2 attention

• What is one possible definition of attention?

  The ability to focus mental resources
• What does selective attention help us do?

  Simplify our experience of the world by paying attention to one particular stimulus
• Why is selective attention beneficial?

  It gives control over which stimuli receive attention
• What is the classic example of selective attention?

  Dichotic listening task
• What is inattentional blindness?

  Failure to process unattended information
• What are the types of attention mentioned?

  Overt, covert, selective, divided
• What is overt attention?

  Shifting the eyes from one place to another
• What is stimulus salience?

  A bottom-up process driven by the stimulus
• What happens during attentional capture?

  Attention is drawn involuntarily by stimuli
• What influences our eye movements and scanning?

  Our goals, expectations, and knowledge
• What is covert attention?

  Attention directed without eye movement
• What are the two types of selection in covert attention?

  Top-down and bottom-up selection
• What do valid and invalid trials indicate in covert attention studies?

  Response times differ based on cue validity
• What is controlled processing?

  Conscious use of attention and effort
• What is automatic processing?

  Fast processing without conscious effort
• How does learning a task typically begin?

  With lots of conscious processing initially
• What happens to brain activity during automatic processing?

  Brain areas for conscious thought become less active
• What is the difference in search speed for single feature vs. conjunction searches?

  Single feature search is rapid and effortless
• What did Treisman & Gelade (1980) argue about search processes?

  One uses parallel processing, the other serial processing
• What brain area is involved in the posterior attention network?

  Parietal lobe
• What is (hemi)neglect?

  A disorder of visual attention
• What happens to stimuli in the visual field opposite to the damage in neglect?

  They remain undetected by the patient
• What did Vuilleumier et al. (2002) find about neglect patients?

  Some processing of left visual field stimuli occurs
• What is ADHD?

  A developmental disorder affecting children
• What are the main symptoms of ADHD?

  Difficulty maintaining focus and impulsivity
• What factors contribute to ADHD according to recent studies?

  Genetic basis and environmental factors
• What are the key findings regarding attention networks in the brain?

  • Posterior attention network: Parietal lobe, visual search
  • Anterior attention network: Frontal lobe, inhibiting responses