Deck 7: Attention and Scene Perception

Question 1

Attention is generally thought of as

A) consisting of a single locus in the brain.
B) consisting of a family of selection mechanisms.
C) consisting of a big filter.
D) the perception of many small objects.
E) the power to focus on two things at once.

Answer 1

consisting of a family of selection mechanisms.

Question 2

There is more information in the world than we can process at once. What do you call processing some information at the expense of other information?

A) Sensation
B) Perception
C) Attention
D) Recognition
E) Memory

Answer 2

Attention

Question 3

_______ attention involves restricting processing to a subset of the possible stimuli.

A) Covert
B) Overt
C) Divided
D) Selective
E) Sustained

Answer 3

Selective

Question 4

When measuring reaction time (RT), we measure the

A) time from the onset of a stimulus to a response.
B) time before the stimulus appears.
C) time between the end of one trial and the beginning of the next.
D) total time it takes for a subject to complete the experiment.
E) total number of correct trials.

Question 5

A _______ is a stimulus that might indicate where (or what) a subsequent stimulus might be.

A) probe
B) set
C) cue
D) distractor
E) target

Question 6

When you watch TV you can determine the length of a commercial break by measuring the time the commercials begin until your TV show resumes. What are you measuring?

A) Set size
B) Stimulus onset asynchrony
C) Reaction time
D) Inhibition of return
E) Search slope

Question 7

SOA refers to

A) stimulus onset asynchrony.
B) stimulus of action.
C) switching of attention.
D) sets of asynchronies.
E) signs of optimal attention.

Question 8

This is the amount of time that passes between the appearance of one stimulus to the appearance of a second stimulus.

A) Stimulus Duration (SD)
B) Interstimulus Interval (ISI)
C) Response Time (RT)
D) Stimulus Onset Asynchrony (SOA)
E) 100 ms

Question 9

The _______ is the period of time between the onset of one stimulus and the onset of another.

A) inter-stimulus interval
B) lag
C) stimulus delay interval
D) duration
E) stimulus onset asynchrony

Question 10

Suppose you are at a party, standing by yourself for a moment. The group next to you is having an interesting conversation, full of gossip, and you are listening in. If you do not give any external signs that you are paying attention to their conversation, what kind of attention are you using?

A) Divided
B) Sustained
C) Overt
D) Covert
E) Internal

Question 11

In directing attention, an _______ cue is located out at the desired final location of attention.

A) extraordinary
B) endemic
C) exotic
D) endogenous
E) exogenous

Question 12

In directing attention, an _______ cue is located in or near the current location of attention.

A) extraordinary
B) endemic
C) exotic
D) endogenous
E) exogenous

Question 13

In a probe detection experiment, an invalid cue is a

A) cue that appears at the wrong time.
B) wrong choice by the subject.
C) cue that signals the wrong location of the target.
D) cue that signals the right location of the target but at the wrong time.
E) cue that does not appear.

Question 14

According to the _______ theory, attention moves from point to point.

A) visual search
B) spotlight of attention
C) zoom lens
D) selective attention
E) flashlight attention

Question 15

Suppose one evening you watch a beautiful sunset and take a photograph of it. Later, when you look at the picture, the sunset appears much smaller in the scene than you remember it. What theory of attention explains this discrepancy?

A) Divided attention
B) Spotlight of attention
C) Zoom lens of attention
D) Selective attention
E) Sustained attention

Question 16

Looking around a room and trying to find the coffee mug that you misplaced is an example of

A) visual search.
B) inhibition of return.
C) the RSVP paradigm.
D) divided attention.
E) depth perception.

Question 17

In visual search studies, a _______ is any stimulus other than the target.

A) set item
B) display item
C) cued object
D) distractor
E) filler

Question 18

Suppose you are picking up your friend from the airport. You watch people exit from the terminal while you search for your friend. In terms of visual search, your friend is the _______ and all the other people are _______.

A) stimulus; elements
B) distractor; targets
C) target; distractors
D) element; stimuli
E) stimulus; distractors

Question 19

The number of items in the display in a visual search experiment is referred to as the

A) parameter of the experiment.
B) experimental display.
C) set size.
D) count.
E) complexity.

Question 20

If you look for a red delicious apple among green granny smith apples and red tomatoes, what kind of visual search are you conducting?

A) Feature
B) Conjunction
C) Spatial configuration
D) Pop-out
E) Non-selective

Question 21

Refer to the figure.
What types of search tasks are shown in the figure, from left to right?

A) Conjunction; spatial configuration; feature
B) Conjunction; feature; spatial configuration
C) Feature; conjunction; spatial configuration
D) Feature; spatial configuration; conjunction
E) Spatial configuration; conjunction; feature

Question 22

If you search for a yellow square among a bunch of blue squares, what is your RT * set size slope, approximately?

A) 0 ms/item
B) 10 ms/item
C) 20 ms/item
D) 30 ms/item
E) 40 ms/item

Question 23

In an "efficient" search, the slope of the function relating _______ time to set size is about 0 ms/item.

A) total
B) reaction
C) item display
D) subject's rest
E) accuracy

Question 24

In a _______ task, the target is defined by the presence of a single feature, or attribute, such as a salient color or orientation.

A) feature search
B) cueing
C) visual search
D) reaction time
E) conjunction search

Question 25

You're searching your bedroom for your lucky neon pink shirt, which is the only neon pink thing you own. What kind of search is that?

A) Spatial configuration search
B) Conjunction search
C) Feature search
D) Scene-based guidance
E) Serial search

Question 26

_______ refers to the vividness of a stimulus relative to its neighbors.

A) Salience
B) Uniqueness
C) Brightness
D) Intensity
E) Vibrancy

Question 27

Your lucky neon yellow shirt should be easy to find in your bedroom because its color is bright and distinct compared to your other clothing items. In other words, your neon yellow shirt has high

A) salience
B) conspicuity
C) sentimental value
D) feature strength
E) intensity value

Question 28

In a(n) _______ search, multiple stimuli are processed at the same time.

A) multidimensional
B) inefficient
C) spatial configuration
D) serial
E) parallel

Question 29

A _______ search proceeds from item to item, ending when the target is found.

A) looping
B) speed
C) real-world conjunction
D) serial self-terminating
E) feature

Question 30

A _______ search is a search for a target that is defined by the combination of two or more attributes (e.g., a big and yellow target among big blue and small yellow distractors).

A) salient
B) spatial configuration
C) serial self-terminating
D) feature
E) conjunction

Question 31

A _______ search is one in which attention can be restricted to a subset of possible items on the basis of information about the target item's basic features (e.g., its color).

A) spatial configuration
B) serial self-terminating
C) guided
D) salient
E) stimulus

Question 32

If you are searching for your car keys and you restrict your attention to horizontal surfaces near the front door, you are using

A) scene-based guidance.
B) a serial self-terminating search.
C) a feature search.
D) a conjunction search.
E) spatial configuration.

Question 33

According to Treisman's feature integration theory,

A) visual search depends on the construction of geons.
B) a limited set of features can be processed in parallel preattentively.
C) parallel processing is impossible.
D) the correct binding of features to objects does not require attention.
E) all feature processing is serial and self-terminating.

Question 34

_______ stage processing of a stimulus occurs before selective attention is deployed to that stimulus.

A) Search
B) Sensory registry
C) Attentive
D) Preparation
E) Preattentive

Question 35

The _______ problem refers to the challenge of tying different attributes of visual stimuli (e.g., color, orientation, motion), which are handled by different brain circuits, to the appropriate object so that we perceive a unified object (e.g., blue, horizontal, moving to the left).

A) conjunction
B) correspondence
C) connection
D) binding
E) unification

Question 36

Seeing a blue cup when the cupboard contains blue mugs and yellow cups, but no blue cups, is referred to as a(n)

A) visual search illusion.
B) illusory conjunction.
C) erroneous feature integration.
D) perceptual illusion.
E) perceptual fallacy.

Question 37

Which of the following is an experimental procedure in which stimuli appear in a stream in one location at a quick rate?

A) Spatiotemporal attention probe (STAP)
B) Reaction time (RT) analysis
C) Repetition blindness (RB)
D) Attentional blink (AB)
E) Rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP)

Question 38

The _______ is the difficulty in perceiving and responding to the second of two target stimuli amid a rapid stream of stimuli if the observer has responded to the first target stimulus within 200 to 500 ms before the second stimulus is presented.

A) attentional blink
B) spotlight challenge
C) illusory conjunction
D) stimulus processing difficulty
E) visual search illusion

Question 39

Research suggests that you could reduce the magnitude of your attentional blink by

A) studying perception.
B) meditating.
C) playing Tetris.
D) exercising.
E) playing action video games.

Question 40

Refer to the figure.
The figure depicts an attention phenomenon known as the

A) illusory conjunction.
B) attentional blink.
C) RSVP paradigm.
D) binding problem.
E) search performance deficit.

Question 41

Which of the following is not a way that the responses of a cell could be changed by attention?

A) Enhancement only
B) Sharper tuning only
C) Altered tuning only
D) Neurotransmitter change
E) Increased firing rate for attended stimuli

Question 42

The _______ is the brain area that responds preferentially to faces in fMRI studies.

A) reticular face formation (RFF)
B) striate cortex (SC)
C) hippocampal face analyzer (HFA)
D) fusiform face area (FFA)
E) temporal face area (TFA)

Question 43

The _______ is the brain area that responds preferentially to places in fMRI studies.

A) temporal place area (TPA)
B) striate cortex (SC)
C) parahippocampal place area (PPA)
D) fusiform place area (FPA)
E) parietal location region (PLR)

Question 44

During response enhancement, a neuron responding to an attended stimulus might have a _______ response.

A) bigger
B) smaller
C) slower
D) surprising
E) delayed

Question 45

Suppose you are looking at an image of a face superimposed on a house. What would we expect to happen in terms of neural activity if you are attending to the house?

A) The PPA becomes less active.
B) The PPA becomes more active.
C) The FFA becomes less active.
D) The FFA becomes more active.
E) Both the FFA and PPA become less active.

Question 46

Patients with _______ damage have problems directing attention to objects and places on their left.

A) right parietal lobe
B) left parietal lobe
C) right hippocampal
D) left hippocampal
E) right temporal

Question 47

If a male patient with right parietal lobe damage were to shave their face, what might happen?

A) They might shave the top half of their face but not the bottom.
B) They might shave the bottom half of their face but not the top.
C) They might shave the left side of their face but not their right.
D) They might shave the right side of their face but not their left.
E) They would shave their face with their left hand only.

Question 48

The "line cancellation test" is used to assess

A) visual field defects.
B) memory problems.
C) neglect.
D) occipital lobe damage.
E) temporal lobe damage.

Question 49

Refer to the figure.
This figure depicts what can happen when a patient with _______ tries to copy a drawing.

A) neglect
B) scotoma
C) a lesioned left temporal lobe
D) a lesioned left parietal lobe
E) a lesioned right temporal lobe

Question 50

_______ is a common childhood disorder that can continue into adulthood and has symptoms such as difficulty focusing attention, as well as problems with controlling behavior.

A) Inattentional blindness
B) Dyslexia
C) Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
D) Simultanagnosia
E) Prosopagnosia

Question 51

The phenomenon of _______ refers to the inability to perceive a stimulus to one side of the point of fixation in the presence of another stimulus.

A) lateralized neglect
B) exhaustion
C) lateral prioritization
D) visual ignorance
E) extinction

Question 52

The average and distribution of properties, like orientation or color, over a set of objects or a region in a scene are called the _______ of the scene and is/are computed by the _______ pathway.

A) ensemble statistics; selective
B) ensemble statistics; nonselective
C) guiding features; selective
D) guiding features; nonselective
E) layout; selective

Question 53

Suppose you go to a sporting event in a large stadium. At a glance, you can tell that there are more people rooting for the home team than the away team, based on the distribution of the two teams' colors in the stands. What aspects of attention support this rapid assessment?

A) Guided search from the selective pathway
B) Guided search from the nonselective pathway
C) Ensemble statistics from the selective pathway
D) Ensemble statistics from the nonselective pathway
E) Sustained attention from the selective pathway

Question 54

_______ describes the structure of a scene without reference to the identity of specific objects in the scene.

A) Spatial organization
B) Physical setting
C) Physical organization
D) Setting
E) Spatial layout

Question 55

Change blindness is a failure to

A) pay attention to an ever-changing part of the visual field.
B) notice a change between two scenes.
C) notice changes in the right side of the visual field due to left hemisphere damage.
D) notice anything constant in a scene and only attend to the changes.
E) notice changes in the left side of the visual field due to right hemisphere damage.

Question 56

_______ refers to the failure to notice-or at least to report-a stimulus that would be easily reportable if it were attended.

A) Simultagnosia
B) Extinction
C) Hemifield neglect
D) Inattentional blindness
E) Change blindness

Question 57

Suppose you lose your keys. You look everywhere and can't find them until you notice them on the table right in front of you, clearly within view the whole time. What phenomenon have you just experienced?

A) Inattentional blindness
B) Hemifield neglect
C) Extinction
D) Simultagnosia
E) Change blindness

Question 58

Define selective attention and give at least one example of it.

Question 59

What makes a visual search easy?

Question 60

What are ensemble statistics?

Question 61

What is change blindness?

Question 62

Describe the three ways that neurons might change their responses as the result of attention.

Question 63

What causes visual field neglect and what are some of its symptoms?

Question 64

What are the two pathways to scene perception?