Chapter 5: Paying Attention

According to the early selection hypothesis, unattended input receives (1)___ analysis; it (2)___ then perceived. According to the late selection hypothesis, unattended input receives (3)___ analysis; selection occurs (4)___ the analysis is finished.

(1) little to no (2) Is not (3) complete (4) after

Dr. Prime is conducting an experiment on spatial attention. He has his participants watch a computer screen and press the spacebar as soon as a letter appears. The letter can appear on the right or left side of the screen, but participants are required to keep their eyes pointed at a fixation mark at the center of the screen. Before each letter, participants are given a cue that a letter is about to appear. For some trials, the cue indicates the location of the upcoming letter with an arrow. On 20% of those trials, the arrow is misleading. Place each of these trials in order from the fastest response time to the slowest response time.

(1.) The arrow points right and a "G" appears on the right side. (2.) A neutral warning appears without an arrow. (3.) The arrow points right but the "K" appears on the left.

Raphael is participating in an experiment on spatial attention in which he must press a key every time that he sees a letter on the computer screen. Before each target letter is presented, he is told whether it will be at the top or bottom of the screen. Sometimes, though, this location cue is incorrect (e.g., the cue indicates the top of the screen, but the target appears at the bottom). For these trials in which the cue is misleading, place these events in order as they occur.

1. expectation-based priming 2. shift in attention to the location of the target. 3. Movement of the eyes to the location of the target

Imagine that a soccer ball rolls past you. During the (1) , you will process the colors, the shape, the direction of its movement, its speed, et cetera. How do you ultimately perceive a soccer ball instead of black + white + sphere + moving, though? This question is referred to as the (2)

1. preattentive stage 2. binding problem

In one study, an investigator approached pedestrians on a college campus and asked for directions. During the conversation, two men carrying a door approached and deliberately walked between the investigator and the research participant. As a result, the investigator was momentarily hidden (by the door) from the participant's view; in that moment, he traded places with one of the men carrying the door. The investigator was thus able to walk away, unseen, while the new fellow (who had been carrying the door) stayed behind and continued the conversation with the participant. What was the outcome of this study?

Approximately half of the participants failed to notice the switch.

What can we conclude from the data?

Can Conclude Americans and Japanese participants initially focused on the central figure. Cultural differences in attention can emerge very quickly when viewing scenes. Cannot Conclude Americans and Japanese participants attend similarly to the central figure and background figures. Cultural differences determine how one can think.

Dr. Kühler is using the Stroop task to study the automaticity of reading. He explains to his participants that they should name aloud the ink color in which each item is presented to them as quickly as they can. Which column of items is likely to prove the most challenging for Dr. Kühler's participants?

Column B

Which of these students will likely have a relatively easy time multitasking and which will likely have a relatively difficult time?

Easy Multitasking: - Morris likes to read for his German Literature course while listening to classical music. - Tabitha is trying to finish a crocheted scarf for her best friend's birthday next week, so she is working on it during her lectures. Difficult Multitasking: - Toni is participating in her remote lecture via her cell phone while driving. - Anika is trying to brainstorm a design for her architecture course while rearranging the furniture in her room.

What can we learn about attention from studies of patients with unilateral neglect syndrome?

Correct Answer(s) Attention is object-based. Attention is space-based. Incorrect Answer(s) Exogenous control of attention is space-based but not endogenous control. Attention is space-based in healthy individuals but object-based following damage.

Aldo has been diagnosed with unilateral neglect syndrome following damage to his right parietal lobe. Which of these behaviors will Aldo likely demonstrate?

Correct Answer(s) He will read "parrot" as "rot" and "tripod" as "pod." If asked to draw a face from memory, he will likely leave the left portion of the face relatively blank. Incorrect Answer(s) If he is watching his cat walk around his living room, he will lose sight of it when it crosses into his left visual space. He will only eat food from the left side of his plate.

Participants were instructed to point their eyes at the dot—the fixation target—and make judgments about the "+" that was shown off to the side. At one point in the task, the fixation target briefly changed from a dot to another shape. What did participants notice about this change?

Correct Answer(s) If participants weren't warned about this change, they failed to detect it entirely. Incorrect Answer(s) When told about the change to the fixation target, participants were able to guess what the change had been (e.g., from a dot to a triangle). They only noticed if the dot changed to a cross because then it looked like the target "+."

Which of these characteristics are true of inattentional blindness?

Correct Answer(s) It is a consequence of diminished attention. It results in perceptual failures. Incorrect Answer(s) Cases of inattentional blindness are fairly rare. It is a consequence of diminished sight.

In which of these cases will the individual likely experience interference?

Correct Answer(s) Malik just got his driver's license. He turns the radio up while driving, excited to finally be able to get around town on his own. Amalia is talking on the phone to her friend while she waits for her number to be called at the DMV. Incorrect Answer(s) Janice has been working as a cashier at the local grocery store for two years. While she enters the item codes for customers' various produce items, she chats with the customers and her coworkers. Christa is listening to music via headphones while shopping for a new outfit.

Participants in one study were shown a series of images, each containing a pair of horizontal lines. Their task was to decide which line was longer. For the first three trials, the background dots were arranged randomly: In the fourth trial, the dots were arranged to reproduce the Müller-Lyer illusion: Which of these statements about the results of this study are true?

Correct Answer(s) Participants judged the top horizontal line to be longer in the fourth trial. Participants were influenced by the background stimuli. Incorrect Answer(s) The results of this study provide evidence for the early selection hypothesis. Participants consciously perceived the "fins" in the fourth trial image.

Executive control is important for which of these behaviors?

Correct Answer(s) organizing mental steps into appropriate sequences adjusting strategies keeping current goals in mind Incorrect Answer(s) executing habits

Participants in one study were shown the picture in the top left. Each of the other panels shows a three-minute recording of one viewer's eye movements while inspecting the picture. The labels for each panel summarize the viewer's goal while looking at the picture. Which of these factors may explain the pattern of movements and how they change across the goals?

Correct Answer(s) the importance of different elements in the scene the participant's interest in the scene the participant's gender the participant's culture the prominence of different parts of the photo

Indicate whether these characteristics are true of repetition priming, of expectation-driven priming, or of both forms of priming.

Expectation-driven priming deliberate costly Both Facilitates perception Repetition Priming requires no resources occurs from frequent or recent use

The feature integration theory describes two successive stages of processing: a preattentive stage and a focused attention stage. Identify each of these items as being characteristic of the preattentive or focused attention stage.

Focused Attention: Slow Required for a visual search for a target defined by more than one feature Preattentive: Sufficient for a visual search for a target defined by one feature. Fast and Efficient.

Place these processing stages in order according to the feature integration theory.

Parallel processing of features in the display focused processing of individual stimuli

Participants in one study viewed a video in which a team of players in white shirts passed a basketball back and forth, while a team of players in black shirts passes a different basketball back and forth. Participants were instructed to keep track of how many times the white-shirted players pass the ball and ignore the black-shirted players. Which of these events occurred while participants completed the task?

Participants fail to notice the gorilla that strolls through the scene.

How is a spotlight analogous to spatial attention? Match the elements of a spotlight that parallel elements of spatial attention. Note that not every item will have a match.

The focus of the beam: - Whether one is paying attention to details or the larger scene Movement of the spotlight beam: - Movement of attention Where the spotlight beam is directed: - where attention is directed

Which of these statements about driving and cell-phone use is NOT true?

The negative effect of cell-phone use on driving is significantly reduced by using a hands-free device.

Select any errors in this passage. If there are no errors, select the "No Errors" button.

The term automaticity describes tasks that are well-practiced and *difficult* to control. In many cases, automatized actions can be combined with other activities without interference. *was easy

What is generally true of practiced tasks?

True can become habitual they can be difficult to inhibit False will require more resources makes divided attention more difficult

Dr. Parler is conducting an experiment using a dichotic listening task. He instructs participants to shadow the audio playing in their left ears while ignoring the audio in their right ears. In their left ears, participants hear, "You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality," spoken by a man. In their right ears, participants hear, "Heloise long ago reconciled herself to the idea that all is fair in love and war," spoken by a woman. Which of these statements will Dr. Parler's participants most likely report?

Will Report "The speaker said, 'You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality.'" "A man was speaking in my left ear." "The speaker in my right ear was a woman." Will Not Report "The speaker said, 'Heloise long ago reconciled herself to the idea that all is fair in love and war.'" "The speaker in my right ear said the name Heloise."

Which of these items are you least likely to notice?

a small cartoon gorilla in an image of a lung X-ray

The skill through which a person performs multiple tasks simultaneously is referred to as

divided attention

Identify each of these scenarios as a demonstration of endogenous control of attention or exogenous control of attention.

endogenous control Kena has a long list of chores to finish. For now, though, she is focused on the laundry. Cameron is at a party with lots of people. He is doing his best to ignore the other conversations around him so that he can focus on the conversation he is having with his classmate. exogenous control Austin is trying to read his textbook in the living room, but his roommate is playing a video game with lots of flashing graphics. He keeps catching himself watching the game instead of studying. Mindy is driving on the highway. She suddenly hears the loud siren of an emergency vehicle behind her and quickly looks up at her rearview mirror.

The mechanism through which people choose where to focus their attention—often on the basis of some meaningful signal—is referred to as

endogenous control of attention.

The mechanism through which attention is automatically directed to some "attention-grabbing" input—essentially as a reflex response—is referred to as

exogenous control of attention.

Identify each description as an example of inattentional blindness, change blindness, or neither.

inattentional blindness: Martha looked in the mirror at least a dozen times while getting dressed for work this morning, but she still failed to notice the pen stain on the front pocket of her blouse. You have been looking around the living room for 10 minutes for your keys. Your roommate walks by and picks them up off the coffee table that was right in front of you the whole time. neither Your roommate marches into your room, annoyed that the neighbor has been playing her saxophone while he was trying to study. Now that he has said something you hear the saxophone, but you hadn't noticed it earlier. change blindness Dillon is watching the movie Spiderman. He fails to notice a lamp that Peter Parker (a.k.a. Spiderman) just broke is fully intact mere seconds later in the scene. While reading a magazine, Jerome comes across a "Can you spot the difference?" game, but he can't see how the two images differ from each other.

change blindness

refers to a pattern in which perceivers either do not see or take a long time to see alterations in a visual stimulus at which they are directly looking.

Jake is participating in a research study. The experimenter is timing how quickly he can complete a series of visual search tasks. In this trial, he has been asked to find the red vertical line. We can explain how he will find this target using the feature integration theory and expectation-based priming. Which of these statements is NOT an accurate part of this explanation?

searching during the focused attention stage will rely on repetition priming from prior trials.

The skill through which a person focuses on one input or task while ignoring other stimuli that are also on the scene is referred to as

selective attention