Chapter 4 (COG 219)

Attention

The ability to focus on specific stimuli or locations.

Selective Attention

Attending to one thing while ignoring others.

Selective Attention

It implies withdrawal from some things in order to deal effectively with others.

Distraction

One stimulus interfering with the processing of another stimulus.

Divided Attention

Paying attention to more than one thing at a time.

Divided Attention

The distribution of attention among two or more tasks.

Attentional Capture

A rapid shifting of attention usually caused by a stimulus such as a loud noise

Visual Scanning

Movements of the eyes from one location or object to another.

Dichotic Listening

A technique where different stimuli are presented to the left and right ears.

Shadowing

The procedure in dichotic listening where a person repeats out loud the words they have just heard

Cocktail Party Effect

The ability to focus on one stimulus while filtering out other stimuli

Broadbent’s Filter Model of Attention

A model proposing that information passes through sensory memory

Broadbent’s Filter Model of Attention

An early selection model because the filter eliminates the unattended information right at the beginning of the flow of information.

Sensory Memory (in Broadbent's model)

Holds all of the incoming information for a fraction of a second and then transfers all of it to the filter.

Filter (in Broadbent's model)

Identifies the message that is being attended to based on its physical characteristics—things like the speaker’s tone of voice

Detector (in Broadbent's model)

Processes the information from the attended message to determine higher-level characteristics of the message

Early Selection Model

A model (like Broadbent's or Treisman's) proposing that a filter operates at an early stage in the flow of information to eliminate or reduce unattended information.

Attenuator

A component in Treisman's modification of Broadbent’s model that analyzes the incoming message in terms of its physical characteristics

Treisman’s Attenuation Model

A model where selection occurs in two stages

Leaky Filter Model

A term for Treisman’s attenuation model because both attended messages (at full strength) and unattended messages (attenuated/weaker) pass through the attenuator.

Dictionary Unit

The second stage of processing in Treisman’s attenuation model

it contains words

stored in memory

Threshold (in Dictionary Unit)

The smallest signal strength that can barely be detected.

Threshold (in Dictionary Unit)

Common or important words

Late Selection Models

Theories proposing that most of the incoming information is processed to the level of meaning before the message to be further processed is selected.

Processing Capacity

The amount of information people can handle and sets a limit on their ability to process incoming information.

Perceptual Load

Related to the difficulty of a task

low-load tasks use a small amount of processing capacity

while high-load tasks use more.

Load Theory of Attention

Explains that distraction is less likely for high-load tasks because no processing capacity remains to process task-irrelevant stimuli.

Stroop Effect

Occurs because the names of the words cause a competing response and therefore slow responding when the task is to name the color of the ink.

Stroop Effect

It illustrates that highly practiced

Central Vision

The area a person is looking at

Peripheral Vision

Everything off to the side of where a person is looking.

Fovea

A small area on the retina where objects in central vision fall

Fixation

A brief pause made when aiming the fovea at an object during scanning.

Saccadic Eye Movement

A rapid

Overt Attention

Shifting attention from one place to another by moving the eyes

Stimulus Salience

The physical properties of the stimulus

Bottom-up Process (in scanning)

Capturing attention based solely on the physical properties of the stimulus

Saliency Map

A map created by analyzing characteristics like color

Scene Schemas

An observer’s knowledge about what is contained in typical scenes

“Just in Time” Strategy

Eye movements occur just before we need the information they will provide.

Covert Attention

Shifting attention "in the mind" without making eye movements

the attentional shift can’t be seen by observing the person.

Precueing

A general experimental procedure used to determine whether a cue indicating where a test stimulus will appear enhances the processing of the target stimulus.

Same-Object Advantage

Faster responding that occurs when the enhancing effect of attention spreads throughout an entire object

Attentional Warping

The effect where looking for a particular category of objects shifts brain responding to that category and related things

Automatic Processing

A type of processing that occurs without intention and at a cost of only some of a person’s cognitive resources

Experience Sampling

A method developed to determine “what percentage of the time during the day are people engaged in a specific behavior?”.

Mind Wandering

Thoughts coming from within

Mind Wandering

It is highly prevalent and can disrupt ongoing tasks that require focused attention.

Default Mode Network (DMN)

The neural network that becomes activated when a person is not involved in a task and is usually associated with mind wandering.

Inattentional Blindness

Occurs when people are unaware of clearly visible stimuli if they aren’t directing their attention to them.

Inattentional Deafness

Focusing on a difficult visual task results in impaired hearing

an example of inattentional effects occurring across vision and hearing.

Change Detection

A procedure where one picture is presented followed by another picture

Change Blindness

The difficulty or inability to detect changes in scenes

Binding

The process by which features such as color

Binding Problem

The question of how an object’s individual features become bound together to create a unified perception.

Feature Integration Theory (FIT)

Treisman's theory explaining binding by proposing two stages of processing: the preattentive stage and the focused attention stage.

Preattentive Stage

The first stage of FIT

features of objects are analyzed independently

automatically

Focused Attention Stage

The second stage of FIT

Illusory Conjunctions

Combinations of features from two different stimuli (e.g.

Illusory Conjunctions

They occur because features are “free floating” in the preattentive stage when attention is divided or absent.

Balint’s Syndrome

A condition resulting from parietal lobe damage characterized by an inability to focus attention on individual objects.

Feature Search

A visual search task where the target can be found by looking for a single feature (e.g.

Conjunction Search

A visual search task where the target must be found by searching for a combination (or conjunction) of two or more features (e.g.

it requires attention focused on a specific location.

Ventral Attention Network

A neural network that controls attention based primarily on stimulus salience (bottom-up processing).

Dorsal Attention Network

A neural network that controls attention based on top-down processes

Effective Connectivity

Refers to how easily activity can travel along a particular pathway between different areas in a network

Synchronization

A suggested mechanism for changing effective connectivity

Local Field Potential (LFP)

A signal recorded by small disc electrodes placed on the surface of the brain

Executive Attention Network

A neural network responsible for executive functions

Executive Functions

A range of processes that involve controlling attention and dealing with conflicting responses