Chapter 4 Flashcards
Attention
what is attention
Attention is the clear and vivid focusing of the mind on one out of several possible objects or trains of thought, involving withdrawal from some things to effectively deal with others
What are some variations of attention discussed in the chapter?
selective attention
involuntary attention,
attempting to attend to multiple things
simultaneously
switching attention between tasks
What is selective attention?
attending to relevant information while ignoring irrelevant information.
Describe the cocktail party phenomenon.
the ability to focus on one conversation in a crowded room while ignoring other conversations.
What is the Stroop task used for?
to demonstrate interference in attention by requiring participants to name the color of ink in which words are printed, rather than reading the words themselves.
What is the distinction between controlled and automatic processes in attention?
Controlled processes require attention for proper execution
automatic processes operate without requiring attention.
What brain regions are implicated in Stroop task performance?
The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) are commonly involved.
What is the spotlight metaphor of spatial attention?
The spotlight metaphor suggests that spatial attention works like a spotlight, selectively illuminating objects for conscious perception.
What is attention capture?
the automatic focusing on stimuli, such as when someone hears their name and turns to look.
Define inattentional blindness.
the failure to notice expected events because of a focus on something else.
What experiment did Neisser & Becklen conduct in 1975?
Neisser & Becklen conducted an experiment using two videos to study focused attention.
What did Simons study in 2000?
Simons studied inattentional blindness using a basketball video where participants failed to notice a gorilla due to their focus on counting passes.
What was the focus of Mack & Rock’s 1998 study?
Mack & Rock’s study used crosses and added new features, showing that participants failed to notice the added features due to their focus on the crosses.
According to Lavie et al. (2003), what stimuli tend to capture attention involuntarily?
Lavie et al. found that faces tend to capture attention involuntarily and interfere with tasks.
What are domain-specific modules?
specialized brain areas for processing specific types of stimuli.
What did Downing et al. (2004) discover about stimuli?
body stimuli, such as human silhouettes, capture attention more than other stimuli.
What is the attentional blink?
the second of two stimuli presented in close temporal proximity is often not perceived if it occurs within about 550 milliseconds after the first stimulus.
How does the attentional blink affect perception?
participants are usually aware of the first stimulus but fail to perceive the second stimulus, as their attention resources are still focused on processing the first stimulus.
What did Olivers and Nieuwenhuis (2005) find regarding the attentional blink?
playing music during a task reduced the magnitude of the attentional blink, leading to improved accuracy in identifying the second target.
Describe the Mackworth Clock Task.
involves monitoring a clock hand moving around a circle, with occasional skips in movement. Participants are required to detect these skips by pressing a button.
What is the vigilance decrement?
refers to a decline in performance over time in vigilance tasks, such as the Mackworth Clock Task, where participants become less accurate in detecting rare events as the task progresses.
What are the two dominant views regarding the cognitive mechanisms underlying the vigilance decrement?
overload view: suggests that performance declines due to the high attentional demands of vigilance tasks
underload view: suggests that performance declines because vigilance tasks are not stimulating enough, leading to boredom and attentional disengagement.
What is overt attention?
involves attending to something by moving the eyes to focus on it.
What is covert attention?
involves attending to something without moving the eyes, directing mental focus to a specific location or object.
