Neuroscience Chapter 7 - Test Questions to Study

The main deficit in Bálint’s syndrome is that patients can focus attention only on

a) contralesional objects

b) the foveal part of the visual field

c) ipsilateral objects

d) one object at a time

d) one object at a time

The term ________ refers to the operations involved when we select for further processing a limited subset of information from the total information available to us from our sensory systems and stored mental representations.

a) arousal

b) cueing

c) vigilance

d) attention

d) attention

________ refers to the ability to choose certain sensory inputs for further information processing while ignoring others.

a) Selective attention

b) Arousal

c) Visual Search

d) Vigilance

a) Selective attention

Which component of attention is associated with the pulvinar?

a) the ability to disengage attention from a particular location in the visual field

b) the ability to locate a conjunction target that is embedded in a field of distracters

c) the capacity to move the focus of visual attention from one location to another

d) the ability to engage visual attention at a particular location in the visual field

d) the ability to engage visual attention at a particular location in the visual field

Joan is a patient who had a stroke in her right parietal lobe and has extinction as a result of her injury. When placed in a driving simulator she would be most likely to miss which stimulus when stopped at a virtual crosswalk and staring straight ahead? (Note: For this question, assume drivers sit on the left side of the car.)

a) a pedestrian on the driver side

b) a pedestrian on the driver side when a second pedestrian is on the passenger side at the same time

c) a pedestrian on the passenger side when a second pedestrian is on the driver side at the same time

d) a pedestrian on the passenger side

b) a pedestrian on the driver side when a second pedestrian is on the passenger side at the same time

Why isn’t the neuropsychology of attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) typically studied as a model to understand the anatomy of attention networks

a) The brains of children with ADHD are still developing.

b) Because ADHD is so much more common in boys than in girls, the findings would be too heavily gender biased.

c) Both the anatomical and behavioral differences in ADHD make it a more complex phenomenon to study than neglect or Bálint's syndrome.

d) ADHD is primarily a sensory issue.

c) Both the anatomical and behavioral differences in ADHD make it a more complex phenomenon to study than neglect or Bálint's syndrome.

If a patient were demonstrating characteristics of unilateral neglect, which of the following would best explain the patient's symptoms?

a) Right hemisphere structures contain a full map of visual space, whereas left hemisphere structures contain only a map of contralateral space.

b) Right hemisphere structures contain a full map of visual space, whereas left hemisphere structures contain only a map of ipsilateral space

c) Left hemisphere structures contain a full map of visual space, whereas right hemisphere structures contain only a map of contralateral space.

d) Left hemisphere structures contain a full map of visual space, whereas right hemisphere structures contain only a map of ipsilateral space.

a) Right hemisphere structures contain a full map of visual space, whereas left hemisphere structures contain only a map of contralateral space.

Attention can be divided into two broad categories:

a) voluntary and reflexive

b) major and minor

c) cortical and subcortical

d) neglect and extension

a) voluntary and reflexive

Patients with neglect have deficits in _________ attention and those with Bálint’s syndrome have deficits in _________ attention.

a) scene-based; object-based

b) kinesthetic; visual

c) visual; kinesthetic

d) object-based; scene-based

a) scene-based; object-based

In one of the earliest studies of visual attention, Helmholtz (1894) constructed a screen on which letters were painted at various distances from the center. Following a brief illumination, he found that

a) he could remember all the letters on the screen if he scanned the screen with his eyes prior to the brief illumination.

b) he could perceive letters located within the focus of his attention better than letters outside, even when his eyes remained at the center of the screen.

c) he could remember all the letters on the screen, demonstrating that visual iconic memory increases in capacity with attentional focus.

d) he could perceive letters located within the focus of his attention better than letters outside, but only if he moved his eyes to bring the letters to the center of his visual field.

b) he could perceive letters located within the focus of his attention better than letters outside, even when his eyes remained at the center of the screen.

________ is the idea that a stimulus does not have to be completely analyzed before it can be either selected for further processing or rejected as irrelevant.

a) Sensory arousal

b) Early selection

c) Dichotic perception

d) Late selection

b) Early selection

In dichotic listening studies, it has been found that a participant usually notices when his or her own name is embedded in the ignored channel. This finding is considered evidence that

a) selection occurs early in perceptual processing.

b) there is a separate cognitive system for name recognition.

c) recognition of familiar stimuli does not require attention.

d) selection occurs late in perceptual processing.

d) selection occurs late in perceptual processing.

The Posner spatial cuing task (1980) showed that cuing participants to the location of an upcoming target

a) failed to affect either reaction time or detection accuracy.

b) failed to affect reaction time but did increase detection accuracy

c) decreased reaction time to detect the target.

d) increased reaction time to detect the target.

c) decreased reaction time to detect the target.

Results of the Posner spatial cuing task (1980) showed that cuing participants to the location of an upcoming target decreased their reaction time to detect it because attention enhanced perceptual processing for the target. This finding is most consistent with ________ models of attention.

a) early selection

b) late selection

c) bottleneck

d) gating

a) early selection

You are working diligently in the chemistry laboratory when suddenly a small explosion occurs in the rear of the room, immediately and automatically capturing your attention. This is an example of

a) voluntary orienting

b) controlled processing

c) exogenous cueing

d) inhibition of return

c) exogenous cueing

You are looking for a friend who is supposed to meet you in a crowded lecture hall. You know that she is wearing a grey sweatshirt and glasses. Which kind of visual search best describes this situation?

a) feature search

b) conjunction search

c) pop-out search

d) parallel search

b) conjunction search

Visual search for ________ targets requires the use of selective attention, whereas visual search for ________ targets can occur without sequential attention.

a) pop-out; feature

b) conjunction; feature

c) pop-out; conjunction

d) feature; conjunction

b) conjunction; feature

Visual search is slowest when

a) the focus of attention is driven by the sensory information.

b) the number of distracters in the display is large.

c) the focus of attention is driven by voluntary, controlled search.

d) the number of features in the display is large.

c) the focus of attention is driven by voluntary, controlled search.

You are chasing a tennis ball that has been hit away from you. Which of the following brain areas is least involved in tracking that stimulus?

a) the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

b) the inferotemporal cortex

c) the parietal lobe

d) V1

a) the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

In general, it could be said that ___________________ areas tend to be involved with the control of attention, whereas __________________ areas are affected by attention.

a) sensory processing; frontal and parietal

b) frontal and parietal; sensory processing

c) sensory processing; temporal and parietal

d) subcortical; parietal and frontal

b) frontal and parietal; sensory processing

Unilateral spatial neglect typically results from damage to the left temporal lobe.

a) True

b) False

b) False

Models of late selection hypothesize that attended and ignored inputs are processed equivalently by the perceptual system, reaching a stage of semantic analysis.

a) True

b) False

a) True

Spatial attention to one hemifield leads to increased neural activity in the fusiform gyrus in the ipsilateral hemisphere.

a) True

b) False

b) False

When spatial attention is introduced to one stimulus in a spatial array, simultaneous presentation of competing stimuli interferes less compared to the absence of spatial attention.

a) True

b) False

a) True

Extrastriate cortical regions specialized for the processing of color, form, and motion are modulated by visual attention to these stimulus features.

a) True

b) False

a) True