Chapter 4: Attention

Question 1

What is Attention?

Answer 1

set of processes that increase or decrease the priority of information (sensory or internal) / attention is the ability to focus on specific stimuli or locations

Question 2

What is selective attention? Give an example.

Answer 2

attending to one thing while ignoring others.
Example = focusing on my homework while ignoring the people having a conversation

Question 3

What is divided attention? Give an example.

Answer 3

paying attention to more than one thing at a time.
example: scrolling Instagram while listening to a friend tell me about their day

Question 4

What is attentional capture? Given an example

Answer 4

-Type of attention, a rapid shifting of attention usually caused by a stimulus such as a loud noise, bright light, or sudden movement
-Example: fire alarm going off during lecture (my attention that was focused on the professor is now shifted to the loud fire alarm noise)

Question 5

What is visual scanning? Give an example.

Answer 5

movements of the eyes from one location or object to another
example = just looking around! Looking around and seeing if I recognize my friends in a crowd

Question 6

Why did Broadbent make this model (was she inspired/intrigued by something?)

Answer 6

Broadbent’s filter model of attention (BFM) was designed to explain the results of an experiment done by Cherry in 1953 (and following experiments that confirmed results/conclusions of cherry’s experiment of filtering out one stimulus while focusing on another stimulus)

Question 7

What is the aim/purpose of Broadbent’s Filter Model of Attention?

Answer 7

to explain how it is possible to focus on one message and why information isn’t taken in from the other message

Question 8

What does Broadbent’s Filter Model of Attention state? (describe stages of the model)

Answer 8

that information passes through the following stages:

(1) Sensory memory … (“people lining up to go inside metal detector at airport”)
–>holds all of the incoming information for a fraction of a second and then transfers all of it to the filter

(2) The filter … (“CBSA agent checking validity of identity & passport ”)
–> (A) identifies the message that’s being attended to based on its physical characteristics (like the speaker’s tone of voice, pitch, speed of talking, & accent)
–> (B) lets only the attended message pass through to the detector in the next stage
–> (C) All other messages (unattended) are filtered out

(3) The detector… (“CBSA agent at border asking why you’re entering their country?”)
–> (A) processes the information from the attended message to determine higher-level characteristics of the message (like the meaning of the message)
–> (B) only the important & attended information is let through to the filter so detector processes all of the information that enters it

(4) The output of the detector…(memory storage)
–> (A) is sent to short-term memory (which holds information for 10-15 seconds) & transfers information into long-term memory (which holds information forever)

Question 9

What does it mean that Broadbent’s Filter Model is an early selection model?

Answer 9

it’s an early selection model meaning, the selection of information occurs at an early perceptual level of processing

Question 10

What is dichotic listening?

Answer 10

the process of receiving different auditory messages presented simultaneously to each ear

(Cherry’s experiment studied attention using a technique called dichotic listening. Dichotic listening is presenting different stimuli to the left and right ears - in this technique what you do is you say two things in each ear at the same time and the patient is supposed to ignore one of the messages said in the ears and only repeat the desired/intended message)

Question 11

(Cherry’s experiment) The procedure of repeating the words is called …

Answer 11

shadowing

Question 12

Cherry’s experiment studied attention using a technique called dichotic listening. What was the results and conclusions of this experiment?

Answer 12

Results =
(1) Participants could easily shadow (repeat the words they heard out loud) the message presented to the attended ear
(2) participants could not shadow the message presented in the unattended ear but they could tell the gender

Conclusion = people are not aware of most of the information being presented to the unattended ear.

Question 13

Describe how Moray’s experiment did not confirm/went “against” Broadbent’s filter model.

Answer 13

1/3 of participants in her experiment heard their name in the unattended ear even though Broadbent’s theory stated that the filter is supposed to only let through one message based on its physical characteristics. So, clearly the name had not been filtered out since the participants heard it and were able to recall it.

Question 14

Why did Treisman make this model attenuation (was he inspired/intrigued by something?)

Answer 14

because Moray and other experiments showed that information presented to the unattended ear is processed enough to provide the listener with awareness of its meaning so the pervious theory about this (BFM) was not entirely correct so Treisman changed his theory (BFM)/made a theory of her own in addition to new research.

Question 15

What is the aim/purpose of Treisman’s Model of Attenuation?

Answer 15

There is a selection or “filtering” that occurs in two stages. Instead of Broadbent’s “Filter” it is replaced with attenuator and dictionary unit

Question 16

What does Treisman’s Model of Attenuation/theory state?

Answer 16

Attenuator analyzes the incoming messages in terms of
(1) its physical characteristics (high-pitched or low-pitched, fast or slow?)
(2) it’s language (how the message groups into syllables or words)
(3) it’s meaning (how sequence of words create meaningful phrases)
attenuator is a process and not specific brain area

Question 17

Why is the model of attenuation by Treisman called a “leaky filter model”?

Answer 17

b/c the unattended message can sometimes leak through the attenuator

Question 18

Is Trisman’s model an early-stage model, intermediate, or late-stage model? Why?

Answer 18

Intermediate-stage model because it purposes a filter that operates at an early stage in the flow of information

Question 19

Explain how information is processed in Treisman’s model of attenuation.

Answer 19

First, incoming messages come from environment (both attended and unattended) –> these messages go to the attenuator and this attenuator analyzes information based on:
1. Physical characteristics, 2. Language, 3. Meaning, (if physical characteristics are unclear like for example, both are females that are saying the message and can’t distinguish this way (both have high-pitch voice) then move on to the second stage which is language and third stage meaning) –> dictionary unit then receives the attended message at a higher-level/stronger/full-force and unattended message at a weaker/lower-level. Dictionary unit contains words stored in the memory that have thresholds that they need to meet to be activated.
Uncommon words = need high thresholds and common words need low thresholds (i.e when my own name is said I can notice it right away).

Question 20

What is the cocktail party effect?

Answer 20

ability to focus on one stimulus while filtering out other stimuli (b/c at noisy parties, people are able to focus on what one person is saying even if there are many conversations happening at the same time).

Question 21

What are the basic principles of attention?

Answer 21

(1) attention controls our mental environment by choosing the events that will enter our consciousness

(2) limited attention = able to focus on a limited number of activities for a fixed period of time
(A) Change blindness = illusion of attention, was not able to notice an object changing in an environment because there were so many objects!

(3) selective attention = we must be selective in our attention by focusing on some events to the detriment of others
(A) Monkey business illusion (didn’t notice gorilla appear or curtains change because was focusing on the white t-shirt people pass the ball)
(B) Change Blindness = Things change in the environment all the time,
and these changes (motion, or blinking) usually draw attention and
sometimes they don’t draw attention

Question 22

What is Change Blindness?

Answer 22

phenomenon of visual perception that occurs when a stimulus undergoes a change without this being noticed by its observer
in-class example: Person asking for directions is replaced entirely by another person as the distraction of others carrying a door is presented. The person that was providing directions was entirely unaware (50% of people didn’t notice)

Question 23

Why did Deutsch & Deutsch make the Late Selection Model (inspired/intrigued by something?)

Answer 23

Made by Deutsch & Deutsch (1963) due to research like Mackay’s experiment where participants were presented with ambiguous sentences in one ear and words in another ear.

Question 24

What did Deutsch & Deutsch research that tested whether words in the unattended ear are processed lead to?

Answer 24

results led development of late selection models of attention

Question 25

Which options are the results from the Deutsch & Deutsch research where participants heard an ambiguous sentence in one year and later words in the other ear.
(A) The meaning of the words in the unattended ear resolved the ambiguity in the attended ear
(B) Participants could not consciously report the meaning of the unattended words
(C) Meaning of unattended words was processed without attention and conscious awareness
(D) None of these were the results of the experiment
(E) All of these were the results of the experiment

Answer 25

(E) All of these (A-C) were the results of the experiment

Question 26

What does Mackay’s theory state?

Answer 26

meaning of words are always processed even if unattended

Question 27

Why did Lavie make the load theory of attention?

Answer 27

the theory was the result of her experiment on the role of processing capacity & perceptual load in determining distraction by presenting displays

Question 28

What is the aim/purpose of the load theory of attention by Lavie?

Answer 28

(1) The ability to selectively attend to a task can depend both on the distracting stimulus (what’s distracting me?) and on the nature of the task (am I trying to focus hard to solve this problem or just have a casual conversation?)
(2) Tried to answer, how do people ignore distracting stimuli when they are trying to focus their attention on a task?

Question 29

What does Lavie’s load theory of attention state?

Answer 29

(1) processing capacity = refers to the amount of information people can handle and sets a limit on their ability to process incoming information / how much can you handle in a given moment
(2) perceptual load = related to the difficulty of a task
-Some tasks have low-perceptual loads (these tasks are really easy & well-practiced) these are called low-load tasks
- Low-load tasks = use up SMALL amount of person’s processing capacity.
- Tasks that are difficult & not as well practiced are high-load tasks
- High-load tasks = use more of a personals processing capacit

Question 30

If you’re carrying out a hard, high-load task, are you less likely or more likely to be distracted?

Answer 30

less likely

If you’re carrying out a hard, high-load task, no processing capacity remains, and therefore, you are less likely to be distracted

Question 31

If you’re carrying out an easy, low-load task, are you less or morel likely t be distracted?

Answer 31

If you’re carrying out an easy, low-load task, the processing capacity that remains is available and therefore, able to process task-irrelevant stimuli so you are more likely to be distracted

Question 32

What does the ability to ignore task-irrelevant stimuli depend on?

Answer 32

load of the task & how powerful the task-irrelevant stimulus is

The ability to ignore task-irrelevant stimuli depends on the load of the task you are trying to do ((easy/hard) and how powerful the task-irrelevant stimulus is (super loud like a fire alarm or a pencil falling on the floor?)

Question 33

early selection becomes dominant when there is high or low perceptual load?

Answer 33

high perceptual load

Question 34

What is the Stroop Task/Effect? Why does this occur?

Answer 34

Stroop task = task-irrelevant stimuli being difficult to ignore
Stroop Effect = our tendency to experience difficulty when naming a colour when it is used to spell the name of a different colour. (in-class example, having the word RED written but you’re guessing the colour that the word is spelled in, which is black and this is hard)
Why? = reading words is highly practiced and has become so automatic so it’s difficult to not read them

Question 35

Distraction LEAST likely when…

A. Engaged in tasks with low perceptual load
B. Engaged in tasks that are considered ‘low-load tasks’
C. Engaged in tasks with high perceptual load

Answer 35

C, higher perceptual load (more engaged = less distraction)

Question 36

Distraction LEAST likely when…

A. Engaged in tasks with low perceptual load
B. Engaged in tasks that are considered ‘low-load tasks’
C. Engaged in tasks with high perceptual load

Answer 36

C, higher perceptual load (more engaged = less distraction)

Question 37

Distraction is MOST likely when…

A. Automatic attention capture occurs
B. During engagement in tasks that are considered ‘high-load’ tasks
C. During engagement in tasks that are high perceptual load

Answer 37

A, automatic attention capture is like seeing a bright-neon-green bird in a group of normal looking birds – this will automatically capture our attention

Question 38

Describe what is happening when scanning a scene.

Answer 38

when scanning (looking around) you are either fixating on a certain thing in the scene or making a saccadic eye movement (this is a rapid, jerky movement from one fixation to the next)

Question 39

What is overt attention?

Answer 39

the eye moves to focus on the object of attention / shifting attention from one place to another by moving the eyes

Question 40

What are the two factors that determine how people shift their attention by moving their eyes?

Answer 40

Bottom-up (Automatic)
o based mostly on physical characteristics of stimulus
o Lecture:
o Involutory
o Captures attention
o Despite our goals

(2) Top-down (controlled)
o based on cognitive factors (like the observers’ knowledge about the scenes & past experiences w/ specific stimuli)
Lecture:
o deliberate
o conscious
o towards our goals

Question 41

What are the factors that influence attention?

Answer 41

(1) Stimulus salience (bottom-up process) = the physical properties of the stimulus such as colour, contrast, or movement.

Question 42

When shifting attention via moving your eyes, is it bottom-up or top-down or both? Explain.

Answer 42

Answer = Can be both!
Explanation = Experiments in which people’s eyes were tracked as they observed pictures have found that the first few fixations are more likely on high-salience areas (bottom-up) BUT, after the first few fixations, scanning begins to be influenced by (top-down) or cognitive processes that depend on things such as the observers’ goals and expectations determined by their past experiences in observing the environment.

Question 43

Is scanning a scene a top-down or bottom-up process? Explain.

Answer 43

Answer = Top-down
Explanation = Scanning is influenced by preferences a person brings to the situation.
Example = When looking at a bedroom, I may focus on the bed itself because I am looking for a new bed and I want to explore the one in the picture and someone else might look elsewhere in the bedroom for various reasons (salience, personal experiences, etc.)

Question 44

How do cognitive factors based on knowledge of the environment influence scanning? Give examples of previous research to answer this question.

Answer 44

Answer =
(1) (Vo & Henderson)
o People looked longer at an image of a printer in a kitchen than a pot in a kitchen
o Conclusion = people look longer at things that seem out of place in a scene because their attention is affected by their knowledge of what is usually found in the scene
(2) (Shinoda & coworkers 2001)
o Procedure = Measured observers’ fixations and tested their ability to detect traffic signs as they drove through a computer-generated environment in driving simulator
o Results = observers more likely to detect stop signs positioned at intersections than those positioned in the middle of a block and that 45% of the observers’ fixations occurred close to intersections
o In this example the observers are using learning about regularities in the environment (stop signs are usually at corners) to determine when and where to

Question 45

What were the key findings of experiments that measure eye-movements when during a task (like the peanut butter spread (Land & Hayhoe)?

Answer 45

o (1) a person’s eye movement is determined primary by the task
o (2) Eye movements and fixations are closely linked to the action the person is about to take
o (3) Eye movements occur just BEFORE we need the information they will provide

***Basically = ALL PROVIDE EVIDENCE THAT scanning is influenced

Question 46

What is covert attention?

Answer 46

shifting our attention while keeping the eyes still / you attend to an area of space, but the eye doesn’t move

Example: WITH YOUR MIND (Eavesdropping on a conversation while not looking at them/pretending to be on phone)

Question 47

What’s Precueing?

Answer 47

Precueing = comes before something

Question 48

Explain the experiment of covert attention that gave rise to the idea that attention is like a spotlight.

Answer 48

Who
o Michael Posner and coworkers (1978), measuring covert attention
Aim
o asked whether paying attention to a location improves a person’s ability to respond to stimuli presented there
Procedure was precueing
o Determine whether presenting a cue indicating where a test stimulus will appear will enhance the processing of the target stimulus
o Participants first saw arrow cue indicating where they should direct attention then the stimulus appeared and they clicked a key when they say the square and in other group the arrow pointed to where they should direct their attention, but the square did not appear in the location instead, it was a different location
Results
o Participants reacted to the square more rapidly when their attention was focused on the location where the signal was to appear.
Conclusion/findings
o Information processing is more effective at the place where attention is directed = this result gave rise to idea that attention is like a spotlight or zoom lens that improves processing when directed toward a particular location

Question 49

spatial cueing task

Answer 49

o Reaction times were fastest when attention was precued to target location (the arrow appeared first and told participant where to look before the cue appeard)
o According to Posner, reaction times are longest in invalid trials because of difficulty disengaging attention from cued area of space
o Shifting attention comes with a cost!

Question 50

attention is a spotlight meaning?

Answer 50

o Cognitive ability to focus in or sharpen attention toward one thing or one location
o Can refer to visual or auditory stimuli
o Takes time to shift spotlight from one thing to another
o Would suggest that attention is limited in time and space

Question 51

Another cue experiment and how it provides evidence for same-object advantage? (How attention spreads within space (the same area))

Answer 51

Who
o Egly (1994), measuring covert attention
Aim
o When attention is directed to one place on an object, the enhancing effect on the attention spreads to other places on the object.
Procedure (precueing)
o Three triangles (image below)
o Cue signal appears at one place on the display, then the cue is turned off and a target is flashed at one of four possible locations (A,B,C, or D). Participants task was to press a button when the target was presented anywhere on the display. Numbers are reaction time in ms for positions A, B, and C when the cue signal appeared at position A.
Results
o Participants responded most rapidly when the target was presented at A, where the cue was presented.
o Participants responded most rapidly when target was presented at B
Conclusion/findings
o These findings were taken to indicate that attention operates via the internal representation of both space and object.
o Responded rapidly at B b/c B is located within the object that was receiving the participants attention (same space)
o Although paying attention to A (where the cue is presented) causes the maximum effect for A, but the effect of this attention spreads throughout the object (same rectangle) so some enhancement occurs at B as well.
Same-object advantage = faster responding that occurs when enhancement spreads within an object