Attention and Signal Detection

Comprehensive practice flashcards covering the concepts, models, neurobiology, and clinical deficits associated with attention and signal detection.

How is attention defined in cognitive psychology?

Attention is how we actively process a limited amount of information from the enormous amount available through our senses, our stored memories, and other cognitive processes.

Why is attention necessary for managing cognitive resources?

It allows us to use our limited mental resources judiciously by dimming stimuli from sensations and thoughts to highlight those of interest, enabling faster, more accurate responses and better memory retention.

What are the five primary functions of attention?

Signal Detection, Vigilance, Search, Selective Attention, and Divided Attention.

What real-world occupations require optimal signal detection capabilities?

Lifeguards, operators in warning systems and quality control, police officers, radar operators, and physicians.

What are the four possible outcomes in a Signal Detection Theory (SDT) task?

Hit (detecting a signal when it is present), Miss (failing to detect a signal when it is present), False Alarm (responding that a signal is present when only noise is present), and Correct Rejection (correctly responding that no signal is present).

According to Signal Detection Theory, what is the relationship between the Noise distribution and the Signal + Noise distribution?

Noise varies randomly with a normal distribution; the activation of the sensory system responding to a signal has the same normal distribution, but is shifted to the right.

In Signal Detection Theory, what does the measure $d'$ represent?

Detectability (or sensitivity), which measures how well a subject can discriminate between distributions and corresponds to the distance between the two distributions.

What is the consequence of setting a lax (liberal) criterion versus a strict (conservative) criterion in signal detection?

A lax criterion maximizes hits by ensuring almost every stimulus is spotted but produces many false alarms, whereas a strict criterion avoids false alarms but leads to many misses.

What is vigilance?

The ability to attend to a field of stimulation over a prolonged period, during which the person seeks to detect the appearance of a particular target stimulus of interest.

Which brain structure plays a pivotal role in the regulation of vigilance when emotional or threatening stimuli are present?

The amygdala.

In the context of attention, what is search?

Scanning the environment for particular features (signals) while actively looking for something when you are not sure where it will appear.

What is a feature search, and what role do distracters play in it?

Scanning the environment for an item with a distinct feature (such as color or shape); the target acts as a featural singleton that stands out, so distracters play little role.

Why does searching for a $T$ among $L$s require a conjunction search?

Both letters share the same vertical and horizontal line components, so detection requires searching for the specific combination (conjunction) or integration of those features rather than an isolated unique feature.

How does Feature-Integration Theory explain display size effects in visual search?

Individual features are represented immediately and in parallel without display size effects, but conjunction searches require sequential serial processing using attentional resources as mental "glue" to bind features object by object.

According to Similarity Theory, what governs the difficulty of detecting target stimuli?

Difficulty increases as similarity between target and distracters increases, and depends on the degree of disparity among distracters rather than the number of features to be integrated.

What is selective attention, and what phenomenon demonstrates it in social settings?

The cognitive process of focusing on a particular task or stimulus while ignoring others, exemplified by the cocktail party effect (tracking one conversation despite the distraction of others).

At what stage does filtering take place according to Broadbent's Theory?

Right after information is noticed at the sensory level (early filtering), permitting only one sensory channel to reach perceptual processes while other stimuli are filtered out.

How does Treisman's Attenuation Model modify Broadbent's early filter approach?

Instead of completely blocking unattended stimuli, the filter attenuates (weakens) their strength, allowing weakened stimuli to undergo perceptual analysis and potentially enter consciousness based on relevance.

According to Neisser's synthesized theory, what are the two processes governing attention?

1. Automatic, rapid pre-attentive processes operating in parallel for physical sensory characteristics; 2. Later attentive, controlled processes executed sequentially to observe relationships and synthesize object representations.

What neuroscientific evidence supports selective attention via electroencephalography (EEG)?

Larger cortical responses are measured by EEG when target stimuli appear in an attended ear or visual area compared to when stimuli appear in an unattended region.

What did Strayer & Johnston (2001) discover regarding divided attention during simulated driving?

Participants in the cell phone dual-task condition exhibited substantially slower reaction times to red signals and a higher probability of a miss compared to the single-task condition.

What are the three primary symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)?

Inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsiveness.

What is the difference between change blindness and inattentional blindness?

Change blindness is the inability to detect changes in viewed objects or scenes, whereas inattentional blindness is the inability to see objects that are actually present (such as the gorilla video).

What neurological attentional deficit is illustrated by the clock-drawing task below?

Spatial Neglect (or hemi-neglect), which causes a person to ignore the half of their visual field contralateral to a brain lesion (often in the parietal and frontal lobes).

How does sensory adaptation differ from habituation regarding conscious control?

Habituation is accessible to conscious control (we can choose to notice stimuli to which we have habituated), whereas sensory adaptation occurs directly at sense organs and is not accessible to conscious control.

What is the neurobiological definition of habituation?

A phenomenon where an organism stops responding to a repeatedly presented stimulus because of reduced synaptic strength.