Visual attention

Question 1

When we focus our attention on something, our neural processing is enhanced. This phenomenon is called:

Answer 1

Attentional spotlight

Question 2

What is the main limitation of our attentional spotlight?
a) neural processing is only enhanced if it occurs in the left visual hemifield
b) it comes at the cost of missing important peripheral stimuli
c) it is inhibited with damage to the PFC

Answer 2

b) it comes at the cost of missing important peripheral stimuli

Question 3

Attending to visual information in the periphery activates which lobe?

Answer 3

Occipital

Question 4

Occurs when stimuli in the visual field do not breach conscious awareness:

Answer 4

Inattentional blindness

Question 5

What is the main limitation of inattentional blindness paradigms?
a) the person can only be tested once
b) the person must be tested multiple times
c) the effect is only seen in people with left visual hemianopia

Answer 5

a) the person can only be tested once

Question 6

True or false: inattentional blindness only occurs with non-salient stimuli.

Answer 6

False

Question 7

In Thakral’s (2011) paradigm, 9 out of the 28 participants failed to detect the peripheral stimulus, even when it appeared for 700m/s. What was the paradigm?

Answer 7

Inattentional blindness

Question 8

Occurs when the attentional system fails to notice that something that was there before has changed:

Answer 8

Change blindness

Question 9

It is not necessary for people to be naive going into the change blindness paradigm, unlike what other attentional paradigm?

Answer 9

Inattentional blindness

Question 10

Many car accidents are caused because people do not notice a change in their periphery. This is a real-life implication of:

Answer 10

Change blindness

Question 11

Occurs when the attentional system processes a first stimulus, but fails to detect a second:

Answer 11

Attentional blink

Question 12

The “processing bottleneck” is a feature of which attentional limitation?

Answer 12

Attentional blink

Question 13

In Heim & Keil’s (2012) attentional blink paradigm, accuracy was ___ when T2 appeared 2 or 3 stimuli after T1, but was ___ when T2 appeared immediately after T1:

Answer 13

Low; high

Question 14

Having blindness to the second occurrence of something:

Answer 14

Repetition blindness

Question 15

What is the main implication of the repetition blindness paradigm?
a) there is a large effect for incompatible trials
b) there is a failure to detect other visual stimuli
c) removing the second word makes the sentence nonsensical

Answer 15

c) removing the second word makes the sentence nonsensical

Question 16

Older adults and people with Parkinson’s tend to struggle more than younger adults in which attentional paradigm?

Answer 16

Flanker paradigm

Question 17

True or false: poor performance on the Stroop task in older adults is indicative of some type of neurodegenerative disease:

Answer 17

False
(A higher Stroop effect is actually normal to see in healthy aging.)