Cognition - Chapter 4

In the context of perception, what are Gestalt Laws?

rules that describe how we organize individual elements into meaningful wholes

What physical regularity describes our increased sensitivity to horizontal and vertical lines compared to angled ones?

the oblique effect

Which physical regularity allows us to perceive depth and shape based on the standard position of light sources?

the light-form-above assumption

In perception, what term refers to our knowledge of what is typically found in a specific type of scene?

scene schema (semantic regularities)

According to Bayesian inference, what is the 'prior'?

our initial belief about the probability of an outcome

In Bayesian inference, what does the “likelihood” represent?

the extent to which available evidence is consistent with a specific outcome

What is the “posterior” in the context of Bayesian inference?

the final estimate of the probability of an outcome, calculated from the prior and likelihood

Our ability to process information is _____

capacity limited

What is the core definition of experience-dependent plasticity?

the process through which the brain’s structure is changed by learning and experience

What physiological phenomenon did Hubel and Wiesel (1959; 1962) discover regarding V1 neurons?

orientation selectivity (neurons responding to specific angles of (light/bars)

What is the fundamental purpose of attention according to the source material?

to focus on one or a few things while ignoring background information

Attention that is consciously controlled and intentional is known as _____ attention

voluntary (or volitional)

What is involuntary attention?

attention that is automatically captured by external stimuli without conscious intent

What characterizes 'overt' attention?

physically shifting the eyes or head to look directly at a stimulus

What characterizes 'covert' attention?

mentally focusing on a stimulus without moving the eyes (the 'mental spotlight')

Attention driven by external environmental stimuli is called _____ attention

exogenous (external)

Attention driven by internal goals or knowledge is called _____ attention

endogenous (internal)

What is selective attention?

the ability to focus on one specific message or stimulus while ignoring all others

What is divided attention?

the ability to distribute attention across multiple tasks or messages simultaneously

On what basis does Broadbent’s Filter Model (1958) filter information?

physical properties (e.g., pitch of voice, location)

Why is Broadbent's model considered an 'Early Selection Model'?

it filters out irrelevant info before the meaning or content is analyzed

What is a major criticism of Broadbent's Early Selection Model?

it cannot explain how important information in the unattended ear (like one’s name) can be processed

In MacKay’s (1973) experiment, what happened when the word 'money' was played in the unattended ear while the participant heard 'They threw stones at the bank'?

the participant interpreted 'bank' as a financial institution, despite not being aware of the word 'money'

What are the two main components of Lavie’s Load Theory of attention?

mental capacity (resource) and task load (difficulty)

According to Load Theory, how does a 'High Load' task affect distraction from irrelevant stimuli?

it decreases distraction because most cognitive resources are used by the difficult task

According to Load Theory, why do 'Low Load' tasks result in higher distraction costs?

remaining resources are automatically used to process irrelevant/unattended stimuli

What is “automaticity” in cognitive processing?

the ability to perform tasks without intention and with minimal attentional resources

How does automaticity affect the 'pool' of mental resources?

automatic processes do not drain the pool of available resources

Does automatic processing occur in serial or in parallel?

in parallel

Which model of attention describes a mental focusing mechanism that can be moved independent of eye movements?

attention as a spotlight

The 'Monkey Business Illusion' by Daniel Simons is an example of what attentional phenomenon?

inattentional blindness (failing to see visible objects when attention is directed elsewhere)

William James stated that our experience is defined by what?

what we agree to attend to

In terms of attention, what is a “bottleneck”?

a mechanism that limits the flow of information to prevent processing overload

The ability to talk to a friend in a loud cafeteria while ignoring other conversations is known as the _____

cocktail party effect

True or False: Automatic processes reveal themselves to conscious awareness

false

In the MacKay (1973) study, which group preferred the interpretation 'They threw stones at the river yesterday'?

group 1, who heard “water” in the unattended ear

In the context of attention as a resource, 'task difficulty' is synonymous with _____

load

What happens to 'unattended stimulus processing' when task difficulty is low?

it increases because there are remaining resources available to process it

The 'Ventral' stream is also known as the _____ pathway

perception

The 'Dorsal' stream is also known as the _____ pathway

action

Gestalt Laws are often referred to as 'heuristics' because they are _____

mental shortcuts that provide a “best guess” solution to perception

In the orientation selectivity graph, at what angle (in degrees) does the neural response peak?

0 degrees

V1 physiology research by Hubel and Wiesel suggests that neurons respond to stimulus _____

orientation (or angle)

Semantic regularities in perception are primarily influenced by our _____ of a scene

meaning (or context)

The three main metaphors for attention provided in the lecture are a filter, a mental resource, and a _____

spotlight

Attentional filtering occurs ____

early

Agnosia typically involves damage to the _____ lobe

inferior temporal

Ataxia typically involves damage to the _____ lobe

parietal

Treisman's counter-evidence to Broadbent focused on the processing of _____ in the unattended ear

meaning (or content)

What is the name of the theory that balances mental capacity and task difficulty?

Lavie’s Load Theory of Attention

A process that occurs without conscious intent is defined as being _____

automatic

In 'Overt' attention, shifting focus involves moving the _____

eyes (and/or head)

Which researcher is associated with the 'Greebles' study on experience-dependent plasticity?

Gauthier (1999)

Broadbent’s Filter Model is also referred to as a _____ model

bottleneck

According to the lecture, our ability to process information is _____

limited

What type of attention allows us to focus on a speaker's voice in a noisy room?

selective attention

In perception, what type of regularity is the 'oblique effect'?

physical regularity

Scene schema is an example of a _____ regularity

semantic

Hubel and Wiesel's research was conducted in which year(s)?

1959 and 1962

Who conducted the 1970 study on orientation-deprived kittens?

Blakemore and Cooper

In the FFA activation study, what was the status of participants before Greeble training?

novices

What are the 3 primary metaphors of attention discussed in the material?

1. attention as a filter (bottleneck)

2. a mental resource (capacity/load)

3. a spotlight

How does the 'mental resource' metaphor describe the nature of attention?

it views attention as a limited pool of capacity that can be drained by cognitive load

Which metaphor suggests that attention can be moved to different locations in the visual field like a beam of light?

attention as a spotlight

In the mental resource metaphor, what is the defining characteristic of 'controlled attention'?

it drains the pool of available attentional resources

How do 'automatic processes' affect the pool of mental resources?

they do not drain the pool of resources

Does an automatic process require conscious intention to occur?

no, it occurs without intention