Unit 4 Flashcards
Definition of Attention
The state of focusing on certain items at the expense of others.
2 main focuses or questions about attention
What factors influence attention?
Neural mechanisms of attention
Selected vs Divided Attention
Selected = focused on one task
Divided = focused on multiple stimuli
Distraction
Something that captures us out of attention on something
Attentional capture
Rapid shift of attention to some salient stimuli
4 parts of the Filter Model of Attention
Sensory Memory –> Filter –> Detector –> (Short Term) Memory
What is a model?
A representation of something
What does a filter do in the filter model of attention?
Uses RAW DATA (pitch, location, intensity, etc.) to tend to important information, allowing it to enter awareness.
Differentiate early-selection models and late-selection models
early-selection: data is filtered before meaning/processing. (attention happens before meaning)
late-selection: data is filtered after meaning/processing. (attention happens after meaning)
What is the detector’s role in the filter model of attention?
To assign meaning or make sense of things after filter.
What is the problem with filter model of attention? How did they find this?
Problem: There are things that don’t get sent to the detector but still get processed.
eg. Dichotic Listening Track: 2 different tracks in each ear, they recalled things that were filtered out.
Treisman’s Attenuation Model of Attention (4 parts)
alt name?
Leaky Filter Model
Messages –> Attenuator –> Dictionary Unit –> Memory
What 2 tracks are between attenuator and dictionary unit in the Treisman Model?
Attended and unattended tracks.
What model of selection is the Treisman Attenuation Model? what does it entail?
It’s mixed early and late selection.
Entails that there’s both raw data and meaning in the filtering/attenuating stage. Both before and after meaning, there’s attention involved.
How do things go from dictionary unit to memory?
There’s a threshold of activation to enter STM
Do different stimuli have different thresholds to enter memory (Treisman’s Model)?
Yes. For example, your name has very low threshold.
Where does all the attended info go to in Treisman’s Model?
STM
Processing Capacity
How much we can process at once
Perceptual Load
task difficulty
in the saying color of word task, what part has higher perceptual load?
The color has higher load.
2 Types of states in attention?
Alert, Resting
In alert state, what type of waves emitted?
What is the alert state?
Beta waves (15-30Hz)
Paying attention and awake
In resting state, what type of waves emitted?
What is the resting state?
Alpha waves (8-13Hz)
Not actively paying attention but awake
Frontoparietal Attention Network
A process describing the alert state of attention. The frontal and parietal lobes interact to direct attention.