Week 3: Attention

Question 1

Why do we have attention?

Answer 1

Focus on important information, suppress distracting information (selective attention), navigate through complex environments

Question 2

What is attention

Answer 2

State of consciousness, what we focus on, processing information without being aware of it

Question 3

Top-down attention

Answer 3

Voluntary, goal-driven, endogenous, controlled, directed.

Question 4

Bottom-up attention

Answer 4

Involuntary, stimulus-driven, exogenous, automatic, captures.

Question 5

Covert attention

Answer 5

Some attention that is paid to the periphery, without moving the eyes

Question 6

Overt attention

Answer 6

Foveate attention, by moving the eyes

Question 7

Posner paradigm (experiment)

Answer 7

Cues are given either endogenous or exogenous

Question 8

Inhibition of return

Answer 8

Posner paradigm exogenous cues, if time delay between cue and target is >300ms, then responses are quicker for invalidly cued trials

Question 9

Stroop task

Answer 9

Name colour of the ink, not of the word’s meaning. Top-down attention is conflicting with bottom-up attention

Question 10

Feature search

Answer 10

Focusing on one feature is easy and happens during early visual processing

Question 11

Conjunction search

Answer 11

Focusing on more than one feature requires more attention and later processing of the stimuli

Question 12

Cocktail party effect

Answer 12

Selective attention
Selectively focus on one conversation, but we still process surrounding voices and their gender
Do not process content or language of voices

Question 13

Dichotic listening task

Answer 13

Simultaneously sending different message to left and right ear

Question 14

Early or late selection of attention

Answer 14

Depends on the perceptual load the brain is currently dealing with.

Question 15

Selection of attention (process)

Answer 15

Perceptual processing, semantic processing, response/memory

Question 16

Selective attention

Answer 16

Attention as a spotlight on certain bits of information, enhances the neural response to certain stimuli

Question 17

Selective attention (brain regions)

Answer 17

Activation of the MT, FEF, IPS is stronger for attending a direction than for passively viewing the direction

Question 18

Top-down (brain regions)

Answer 18

More dorsal, FEF, IPS, SPL

Question 19

Bottom-up (brain regions)

Answer 19

More ventral, TPJ, VFC

Question 20

Difference between attention and awareness

Answer 20

Awareness requires a combination of attention and salience

Question 21

Attentional blink

Answer 21

The probability of getting a second target correct decreases if the number of frames between the targets is low

Question 22

Neglect

Answer 22

Ignorance of one contralateral visual field due to lateral brain damage

Question 23

Colour swap experiment

Answer 23

Target and distractor colour swapped from trial to trial according to a reward

Question 24

Intertemporal choice

Answer 24

Choosing between an amount of money now, or slightly more money later in time

Question 25

Drift diffusion model (DDM)

Answer 25

Model of comparison between value and cost when making a choice

Question 26

Modelling intertemporal choice

Answer 26

Attribute-wise model, option-wise model

Question 27

Results of the Posner paradigm endogenous task?

Answer 27

RT is faster for validly cued trials (benefits) and slower for invalidly cued trials (costs). RT depends on predictability of the cue.

Question 28

Results of the Posner paradigm exogenous task?

Answer 28

RT is faster for validly cued trials and slower for invalidly cued trials. Inhibition of return, RT does not depend on predictability of the cue

Question 29

What is the difference between exogenous and endogenous cueing task in the Posner paradigm?

Answer 29

In the exogenous cueing task, the RT does not depend on the predictability of the cue.

Question 30

How does perceptual load relate to the process of selective attention?

Answer 30

More distractors, higher perceptual load, need for filtering, attention is selected earlier

Question 31

What is top-down attention influenced by?

Answer 31

Strength of goal, incentive, stakes, predictability, familiarity of the environment

Question 32

What is bottom-down attention influenced by?

Answer 32

Colour, movement, size, threat, emotional value.