exam 1 Flashcards
(115 cards)
inattentional blindness
failing to see objects when attention is focused elsewhere (e.g. missing a gorilla in a video)
change blindness
failing to notice changes in a scene due to attention limitations
what are ensemble statistics in the nonselective pathways
the nonselective pathways extracts the overall scene properties (e.g. color, texture, layout)
what is attentional extinction (due to parietal damage)
inability to notice stimuli on the neglected side when competing stimuli are present
what is attentional neglect (due to parietal damage)
ignoring one side of space (often left) after right parietal damage
how do neurons implement attention
- enhancement
- sharper tuning
- altered tuning
enhancement (neurons implementing attention)
stronger response to attended stimuli
sharper tuning (neurons implementing attention)
more precise focus on relevant features
altered tuning (neurons implementing attention)
changes in preferred stimulus properties
how does attention affect neural activity?
- enhances firing rates of neurons responding to attended stimuli
- suppresses irrelevant stimuli
attentional blink
a gap in perception when detecting two targets in rapid succesion (the second target is often missed if it appears 200-500 ms after the first)
rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) paradigm
stimuli appear in quick succesion at the same location (used to study attentional blink and perception limits)
feature integration theory (FIT)
features (color, shape) are processed separately and must be bound together by attention
the binding problem
how does the brain combine features into a unified perception?
what is guidance in visual search?
attention is guided by salient features and prior knowledge
feature search
- fast, parallel
- target “pops out”
conjunction search
- slower, serial
- target shares features with distractors
spatial configuration search
- even slower
- requires recognizing relationships
visual search paradigm
a task where participants find a target among distractors. The search efficiency is measured by reaction time vs. number of distractors
the “spotlight” metaphor of attention
attention is like a beam of light, enhancing what it illuminates. However, attention can split, shift, or diffuse, challenging the metaphor
differences between endogenous and exogenous attention cues
- endogenous –> voluntary, based on goals (e.g. looking for a friend in a crowd)
- exogenous –> involuntary, driven by sudden stimuli (e.g. flashing light)
what is the Posner cueing task
a test where a cue directs attention to a location before a target appears
- valid cues (correct location) –> faster responses
- invalid cues (incorrect location) –> slower responses
are different kinds of scenes processed differently
Yes, the brain categorizes scenes (e.g. urban vs. natural). Some areas, like the PPA (parahippocampal place area) specialize in scene recognition
how much do we actually notice or remember from what we see
- very little detail (most information is filtered out)
- we retain the gist, rather than specific details
- change blindness and inattentional blindness reveal our limited awareness