filtered out, while the desired information (the attended channel) receives further processing
What is a fixation target?
A target in the center of a computer screen (usually a plus sign) used in studies related to inattentional blindness
What is inattentional blindness?
When people fail to see an unexpected prominent stimulus despite it being right in front of them (similar to inattentional numbness and inattentional deafness)
What is change blindness?
Observers’ inability to detect changes in scenes they’re directly looking at
What is the early selection hypothesis?
The unattended input receives little analysis and is never perceived, only the attended input is analyzed and perceived
What is the late selection hypothesis?
All inputs receive relatively equal analysis, selection occurs after analysis (may occur before consciousness or after)
What is the biased competition theory?
Attention creates a temporary bias in neuron sensitivity (more responsive to inputs w/ desired properties → receive further analysis)
What is spatial attention?
The ability to focus on a specific location in space
How is priming a limited-capacity system?
Being prepared for one target makes you less prepared for other targets (i.e. priming the “Q” detector takes away priming resources from other detectors)
What quantity of mental resources does selective attention require?
Limited mental resources (some process or capacity required for performance, but in limited supply)
How is attention similar to a spotlight?
Wherever we direct the “beam” is the area of the visual field for which we are prepared → information in that area is processed more efficiently
Movement of attention, not eyes!
What is endogenous control of attention?
When someone consciously decides what they are paying attention to
What is exogenous control of attention?
When someone’s attention is “seized” whether they want it to or not
Do we attend to objects or attend to positions?
Attention can be directed to a target or a position in space (i.e. unilateral neglect syndrome - patients typically only see one half of a word but can follow a circle regardless of the side it’s on)
What is feature integration theory?
Features of a stimulus are registered early and automatically, while objects are identified separately and at a different stage of processing
What is divided attention?
Attending to multiple inputs all at the same time
Why is the specificity of resources important when it comes to divided attention?
If two tasks require the use of the same skill (i.e. listening to a lecture and reading a novel - language), it will be harder to utilize divided attention than if two tasks require the use of different skills (i.e. listening to a lecture and knitting)
Why is the generality of resources important when it comes to divided attention?
Some tasks utilizing different skills still interfere with each other (i.e. talking on the phone and driving) because they both require a lot of mental resources (which is why there are fewer accidents when a driver is speaking to a passenger - the passenger typically slows conversation when driving becomes more complex)
What is executive control?
The mechanisms that allow you to control your own thoughts, keep current goals in mind, organize mental steps into the correct sequence, and shift plans if necessary
What is perseveration error?
A tendency to produce the same response over and over even when it’s plain that the task requires a change in the response
What is goal neglect?
Failing to organize one’s behavior in a way that moves them towards their goals
How does practice diminish resource demand?
When a task is new, executive control is necessary all of the time due to a lack of habits, but once habits are created, the demand for executive control lessens
What is automaticity?
When task performance can go forward with no executive control due to practice
What is the Stroop interference?
When an automatic habit interferes with the performance of a different task (i.e. reading color names aloud when one is meant to read the color of the font)
What limits are there on divided attention?
Depends on the tasks (whether they require the same resources, whether they involve similar stimuli, etc.)
