week 3

Question 1

attention

Answer 1

implies withdrawal from some things to deal effectively with others

idea of processing some information at the cost of other information

• William James `

Neisser: Attention is psychology’s most elusive target
* thought of as first person to write a textbook on cognition
* attention is a finite resource = not unlimited

Question 2

what is attention - 2 definitions

Answer 2

attention as a mental process
* the mental process of concentrating effort on a stimulus or mental event
* selective attention

attention as a limited mental resource
* the limited mental energy
* controlled attention
* attentional capacity

Question 3

selective attention

Answer 3

the application of cognitive resources to a task

must select relevant information to attend to and combine
* massive information + Limited Capacity = Selective attention

Question 4

attention - main question

Answer 4

how do we select what we pay attention to?

selective attention - why do we select certain things to pay attention to

Information processing model: representation and process

Question 5

information processing model

Answer 5

sensation –> perception –> mental representation –> memory

• stored info can be retrieved

Question 6

cocktail party effect

Answer 6

we can attend to only one conversation among many but will notice critical information

Question 7

dichotic listening experiments

Answer 7

have been used to systematically examine the cocktail party effect

participants listen to different messages presented to each ear through headphones, but they have to only follow one

showed some processing of non-attended messages
– otherwise little meaningful information from the other ear will be processed
– suggests that some info is processed to some extent, but is filtered – not reaching point of interpretation

for non shadow ear – people could give physical properties of voice and speed but nothing about meaningful information
* not reaching point of interpretation

Question 8

early filter models

Answer 8

attention proposed to be an early filter
* Broadbent proposes filter follows detection but before recognition

• only info that is important will be processed

model doesn’t explain the cocktail party affect
* you should not be able to respond to your name if this is true

Question 9

Problem with the early filter

Answer 9

some information still gets through

people would continue a sentence but continuation would be switching between two ears

one ear received “dox six fleas”
other got “eight scratch two”

person says “dog scratch fleas”

Question 10

late filter

Answer 10

Deutsch proposed late filter, after recognition

• filter may be attenuated for some info
• people were following the meaning of the message even when interchanging between ears

early filter: based on physical characteristics

late filter: based on meaning
problem: a lot of info to process before you filter

Question 11

switching experiment

Answer 11

Treisman had subjects shadow message in one ear but then meaningful message switched to other ear

people miss words when listening to two different things in different ears

Question 12

dichotic listening in real world

Answer 12

airforce cadets dichotic listening test where they shifted attention from one ear to another

people who weren’t aware that they were shifting attention from one ear to the other were less likely to successfully complete air force training

used as a marker for how much control over your attention you had

link between awareness of control and likelihood of completing training

Question 13

Treisman Attenuation Theory

Answer 13

Intermediate-selection model

aka leaky filter model

• attended messages can be separated from unattended message early in the information-processing system
• filtering can be based on physical properties or meaning

signals are not either there, its about signal strength

early filter = too light
late filter = too much info

Question 14

Treisman’s Attenuation theory Attenuator

Answer 14

attenuator
* attended to message is let through the attenuator at full strength
* unattended message is let through a much weaker strength (leaky filter)

stuff that matters to you signal boost

stuff you don’t attent to is tempered down
* not an all or none filter, you are just accentuating the things you are about

Question 15

Treisman’s Attenuation theory Dictionary unit

Answer 15

Contains words, each of which have thresholds for being activated
* words that are common or important have low thresholds
* uncommon words have high thresholds

the interpretation part

strengthening and lowering of a signal

Question 16

attentional capacity

Answer 16

can’t distinguish filter models
* can’t distinguish between filter models because stuff happens after filter

• emphasis has shifted to capacity theories of attention

capacity: the total of our mental resources that can be allocated toward different tasks
* ability and resources to process information

attentional capacity is limited

automacity = task performance with no mental effort
* highly practiced but disadvantage = hard to override

stroop effect - you have little control over automatic processing
* when the target “pops out” it means the search is an automatic task

Question 17

attentional capacity

Answer 17

whether capacity is exceeded depends on the task and also the state of the person

• alertness
• automatic vs effortful tasks (controlled)

capacity varies based on
* your state
* how awake you are
* how much practive you’ve had
* certain tasks that can’t be automatized because you can’t shrink the number of resources required

Question 18

alertness

Answer 18

older adults - better at cognitive tasks in the morning, younger adults better at night

time of day - optimal time of day for alertness changes throughout life

most resources available to you start getting earlier as you age

Question 19

automaticity vs controlled

Answer 19

automaticity: practice leads to storing relevant information for a task in memory - no mental effort needed

task is automatic if
* occurs without intention
* unconscious
* does not interfere with other mental activities

controlled attention: deliberate, voluntary allocation of mental effort or concentration
* more creativeness and synthesis
* situation is different enough each time that it could never be automacized

Question 20

searching among dissimilar distractor

Answer 20

• target letter seems to “pop-out”
• seach time little affected by search set
• this is an automatic task

Question 21

search among similar distractors

Answer 21

• each location must be focused on
• search time varies with size and search set
• this task requires attentional control
• need controlled attention when adding similar surrounding factorsl

Question 22

langugae become automatic

Answer 22

reading is an automatic process

people are more likely to miss a letter the more common the word is

if asked to look for t would miss seeing the letter in the word “it” vs “time”

Question 23

stroop effect

Answer 23

automatically read the words but hard time saying the color is blue when the word says red – cheat by bluring eyes

Question 24

disadvantage of automaticity

Answer 24

difficult to “undo” practice and override automaticity

when you have an automatic process outside of your control and you try to impose control on it – its hard to move something from the automatic column, to a place where you want to apply resources on it

proofreading study
* mutliplication questions
* looking at equations in the same order again and again, less able to spot mistakes
* started filling in right answers even for ones that were incorrect
–> even when trying to do a controlled task, if its set up in such a way, your brain will skip steps

Question 25

attention
- distraction
- attentional capture
- visual scanning

Answer 25

ability to focus on specific stimuli or locations

distraction: one stimulus interferring with the processing of another

attentional capture: a rapid shifting in attention usually created by a stimulus such as a loud noise, bright light, or sudden movement

visual scanning: movement of the eyes from one location to another

Question 26

attention as information processing

Answer 26

Broadbent’s filter model of attention

to explain dichotic listening

shadowing = repeating words

• sensory memory hold incoming info
• transfers to filer
• filter identified messaged based on Phys. characteristics
• transfers to detector
• detector processes information from attended message to determine meaning – processes everything that enters bc already past filter

early selection model bc filter eliminates the unattended information right away at the beginning of the flow of information

problem: we are conscious of what we hear in one ear - so the unattended side still gets past the filter

Question 27

treisman

Answer 27

proposed modification to Broadbent’s model of early filter

replaced filter with attenuator which analyses the incoming message in terms of
* physical characterisitcs
* language
* meaning

if words sound the same, then have to use meaning to distinguish

leaky filter model

model has dictionary units which determine the final output of the system

Question 28

late selection models of attention

Answer 28

Mackay found that the meaning of the biasing word affected the participants choice

model proposes that most of the incoming information is processed to the level of meaning before the message to be further processed is selected

Question 29

processing capacity and perceptual load

Answer 29

how do people ignore distracting stimuli when they are trying to focus their attention on a task?

processing capacity: refers to the amount of information people can handle and sets a limit on their ability to process incoming information

perceptual load: related to the difficulty of a task

low load tasks: ones tht are well-practiced and have perceptual loads, leaves capacity to handle other tasks

lavie’s load theory of attention: proposal that the ability to ignore the task-irrelevant stimuli depends on the load of the task the person is doing
* high load tasks result in less distraction

stroop effect: refers to the fact that people who find this task difficult when the word red is printed in blue

Question 30

directing attention by scanning a scene

Answer 30

how does directing our attention affect our experience

• scanning a scene with eye movements
• scanning based on stimulus salience
• scanning based on cognitive factors
• scanning based on task demands

Question 31

scanning a scene with eye movements

Answer 31

good vision comes from scanning

objects in central vision fall on the fovea (good detail vision)
* peripheral retina is not as good

saccadic eye movement - rapid jerky movement from one fixation to the next

overt attention: shifthing of attention by moving eyes, contrasts covert the attention

Question 32

scanning based on stimulus salience

Answer 32

attention can be influenced by salience
* color, contrast, movement
* bottom-up process

saliency map
* map of scenes that indicates the stimulus salience of areas and objects in the scene
* first few fixations will be on high salient areas (areas with alot of contrast or pattern)

Question 33

scanning based on cognitive factors

Answer 33

limitations about saliency is that different people interpret things differently

variation in how people scan scenes

top down process
* scanning influenced by knowledge and preferences

scene schemas
* need top down processing
* knowledge about what is contained in typical scenes
* people look loger at things that seem out of place in a scene means that attention is being affected by their knowledge of what is usually found in the scene

Question 34

scanning based on task demands

Answer 34

the timing of looking at things determined by the sequence of actions involved in the task

eye movement depends on task

just in time strategy: eye movement occur just before we need the information they will provide

scanning influenced by predictions about what might happen

scanning anticipates what a person will do

pausing scanning: to look longer at something when someone’s expectations are violated
* when there’s a printer unexpectedly in a kitchen

Question 35

outcomes of attention

Answer 35

improves ability to respond to a location
* precueing - to determine if presenting a cue indicating where a test stimulus will appear enhances the processing of the target stimulus
* to measure covert attention

conclusion: information processing is more effective at the place where attention is directed

improves our ability to respond to objects
* can also covertly attend to specific objects
* when attention is directed to one place on an object, the enhancing effect that attention spread to other places on the object
* same-object advantage: when the enhancing effect of attention spread thoughout an object so that attention to one place on an object results in a facilitation of processing at other places on the object

Question 36

attention affects perception

Answer 36

affects physiological responding
* attention increases activity in areas of the brain that represent the attended location
* activation of brain occurred when participants attended to specific areas

changes the representation of objects across the cortex
* attention to a specific location results in enhanced activity at one place in the cortex
*Datta and DeYoe

Question 37

Tolga Cukur - brain maps

Answer 37

Determined how attention affects the way different types of obejcts are represented across the brain as a whole

Huth brain map: can see that activity is distributed across a large area of the brain

Cukur created brain maps by analyzing data from tens of thousands of voxels across brain

attentional warping: important feature of brain maps
* occurs when the map of categories on the brain changes to make more space for categories that are being searched for as a person attends to a scene

Question 38

divided attention: can we attend to more than one thing at a time?

Answer 38

stroop task shows that even when we are trying to ignore irrelevant stimuli, we take information from task-irrelevant stimulus

ability to divide attention depends on practice and the difficulty of the task

Question 39

divided attention becomes more difficult when tasks are harder

Answer 39

Shneider and Shiffrin showed that divided attention is possible for some well-practiced tasks

found that if tasks difficulty is increased than automatic processing is not possible with practice

found that practice made it possible for participants to divide their attention to deal with all the target and test items simultaneously

Question 40

distractions

Answer 40

cell phone distractions while driving
* drivers who crash are inattentive
* more crashes due to cell-phone use regardless if its hands free or not

Question 41

distractions by the internet

Answer 41

operant conditioning could explain why you use your phone constantly

continuous parital attention: distraction from a task impairs performance – solution is to develop strategies of self control

Question 42

distraction caused by mind wandering

Answer 42

thoughts coming from within

Killingsworth: people are mind wandering half the time they’re awake

mind wandering is distracting enough to disrupt a task

Question 43

what happens when we don’t attend

Answer 43

divided attention is possible but difficult

limits exist in our ability to attend

inattentional blindness = how we can miss things even when they are clearly visible

Question 44

inattentional blindness

Answer 44

unaware of visible stimuli if aren’t directing attention to it

when observers are attending to a sequence of events, they can fail to see another event right in front of them

inattentional deafness: when inattention causes a perso to miss au auditory stimulus
* Lavie’s load theory of attention
* being involved in a high load task increases chances of missing other stimuli

Question 45

change detection

Answer 45

detecting differences between picture or displays that are presented one after another

change blindness: difficulty in detecting changes in scenes

continuity errors: when scenes don’t match up - change blindness = we don’t notice

Question 46

attention and experience in a coherent world

Answer 46

attention = important determinant of what we perceive

binding = process by which features and locations are combined to create our perception fo a coherent object

the binding problem = how an objects individual features bound together

Question 47

feature integration theory (2 stage process)

Answer 47

steps in object processing

preattentive stage
- attention could be automatic so not involved in this stage

features of objects are analyzed in separate areas of the brain and are not yet associatated with a specific object

focused attention stage: attention is focused on an object and the independent features are combined so that we can become aware of the ball

Question 48

evidence for future integration theory

Answer 48

illusory conjunctions: happens because in the preattentive stage, each feature exists independently of the others

• people report seeing shapes that were a combo of two different shapes shown

Balint’s Syndrome
* condition caused by brain damage
* person has difficulty focusing attention on individual objects
* result of parietal lobe damage

feature analyses theory = bottom-up processing

Question 49

visual search

Answer 49

another way to study the role of attention in binding = conjunction search

feature search: searching for the target item that involves detecting one feature (ex: horizontal lines)

conjunction search: find the green horizontal line bc you have two features to detect so you look for conjunction of horizontal and green

Question 50

executive attention network

Answer 50

responsible for two executive functions

• controlling attention
• dealing with conflicting responses

example: stroop test where u have to focus on color and ignore word

• involved in conflict (willpower, cognitive control)
• should I stay or should I go

Question 51

effective connectivity changes

Answer 51

schizophrenia

ventral and dorsal attention networks

Question 52

attention in terms of capacity

Answer 52

some tasks need more effort than others

Question 53

feature integration theory (slides)

Answer 53

most influential theory - how people think about combination of perception and attention, and computers.

Treisman
* said that the way you interpret objects is having different spatial maps, each corresponding to different features (one linked to color, one linked to shape)

• preattentive stage (get the physical features)
• spatial maps are distinct
• automatically through senses
• attention is gathering information and binding the different features from the maps
• attention is helping perception bc it acts as the glue for the early processes
• only get a true representation in the world when you are paying attention to it

parallel search = preattentive stage
* as soon as you add a conjunction search, you have to go to next stage (attentional level) which is cereal and you have to look at each item to know if its the target you’re looking for

conjunction search: serial process
conjunction error: usually made when someone is presented with info, its taken away and then they have to remember it
* confirmation of feature integration theory

Question 54

vigilance

Answer 54

• some jobs require that automaticity be avoided
• jobs where you have to be paying attention to complete the jobs
• have to be under controlled attention

air traffic controllers, pilots, drivers

feature integration theory ties attention to how perception works
* attention as a resource for capacity

Question 55

inattention blindness

Answer 55

Neisser

• when controlled attention takes away from noticing other things happening in your environment

not the same as change blindness (that representations are complete)

said that in order to process info, you need to purposefully ignore the irrelevant information

examples:
* car accidents, medical error, airplane crashes
* magic

Change blindness is the failure to notice an obvious change. Inattentional blindness is the failure to notice the existence of an unexpected item

Question 56

divided attention

Answer 56

we are not strictly limited to one thing at a time

but do these tasks interfere with each other? - depends on the tasks and how practiced they are

dual task procedure: have someone do two tasks and use performance on the secondary task to measure the influence of primary task
* if both tasks have an increased capacity then you have, there’ll be a decrease in performance

Question 57

dual task study

Answer 57

Johnston and Heinz

shadow message at same time as responding to light (secondary task)

• dichotic listening experiment
• task of ignoring to one voice and listening to the other is hampering ability to respond to light - takes about of capacity

Question 58

divided attention while driving

Answer 58

Strayer and Johnston

• pursuit tracking task: participants used a joystick to keep a cursor positioned over a moving target
• talking on phone worse than drinking and driving bc of planning process of what to respond (same with texting)

Question 59

psychological refractory period

Answer 59

period of time where a new process cannot be initiated due to the continued processing of choosing a response to another stimulus

• task is taking up all resources and you can’t do something else at the same time

if something else happens while you’re responding to something else, you can ony make one selection at a time

have to make a decision about one selection before starting selection for the decision about another

response selection bottleneck
* if second stimulus comes late enough, there will be no decrement in performance

many performers ue this period to their advantage by presenting successive cues such as fakes or baulks to slow the respone of their opponents

Question 60

attention and the brain

Answer 60

damage to the right parietal lobe causes attentional neglect
* neglect - people fail to attend to the contralesional side of things

attentional neglect: right parietal damage = inability to attend to left side of visual field

these people will only shave half of face

• not a problem at the sensory level

Question 61

Posner’s attentional cueing paradigm

Answer 61

investigated attention by cuing participants either correctly or not and seeing response time

react faster to an object when already looking in the direction where it appears

cueing task analysis
* difference in time is bc of disengaging and reorienting (invalid trials)

Question 62

moving attention around

Answer 62

how to do it

disengage attention

move attention to location of the new to be attended stimulus

enhance (once attention has been redirected, neural processing of the new location is enhanced)

Question 63

moving attention around

Answer 63

attention can move independent of eye movements
* but day to day, they are usually tightly linked

attention and moving eyes is linked