Topic 5 Attention pt 1

Question 1

What is attention?

Answer 1

Given limited capacity to process competing options, attention mechanisms select, modulate, and sustain focus on information most relevant for behaviour

Question 2

What is the problem with attention?

Answer 2

how to allocate limited resources in the service of behaviour

Question 3

What is the importance of attention?

Answer 3

we need to prioritize information so we do not waste time and energy on irrelevant efforts

Question 4

what is the challenge with attention?

Answer 4

how to balance the need for selective focus with the need to handle new situations as they arise

Question 5

Explain exogenous source

Answer 5

exogenous source is in the environment , reflexive, automatic, and “bottom up”

Question 6

Explain endogenous source

Answer 6

endogenous source is in the mind, voluntary, intentional, and “top down”

Question 7

what is an external target?

Answer 7

sensory information, in the environment

Question 8

what is an internal target?

Answer 8

mental representations, in the mind

Question 9

someone did a hit and run on your car. You try to remember the license plate number. Is this an internal or external target?

Answer 9

internal target: mental representations, in the mind

internal targets include memories, imagery, or a plan

Question 10

Can exogenous sources be internal?

Answer 10

No, exogenous sources are always external because we have to see something to have a bottom up processing

Question 11

What types of attention are there?

Answer 11

overt vs covert
transient vs sustained
selective vs undivided

Question 12

Dylan notices something from the corner of his eye without fixated his gaze onto that particular object. What type of attention is this?

Answer 12

covert attention

Question 13

You are walking down a busy street and you occasionally glance at a people’s faces but you don’t think much of it or react to it. What type of attention is this?

Answer 13

transient attention

Question 14

you are trying to look for your coffee mug. What type of processing would you be using (top down, bottom up), and is it external or internal?

Answer 14

looking for a coffee mug would be endogenous top down processing and external target

Question 15

You are reading a book and you don’t notice that your parents have entered the room. What type of attention is this?

Answer 15

selective attention

Question 16

you are riding a bike and you decide to call someone while riding that bike. What type of attention is this?

Answer 16

divided attention

Question 17

the cocktail party effect is a ______ source of attention.

Answer 17

Exogenous, bottom up processing source of attention

Question 18

what is the cocktail party effect in a sentence?

Answer 18

auditory selective attention in a noisy environment

Question 19

What is the Broadment’s Early Selection theory?

Answer 19

the theory states that unattended sensory information gets filtered out early on (after low level perceptual analysis).

Question 20

What is the problem with Broadment’s Early selection theory?

Answer 20

If unattented sensory information gets filtered out after low level perceptual analysis, then we shouldn’t be able to hear our own names if someone else were to call it out. Therefore, the Treisman’s attenuation theory was proposed

Question 21

Max undergoes dichotic listening experiment. In one ear it says “Dear 7 Jane”. In the other ear it says “9 Aunt 6”. When ask to repeat what is said in one ear, he says “Dear Aunt Jane”. Which theory of selective attention backs up the result?

Answer 21

Treisman’s Attenuation Theory: weak filters allow us to still pay attention to unattended information if it’s critical to understanding meaning of message (or if we hear our own name)

Question 22

The treisman’s attenuation theory and the broadment’s early selection theory, are filtered after which part of the neural hierarchy?

Answer 22

After primary auditory cortex (after low level perceptual analysis)

Question 23

Which part of the neural hierarchy is responsible for decision making and memory storage?

Answer 23

multimodal association cortex

Question 24

Which part of the neural hierarchy is responsible for high level semantic analysis ?

Answer 24

secondary / tertiary auditory cortex

Question 25

what kind of information would low level perceptual analysis take in?

Answer 25

low level perceptual analysis would be things such as accent, pitch, tone, speed, and basic things that you don’t need to understand in order to identify

Question 26

When using ERP, what exactly are we measuring in the brain?

Answer 26

We measure electric fields that come from post synaptic potentials whereby the dendrites’ electric fields combine together

Question 27

With raw EEG data, what does the activity of the waves depend on?

Answer 27

raw activity depends on your state of mind (sleepy, relaxed, excited, etc)

Question 28

Within the first 10 ms of an auditory beep, where are the responses occurring?

Answer 28

brainstem - known as brainstem evoked responses

Question 29

After 50 ms of an auditory beep, where are the responses occurring?

Answer 29

in the first 50 ms, we start to see bigger peaks and valleys. It is thought that these mid latency responses come from the primary auditory cortex

Question 30

where are early latency responses occurring with sounds? mid latency? late latency?

Answer 30

brainstem
primary auditory cortex
secondary and tertiary