Topic 7: Visual Attention

Question 1

overt attention

Answer 1

over shifts of attention require eye movements

Question 2

saccades
fixations
smooth pursuit

Answer 2

• rapid, ballistic movements from one place to another
• short pauses at points of interest
• slower movements tracking a moving object

Question 3

Yarbus eye tracker

Answer 3

bottom up and top down
-varying instructions changed where p’s looked on the same painting
instructions influenced learning

Question 4

visual salience

cognitive factors

Answer 4

bottom up, exogenous, in environment, reflexive and automatic

• distinct subjective perceptual quality which makes some items stand out and grab attention
• top down, endogenous, in mind, voluntary and intentional

Question 5

saliency maps

scene schema

Answer 5

areas that stand out in a particular scene based on basic features (bottom up), shows where eyes are fixated

• knowledge about what is contained in a typical scene
• helps guide fixations from one area to another

Question 6

task and action plans

intentions and goals

Answer 6

eye movements precede motor actions by fraction of a second

-purpose for which an observer views a scene influences where they look

Question 7

spatial cueing task

Answer 7

P’s focus on fixation point with valid and invalid trials where stim will/wont follow cue direction
-faster reaction times on valid cue trials as attention was already primed in that direction
longer to separate and go to invalid side

Question 8

Egly cueing task

Answer 8

used two rectangles with invalid on same object or other object

• fastest rxn time when stimulus is in exact spot as cue, faster when its on same object
• attention spreads to entire object

Question 9

Apparent contrast

Answer 9

cue for L/R then p’s had to judge orientation of higher contrast grating
manipulation of attention influences judgement
attention causes weaker contrast to appear as if it were stronger
if cue was opposite to stim p’s viewed contrast as identical

Question 10

illusory conjunction study

Answer 10

rapidly flashed display followed by a mask
task 1 report numbers
task 2 report object
p’s reported combos of features from different stim
IC- occurred because features are free floating since attention was focused on numbers
when reporting just objects less IC because of focused attention

Question 11

feature integration theory

Answer 11

attention is required to bind different features into consciously experienced wholes

Question 12

preattentive stage

focused attention stage

Answer 12

automatic, no effort/attention, unaware of process, object analyzed into features
-attention is key, features are combined/bound

Question 13

inattentional blindness

Answer 13

we can be unaware of clearly visible stimuli if attention isnt focused
-p’s missed square doing simple line judgement task

Question 14

change blindness

load theory of attention

Answer 14

changes in picture/scene between viewing can go unnoticed if not attended to, immediate changes will capture attention
-low load tasks dont use all resources and there is remaining perceptual capacity, high load dont have any resources left over

Question 15

flanker task

Answer 15

higher reaction time for non-compatible trial as there are resources left over
CAC = non compatible
BAB= compatible

Question 16

flanker compatibility task

Answer 16

low load task only uses ‘O’ distractors
flanker effect show since its low load task
high load uses confusing distractors
no effect between compatible/incompatible since first task is hard and uses resources

Question 17

retinotopic map of V1

Answer 17

p’s fixate in center of checkerboard and attend to 1/18 locations
observe neural changes based on attention
could see which area of brain respond to near/far center of board
attention in VF moves activation in visual cortex

Question 18

O craven face/house

Answer 18

attend to face or house that are ontop of each other and transparent
-shifting focus is only processing change
detectd changes by fmri in FFA ad PPA
attention to an object increases neural activity in areas representing that object

Question 19

colby light and monkey

Answer 19

monkey trained to fixated eyes on fixation light while peripheral light flashed
-single cell recording in neuron with receptive field location of peripheral light
fixation only - release when fixation dims
fixation and attention - release bar when peripheral light dimmed
single neuron activity increased when monkey payed attention to spatial location

Question 20

bosman local field potentials

Answer 20

recording local field potentials in v1 and v4
fixation and will change to determine which stimulus to attend (blue or yellow), respond when changes
receptive fields in v4 record both object but v1 is distinct
synchronization switched based on activation in v1 and v4
attention will bind visual features

Question 21

womelsdorf

Answer 21

eyes at fixation and cue will say to attend to s1 s2 or s3
record area mt neuron with indicated receptive field
2/3 stims are within receptive field
change in visual field based on attention - dynamic
s1 small rf
s2 shifting rf
s3 normal rf

Question 22

appearance
vanish
transportation
restoration
penetration

Answer 22

object appears by magic
object disappears by magic
object changes position in space
object is damaged then restored
object moves through matter

Question 23

extraordinary feats
telekinesis
transformation
extrasensory perception

Answer 23

mental or physical
levitation animation of object
object changes form - size colour
telepathy, mind reading etc.