Problem 4

Question 1

Attention

Answer 1

Refers to the prioritized processing of some inputs from a larger set of selectable items

Question 2

Attention mechanisms

Answer 2

Refer to mechanisms that determine which items are selected

Question 3

Attention phenomena

Answer 3

Demonstrate

a) Limitations
b) Constraints
c) Failures of attentional mechanism

Question 4

Inattentional blindness

Answer 4

Describes the phenomenon that people can miss obvious changes in their situation simply because they paid attention to something else

Question 5

Name the criteria for inattention blindness

Answer 5

1. Failure to notice a visual object/event
2. Object was fully visible
3. Object was easily identified under circumstances in which its is consciously perceived

Question 6

Change blindness

Answer 6

Occurs when a change in visual stimulus is not noticed by the observer

ex.: image that slowly changes, 2 images where the second has a minimal difference

Question 7

Attentional blink

Answer 7

Occurs when the 2nd of 2 targets is not detected when it appears close in time after the first

e.g.: presenting a series of letters rapidly one after another, then asking the participant to report the letters in red

Question 8

Why does reportability in the attentional blink task only work, when the following letter is presented 400ms later and not when presented even earlier ?

Answer 8

Because, once the first letter grabs ones attentions, the attentional system does not work for a small period

–> specifically approx. 400ms

Question 9

Cocktail party effect

Endogenous attention

Answer 9

Refers to the ability to voluntarily focus on what we choose to perceive + process

–> filtering out competing + distracting surrounding convos

Question 10

Lunch-line effect

Answer 10

Occurs when the pronunciation of your name in another conversation manages to pull your attention away from whatever you were currently paying attention to

Question 11

Endogenous (top-down) attention

Answer 11

Refers to the voluntary focus of attention where one actively selects ones input to prioritize and process it, which makes reaction times shorter

–> suggests that higher brain regions are involved

e.g.: Frontal + parietal cortex

Question 12

Exogenous (bottom-up) attention

Answer 12

Refers to the involuntary focus of attention, whereby attention shifts not by choice but by the salience of stimuli in our environment

Question 13

Posner task

Answer 13

Instructs participants to fixate on a central cross then pointing an arrow (left or right) according to which direction a target-stimulus appears on the screen

–> before the target fully appears a brief cue is presented

Question 14

Valid cue vs Invalid cue

Answer 14

1. Valid cue (Benefit)
   - -> the target appears in the location the cue was previously presented
2. Invalid cue (Cost)
   - -> the target appears on the other side

BUT: since the cue is most often valid, the participant will allocate his attention to the cues visual location

Question 15

Divided attention/

Multi-tasking

Answer 15

Refers to the ability to focus on multiple things at the same time

BUT: when doing this, one performs less adequately thant performing them one by one

Question 16

Overt attention

Answer 16

Refers to the allocation of attention accompanied by a shift in eye movement

–> covert attention = w/o eye movement

Question 17

Spatial (space-based) attention

Answer 17

Allows humans to selectively process visual info by prioritizing an area within the visual field

Question 18

Feature-based attention

Answer 18

Refers to the ability to pay attention to particular features of a stimulus

e.g.: color, orientation, intensitiy

Question 19

Visual search task

Answer 19

Participants are asked to quickly locate a visual target in an array of distractors, where certain features will be more salient than others

–> assesses feature-based attention

Question 20

Object attention experiment

Egly

Answer 20

4 possible cue + target locations are positioned in a square formation

NACHFRAGEN

Question 21

Object attention

Answer 21

Involves attention to one object rather than another

ex.: 2 images might be superimposed (house + face) + subjects are asked to selectively focus on either object

Question 22

Temporal attention

Answer 22

Involves directing attention to a specific instant in time

Question 23

Filter model

Answer 23

Refers to a theory of attention that suggests that

1. Attended/Unattended messages enter the sensory store
2. A selective filter selects inputs based on physical properties
   - -> pitch, loudness, directions
3. Unattended messages are completely blocked
4. Inputs that made it through bottleneck go through higher level processing to reach WM

Question 24

Spotlight theory

Answer 24

Suggests that attention operate as a spotlight

–> useful for understanding spatial + visual search tasks

Question 25

Feature-integration theory

Answer 25

Suggests that when perceiving a stimulus, its features are registered early while the objects themselves are identified separately

Question 26

Name the 3 stages of the feature-integration theory

Answer 26

1. Pre-attentive stage - -> certain features are analyzed 2. Focused attention stage - -> features are combined into objects 3. Illusory conjunction - -> determining which features go together

Question 27

Ressource theory

Answer 27

Focuses on t

Question 28

Single resource theory

Answer 28

Suggests that people have one common pool of attention to be distributed amongst multiple tasks --> it is limited, explaining divided attention problems

Question 29

Multiple resource theory

Answer 29

Suggests that people have several resources of attention --> explains how some tasks combine better than others

Question 30

Selective attention

Answer 30

Refers to the ability to prioritize + attend to some things while ignoring others

Question 31

Top down control vs bottom-up control

Answer 31

1. Top down control - -> attending to stimuli that are relevant to current behavior + goals 2. Bottom up control - -> reflexively shifting ones attention

Question 32

Name the subcortical + cortical NWs that interact to enable us to selectively process info.

Answer 32

1. Superior colliculus + Pulvinar - -> damage here can lead to deficits in the ability to orient 2. a) Frontal cortex b) PPC c) ACC + PCC d) Insula - -> cortical structures

Question 33

Unilateral spatial neglect

Answer 33

Occurs when the brains attention NW is damaged in only one hemisphere --> results in a) reduced arousal + processing speeds b) attention bias in direction of the lesion e.g.: due to stroke

Question 34

Line cancellation test

Answer 34

Patient are given a sheet of paper containing many horizontal lines --> then asked to bisect lines precisely in the middle by drawing a vertical line

Question 35

When having a lesion in the right hemisphere, patients results of the "line cancellation test" may result in 2 different ways. Name them.

Answer 35

1. Neglect at level of object representation - -> vertical lines are to the right of the midline 2. Neglect at level of visual scene - -> completely miss lines on the left side of the paper

Question 36

Balints syndrome

Answer 36

Refers to a severe disturbance of visual attention caused by bilateral damage to regions of the PPC + occipital cortex e.g.: seeing one small subset of objects, while failing to notice them altogether

Question 37

Patients suffering from the Balint syndrome demonstrate 3 main deficits. Name them.

Answer 37

1. Simultanagnosia - -> deficit perceiving visual field as a whole scene 2. Ocular apraxia - -> inability to guide eye movement voluntarily 3. Optic ataxia - -> deficit making visually guided hand movements

Question 38

Attention is controlled by 3 interacting NWs. Name them.

Answer 38

1. Goal-directed DAS - -> control of spatial attention + saliency of objects 2. Stimulus-driven VAS - -> detecting unexpected/changing stimuli 3. Subcortical NW - -> arousal, eye movements, shifting + orienting of attention