0010 Reisberg Attention Gaps

Which brain region's damage causes unilateral neglect of the left side of space?

The right parietal lobe

How do neglect patients' clock drawings and word reading support a space-based account of attention?

They jam all 12 clock numbers into the right side and read only the right halves of words ("BOTHER"→"OTHER", "CARROT"→"ROT") — attention is biased toward one region of space

What was the invisible gorilla demonstration (Simons & Chabris)?

Participants counting basketball passes by the white-shirted team mostly failed to see a gorilla walk through the scene — a cost of selective attention

In Moray (1959), what proportion of shadowing participants heard their own name in the unattended ear?

About one-third

What is the flicker paradigm (Rensink, O'Regan & Clark, 1997)?

Image pairs separated by a blank interval and differing in one detail — observers often fail to detect the change; a standard change-blindness method

How does Reisberg explain inattentional blindness in terms of priming?

An unexpected stimulus goes unnoticed because its detectors were never primed; one's own name "leaks" through because prior exposure keeps its detectors primed

What does Gilbert's "All Is Vanity" illusion show about the attentional spotlight?

A narrow beam reveals the woman, a wide beam reveals the skull — the spotlight can widen, narrow, and move

What three steps does the orienting system perform (Posner & Rothbart, 2007)?

Disengage from the current focus, shift to the new location, then engage

What three factors guide where we direct the attentional spotlight?

Visual prominence (Parkhurst, Law & Niebur, 2002), personal interest, and beliefs/predictability (Brewer & Treyens, 1981; Friedman, 1979; Võ & Henderson, 2009)

Distinguish space-based from object-based attention.

Space-based: attention is directed to a region of space. Object-based: attention locks onto an object and moves with it (Behrmann & Tipper, 1999)

What is Reisberg's two-part account of attending to space vs. objects?

A spatially defined bias plus object-based attention — both operate together

Distinguish the dorsal from the ventral attention system.

Dorsal attention system: spatial. Ventral attention system: nonspatial

According to the interim summary, what does attention focus on first?

Spatial position — then it shifts to objects once the input begins

Why is Lamble et al. (1999) cited as evidence for general attentional resources?

A cell-phone conversation — a task dissimilar to driving — still impaired driving, so even non-overlapping tasks compete for general resources

What did Murphy & Greene (2016) find about perceptual load and driving?

A difficult judgment (whether a car fit between parked cars) made drivers less likely to notice an unexpected pedestrian

Distinguish the "energy supply" from the "mental tools" accounts of attentional resources.

Energy supply (Kahneman, 1973; Eysenck, 1982; Lavie, 2001, 2005): attention is a general pool of energy. Mental tools (Allport, 1989; Baddeley, 1986; Norman & Shallice, 1986): attention is a set of specialized mechanisms

Why is Phineas Gage relevant to executive control?

His frontal-lobe damage impaired executive control — keeping goals in mind, organizing mental steps, shifting strategy

What two mechanisms does selective attention require?

A distractor-blocking mechanism and stimulus-promoting mechanisms

What is automaticity (Shiffrin & Schneider, 1977)?

Well-practiced tasks run with little or no executive control — like mental reflexes

In Figure 5.21, why is naming ink colors easy for nonsense syllables like ZYP and QLEKF?

There is no automatic reading habit for nonsense syllables to interfere with color naming — Stroop interference comes from the automatic reading response

What does the "I Can't Ignore…" box demonstrate about resource overlap?

A nearby conversation distracts reading because both use language resources; instrumental music doesn't compete

What is "crosstalk" in divided attention?

When similar tasks are combined, they can blur together

What is a fixation target?

The point participants are instructed to fixate in inattentional-blindness paradigms (e.g., the dot in Mack & Rock, 1998)