PSYC*2650 Chapter 5: Paying Attention Flashcards
What is selective attention?
The skill through which a person focuses on one input or task while ignoring other stimuli also on the scene
What is the difference between overt attention and covert attention?
- Overt: Spatial visual selection through overt eye movements
- Covert: changes in attention without eye movements
What occurs during a dichotic listening task?
Participants hear two different verbal messages simultaneously, with one being presented to each ear
In a dichotic listening task, what is the attended channel?
The stimulus the participant was told to pay attention to/ the one they are trying to perceive
In a dichotic listening task, what is the unattended channel?
The stimulus the participant was told to ignore/ the one they are not trying to perceive
During a dichotic listening task, how did researchers ensure participants were paying attention to the correct input?
Participants had to perform a task called shadowing
What is shadowing?
A task in which participants repeat back a verbal input, word for word, as they hear it
During a dichotic listening task, were participants better at describing the physical attributes or the semantic content of the unattended channel?
Physical attributes
What is inattentional blindness?
A pattern in which people fail to see a prominent stimulus, even if they’re staring right at it
What occurs during an inattentional blindness study?
Participants are instructed to point their eyes at a dot and make judgments about a “+” shown off to the side, and during that time, the dot briefly changes shapes
During an inattentional blindness study, were participants able to detect the shape change of the fixation target if they weren’t warned about it?
No
What is a fixation target?
A visual mark at which participants point their eyes, or fixate on during experimental procedures
What is inattentional deafness?
A pattern in which people fail to hear prominent stimuli if they are unexpected
What is inattentional numbness?
A pattern in which people fail to feel stimuli if the inputs are unexpected
What are the two contracting theories behind inattentional blindness, deafness, and numbness?
- People fail to notice the stimuli
- People do notice the stimuli, but forgot that it occurred
What is change blindness?
A pattern in which perceivers either don’t see or take a long time to notice large scale changes in visual stimulus
What occurs during a change blindness study?
Participants are shown pairs of pictures that differ slightly and separated by a brief blank interval and must determine what about the images is different
What is the premise of the late stage hypothesis?
Selective attention operates at a late stage of processing, so all inputs make it briefly into consciousness, then selection occurs and only the attended input is remembered
How is attention proposed to influence the lateral geniculate nucleus ?
Attention changes the flow of signals within the nervous system before they reach the brain, thus changes in attention affect activity in the lateral geniculate nucleus
What does the biased competition theory propose about attention?
That attention functions by shifting the priorities of neurons, so they are more responsive to certain inputs
What are the two ways detectors in the visual system can be primed?
- By activating detectors so they’re more sensitive
- By biasing detectors so they’re more likely to respond to the desired input
What is spatial attention?
The ability to allocate processing resources to, or focus attention on, a specific location in space
What is a limited-capacity system?
A system in which mental resources are limited, so extra resources supplied to one process results in withdrawal of resources from another
T or F: Perceiving inputs does not involve mental resources.
False
In terms of a limited-capacity system, why are people unable to listen to two messages at the same time?
Because it requires more resources than are available
Priming of what type of attention seems to influence very early processing stages in the visual system?
Spatial attention
T or F: Movements of attention occur after movements of the eyes.
False. Movements of attention occur prior to eye movements.
Moving attention requires a network of sites in which cortical regions?
The frontal and parietal cortex
Which three brain systems form the “control system” for attention?
- The orienting system
- The alerting system
- The executive system
What is the orienting system?
A cluster of brain sites needed to disengage attention from one target, shift it to a new one, and engage attention on the new target
What is the alerting system?
A cluster of brain sites that is responsible for maintaining an alert state in the brain
What is the executive system?
A cluster of brain sites that control voluntary actions
The anterior cingulate gyrus and prefrontal area are crucial sites for the functioning of which control process/system?
The executive system
The frontal area, posterior area, and thalamus are crucial sites for the functioning of which control process/system?
The alerting system
The frontal eye field, superior parietal lobe, temporal junction, pulvinar, and superior colliculus are crucial sites for the functioning of which control process/system?
The orienting system
T or F: People pay more attention to aspects of a scene that are either predicable, or totally unexpected
False. They are unlikely to focus on these aspects.
What is the ultra-rare item effect?
A pattern in which rare items are often overlooked
What is the difference between endogenous and exogenous control of attention?
- Endogenous control of attention: the person chooses where to focus their attention
- Exogenous control of attention: the person’s attention is automatically directed to an input
What is inhibition of return?
A pattern in which people are faster to process a target when it appears where it was expected to appear
What does the pattern of inhibition return suggest about processing of visual stimuli?
That when a person is expecting a visual stimulus in a specific location, processing in the unexpected location is inhibited
What are the two theories about how people pay attention to things?
- Attention is defined purely in spacial terms
- Attention is given to objects rather than positions in space
T or F: Without a limited mental capacity, attention would be focused too broadly.
True
What is the trade-off for focusing attention broadly when searching for a target?
Since multiple inputs are being taken in at once, it may be difficult to know which feature belongs with which
What is the trade-off for focusing attention narrowly when searching for a target?
The process is slower
When attempting to identify a target with multiple features, is it better to focus attention broadly or narrowly?
Narrowly because it allows the perceiver to bind features of each object together
What is the feature integration theory?
A proposal about the function of attention in “gluing” together elements and features in view
What are the two proposed stages of attention?
- The preattentive stage
- The focused attention stage
What occurs during the preattentive stage?
The early evaluation of input that involves parallel processing of the entire display
What occurs during the focused attention stage?
Mechanisms like expectation-based priming allow for the preparation of detectors and the creation of a processing advantage
What is divided attention?
The skill of performing multiple tasks simultaneously
Concurrent tasks can only be performed when what is available?
When the resources needed for both are available
What will happen if two tasks, when combined, require more mental resources than available?
Divided attention will fail
T or F: Divided attention will be easier if the simultaneous tasks are similar.
False
Why is it easier to divide attention between tasks that are very different?
Because the two tasks have distinct resource requirements
How many tasks can the executive control handle at once?
One
What is a preservation error?
A pattern of responding in which a person produces the same response repeatedly, even if they are aware that the task requires it to change
What is goal neglect?
A pattern of behaviour in which people fail to keep their goals in mind, so they fall back into habitual responses, even if those responses don’t help achieve the goal
T or F: Practice has no effect on the resource demand for a task.
False. Practice diminishes resource demand.
When is automaticity achieved?
When a task can be performed with little to no attention/ control
What process is demonstrated using the stroop interference task?
Automaticity
What is the procedure involved in the stroop interference task?
Participants are asked to name the colour of the ink used to print the name of a different colour
Is attention a skill/mechanism or an achievement?
An achievement
T or F: It is possible to gain new resources or find new ways to accomplish a task to avoid the down-falls of limited mental resources.
True
