PSYCH 3220 Exam 2 Unit 4: Visual Attention

what is attention

the process of selectively processing some sensory information over other information

what is overt attention, and how can it be measured

attention accompanied by moving the eyes to a new location. it can be measured with eye tracking

what is covert attention, and how can it be measured

shifting attention without moving eyes. it can be measured by changes in reaction time

what is selective attention

focusing on some stimuli while ignoring others

what is the cocktail party effect

the ability to focus on one stimulus, such as one voice, while filtering out other stimuli

how do early and late selection models differ

early selection models place the attention filter before perceptual analysis. lat selection models place it after perceptual analysis

what does broadbent’s filter model propose

attention filters incoming information early, before its meaning is fully analyzed

how do researchers study eye movements while people view a scene

with eye tracking

what factors influence where we look in a scene

visual salience, involuntary attentional capture, our interests and goals, task demands, and whether something conflicts with our expectations for the scene

what is visual salience

a feature that makes a stimulus stand out and attract attention, such as bright color, high contrast, or a different orientation

what is attentional capture

an involuntary shift of attention caused by a salient stimulus, such as something moving

how do top-down and bottom-up attention differ

top-down is guided by goals and thought. bottom-up is drawn by something in the environment

what is precueing

giving a cue to direct attention to a location where a target is likely to appear. responses are usually faster when attention is cued

what is the same-object advantage

responding is faster when a target appears within the same object as the cued location, even is the eyes are looking elsewhere

what did O’Craven and colleagues (1999) ask participants to attend to

a face or a house shown superimposed with the other image, one image was moving while the other was still

what did O’Craven and colleagues find about attention and brain activity

attending to a face increased activity in the FFA, attending to a house increased activity in the PPA, attending to the moving image increased activity in MT/MST, areas important for motion perception

what is the dorsal attention network (DAN) associated with

voluntary, top-down, goal-directed, and visuospatial attention

which brain areas are listed as part of the DAN

the frontal eye fields, intraparietal sulcus (IPS), and superior parietal lobule (SPL)

what is the ventral attention network (VAN) associated with

bottom-up attention to novel or salient stimuli. primarily right-lateralized

which brain areas are listed as part of the VAN

the temporoparietal junction (TPJ), middle temporal gyrus (MTG), and ventral frontal cortex (VFC)

how do researchers study which brain areas are active during attention tasks

they can use task-based fMRI while participants perform attention tasks and infer which areas are active

what question does corollary discharge theory address

how we tell whether an image moved because our eyes moved or because the object itself moved

what are the three signals in corollary discharge theory

Motor Signal (MS), Corollary discharge signal (CDS), image displacement signal (IDS)

motor signal (MS)

the eye-movement command

corollary discharge signal (CDS)

a copy of that command sent to a proposed comparator

image displacement signal (IDS)

a retinal signal that an image moved across the retina

what does the comparator conclude form the signals

if its receives either CDS or IDS, movement is perceived. if it receives both, no movement is perceived

what is visual search

looking for a particular target among other items

how does feature search differ from conjunction search

feature search looks for one distinctive feature. conjunction search looks for a combination of features

what is an illusory conjunction

a mistaken pairing of features from different objects, such as seeing ones object’s color combined with another object’s shape

what is Treisman’s feature integration theory

the idea that basic features are registered separately, and focused attention helps combine them into a complete object. it helps explain illusory conjunctions

what is inattentional blindness

failing to notice a visible stimulus because attention is focused elsewhere even when looking directly at it

what did the Simons and Chabris (1999) “gorilla” study demonstrate

people focused on a task can miss an unexpected, visible event, such as someone in a gorilla suit

can experts experience inattentional blindness

yes. the notes describe a study in which expert observers reviewing radiology images sometimes missed hidden gorilla pictures

what is change blindness

difficulty noticing a difference between two visual scenes shown one after another, often with a blank image in between

what is hemispatial inattention, or spatial neglect

a condition in which damage to one brain hemisphere -often the right- causes a person to neglect the opposite side of their visual world

what are examples or tests of spatial neglect

a person may eat from only one side of a plate or put makeup on only ones side of the face

which study is associated with cellphone-related distracted driving

Strayer and Johnston (2001)