Deck 3: Mechanisms of Attention

Question 1

LaBerge (1983)presented visual displays in which participants attended to five locations spaced evenly across a visual display.He found that on critical trials,RT to a target was fastest for ______,supporting

A)items in the middle of the display;spotlight models of attention.
B)items in the middle of the display;the role of bottom-up processing in attention.
C)items in the periphery of the display;spotlight models of attention.

Answer 1

items in the middle of the display;spotlight models of attention.

Question 2

Evidence indicates that ________ is a stimulus characteristic that invokes pre-attentive detection.

A)shape
B)brightness
C)loudness
D)color

Answer 2

color

Question 3

In their study of low-target prevalence searches,Wolfe,Horowitz,and Kenner (2005)found that (incorrect)target-absent responses on critical (target-present)trials were _____ target-present responses on these trials.

A)faster than
B)slower than
C)made with about the same speed as
D)never made with

Answer 3

faster than

Question 4

Egly,Driver,and Rafal (1994)had participants look at displays that featured two rectangles (A and B)standing on end,equidistant from a central fixation point.On a given trial,a target stimulus was presented at the top or bottom of one of the rectangles.Prior to the presentation of a target,one of the rectangles was highlighted,indicating that the target position would be within this rectangle.On some trials (invalid trials),the target appeared in the non-highlighted rectangle.On these key (invalid trials),Egly et al.found that the misleading cue _________,supporting

A)slowed reaction time;space-based views of attention.
B)slowed reaction time;object-based views of attention.
C)had no effect on reaction time;space-based views of attention.
D)had no effect on reaction time;object-based views of attention.

Question 5

Post-attentive processes

A)require little attention.
B)occur before attention is focused.
C)are effortful and conscious.
D)would include the perceptual grouping processes proposed by Gestalt psychologists.

Question 6

For which of these numbers would you most likely count rather than subitize?

A)0
B)1
C)3
D)5

Question 7

Treisman and Gelade (1980)had subjects search through brown Ts and green Xs to find targets (blue Ts).This is an example of _____,and RT in this condition ____ be influenced by display size.

A)feature search;would
B)feature search;would not
C)conjunction search;would
D)conjunction search;would not

Question 8

Which of the following is an example of a search asymmetry?

A)It is easier to declare that a target is present than it is to declare that a target is absent.
B)It is easier to declare that a target is present in a smaller display than in a larger display.
C)It is easier to find a target that includes a feature than it is to find one that doesn't include the feature.
D)It is easier to find a target using conjunction search than it is to find a target using feature search.

Question 9

Feature search is to _____ as conjunction search is to

A)post-attentive;pre-attentive.
B)affected by display size;unaffected by display size.
C)feature integration;pop-out.
D)subitizing;enumeration.

Question 10

Occasions in which a person's attention is involuntary drawn to some stimulus are referred to as

A)spotlight attention.
B)attentional capture.
C)object-based attention.
D)sensory attention.

Question 11

The active mode of attention might also be called

A)bottom-up.
B)goal-driven.
C)stimulus-driven.
D)pre-attentive.

Question 12

According to feature integration theory,visual search is a ____-stage process.

A)one
B)two
C)three
D)four

Question 13

How does guided search as proposed by Wolfe differ from feature integration as proposed by Treisman?

A)Guided search proposes that the two stages of visual search are related an interactive.
B)Guided search proposes three stages in visual search rather than two.
C)Guided search proposes that that search is never effortful or post-attentive.
D)Guided search proposes that conjunction searches are as efficient as feature searches.

Question 14

The steady increase in reaction time that occurs when enumerating items in a visual display

A)indicates post-attentive processing is involved.
B)indicates pre-attentive processing is involved.
C)is indicative of subtilizing.
D)indicates that there is no difference between pre-attentive and post-attentive processing.

Question 15

Jujuan is listening to his professor's lecture when,all of a sudden,he notices a bee hovering near the student directly in front of him.Being deathly afraid of bees,Jujuan now attentionally follows the bee all over the room. Jujuan has shifted from

A)stimulus-driven to goal-driven attention.
B)pre-attentive to post-attentive processing.
C)space-based to object-based attention.
D)subitizing to enumeration.

Question 16

The "pop-out effect" sometimes seen in visual search

A)is indicative of an effortful search.
B)is indicative of an inefficient search.
C)requires the execution of only the first stage of visual attention,as proposed in Treisman's theory.
D)is the result of post-attentive processing.

Question 17

Which of the following is not one of the basic characteristics of attention?

A)Limited
B)Auditory
C)Flexible
D)Voluntary control

Question 18

Looking for Trix in the context of Lucky Charms,Sugar Smacks,and Froot Loops would be an example of _____,and would be ______ than looking for Apple Jacks in the context of these cereals.

A)feature search;easier
B)feature search;more difficult
C)conjunction search;easier
D)conjunction search;more difficult

Question 19

The major independent variable of interest in studies of visual search is

A)the number of items in the visual display.
B)RT to make a present-absent judgment.
C)accuracy in making the present-absent judgment.
D)the size of the visual display.

Question 20

In cases of visual search where targets are rarely present,

A)visual search is especially accurate.
B)visual search is surprisingly inaccurate.
C)visual search is about the same as it is in cases where targets are occasionally or frequently present.
D)visual search is unnecessary.

Question 21

The notion of capacity as limiting attention has been criticized for being circular in nature.This means

A)the notion of capacity can explain most findings from studies of attention.
B)the notion encompasses both early- and late-selection theories.
C)limited capacity is used as an explanation of attentional difficulty,and attentional difficulty is used to show evidence of limited capacity.
D)it explains our ability to respond to the multiple stimuli that surround us.

Question 22

Which of these describes the Stroop Effect?

A)Naming colors is more difficult than naming other everyday concepts.
B)Reading the names of colors is especially difficult if the ink color matches the name of the color.
C)Reading the names of colors is especially difficult if the ink color conflicts with the name of the color.
D)Naming a color in which a word is printed is especially difficult if the color conflicts with the color name.

Question 23

The attentional blink is indicated by

A)decreased RT to a second target stimulus,the sooner it occurs after an initial target stimulus.
B)decreased RT to a first target stimulus because participants expect it to be followed by a second target.
C)increased RT to a second target stimulus,the sooner it occurs after an initial target stimulus.
D)increased RT to a first target stimulus because participants expect it to be followed by a second target.

Question 24

In an experiment by Simon and Chabris (1999),participants were to watch people passing a basketball around and were told to keep track of some activity within the game.What was the distinctive feature of the scene,and what proportion of people failed to notice it?

A)During the game,a person in a gorilla suit walked into and out of the scene;almost everyone failed to notice.
B)During the game,a person in a gorilla suit walked into and out of the scene;nearly half failed to notice.
C)A person in a gorilla suit was one of the ball passers;almost no one failed to notice.
D)A person in a gorilla suit was one of the ball passers;nearly half failed to notice.

Question 25

Selective attention is to divided attention as _______ is to

A)limited;unlimited.
B)one input;many inputs.
C)capacity;filter.
D)late selection;early selection.

Question 26

_________ listening is simultaneously listening to two different messages,one in each ear.

A)Selective
B)Attentive
C)Dichotic
D)Gateway

Question 27

A period of time during which the response to a second stimulus will be significantly slowed because of the processing still occurring on the earlier stimulus is called

A)stimulus onset asynchrony.
B)simple reaction time.
C)psychological refractory period.
D)psychological reaction time.

Question 28

According to the attenuation theory,the cocktail party phenomenon occurs because

A)information that is relevant to the situation has a low threshold for recognition.
B)information that is personally relevant to you has a low threshold for recognition.
C)hearing this type of information increases arousal,which increases the attentional resources enough to recognize your name.
D)this information has familiar physical characteristics,which makes it "stand out."

Question 29

Logan's (1988)instance-based view of automaticity is that as a task becomes automatic,

A)it uses less and less capacity.
B)the procedures we use to carry the task change from algorithm to memory retrieval.
C)the procedures that comprise the task are carried out with increasing speed.
D)we need fewer and fewer procedures to carry out the same task.

Question 30

Which of these seems to make it more likely that a visual scene change will be noticed?

A)The attention task in which you're engaged is especially demanding.
B)The element that changes is in the periphery of the scene.
C)The element that changes is physically similar to the objects being attended.
D)There is a mask between the original scene and the changed scene.

Question 31

According to an early selection filter theory,if you have an intense phone conversation while a movie is playing on TV,your knowledge of the movie will consist of

A)the physical characteristics of the actor's voices (i.e. ,if they were women or men).
B)complete semantic knowledge.
C)limited semantic knowledge-enough to have a limited idea of the movie's plot.
D)nothing,as you will not be aware at all of the TV.

Question 32

Which of these is an example of a magician's manipulation of attention,from the top-down?

A)Using a big move to cover a small move
B)Engaging a participant in an attention-demanding activity,like memorizing the card they just picked
C)Having a sudden event occur,such as the appearance of a bird
D)Saying "Abracadabra" before the critical moment

Question 33

Tronsky's (2005)study on how automaticity develops in complex multiplication.As subjects did multiplication problems over and over,they were asked to assess the strategy they were using.What happened over time?

A)The subjects got tired and simply wrote any number down.
B)The subjects continued to calculate the answer to every single problem.
C)The more problems the subjects did,the more they got incorrect due to fatigue.
D)The subjects stopped actually calculating the answers and simply recalled the correct answer from memory.

Question 34

Maratos,Mogg,and Bradley (2008)looked at the attentional blink for faces differing in emotion and found that the attentional blink for _____ faces was ____ than the blink for neutral faces.

A)happy;shorter
B)happy;longer
C)angry;shorter
D)angry;longer

Question 35

Which of these applied problems served as an early inspiration for attention researchers?

A)The invention of television
B)The information overload problems of World War II pilots
C)The invention of the computer
D)The early development of cellular telephones

Question 36

The time that lapses between the presentation of two stimuli is called

A)stimulus onset asynchrony.
B)simple reaction time.
C)psychological refractory period.
D)psychological reaction time.

Question 37

Bottleneck theories of attention

A)propose that there is no such thing as dual-task interference.
B)propose that dual-task interference will be more acute with longer SOAs.
C)processing of two tasks occurs completely in parallel.
D)fail to account for findings from the PRP paradigm.

Question 38

What is the purpose of shadowing?

A)It is meant to inhibit visual attention.
B)It is meant to make it difficult to process the attended message.
C)It is meant to simulate as closely as possible how we actually do pay attention.
D)It makes sure the attended message really is attended.

Question 39

Which theory of attention posits that selection occurs after all incoming stimuli have been identified?

A)Attenuation theory
B)Late selection theory
C)Early selection theory
D)All theories of attention make this assumption.

Question 40

Besner et al.presented participants with color words in which only one letter was in a color that conflicted with the color of the word (e.g. ,the word "red" with the "e" in blue).What happened to the Stroop Effect in this case?

A)There was a typical Stroop effect.
B)The Stroop effect was still found,but was reduced.
C)There was no Stroop effect.
D)The researchers found a reverse Stroop effect.

Question 41

You are typing an e-mail while listening to iTunes on your computer.Suddenly,you realize you just typed a few of the lyrics of the song you are listening to instead of what you meant to write.This is a

A)loss of activation error.
B)data-driven error.
C)capture error.
D)description error.

Question 42

Greg always drinks iced tea with lemon,and he always puts one packet of Splenda in it.One late night at Denny's,he orders another type of "brown beverage"-a Diet Coke.The server delivers it,complete with a lemon wedge.Greg grabs a packet of Splenda and dumps it in the Diet Coke.This action slip would be classified as a

A)loss of activation error.
B)data-driven error.
C)capture error.
D)description error.

Question 43

You set out from your living room to go down to the basement to get something.When you get to the basement,you forget what you have walked down there to get.What kind of action slip is this?

A)Description error
B)Associative activation error
C)Capture error
D)Loss of activation error

Question 44

Drifting toward the center line while trying to retrieve the cell phone you dropped on the car floor would be an example of a deficit in what level of task,as described by the Groeger (1999)framework?

A)Operational
B)Tactical
C)Strategic
D)Planning

Question 45

I grab the cell phone and try to use it to turn up the volume on the TV.What kind of action slip is this?

A)Description error
B)Associative activation error
C)Capture error
D)Loss of activation error

Question 46

The findings of a study by Drews,Yazdani,Godfrey,Cooper,and Strayer (2009)indicate that texting while driving

A)leads to shorter braking onsets.
B)a shorter average following distance.
C)more variability in following distance.
D)a lowered tendency to inadvertently change lanes.

Question 47

Groeger (1999)provided a framework for considering the possible effects of adding an additional task to driving performance.Dealing with an unexpected detour due to an accident would invoke which level of performance?

A)Operational
B)Tactical
C)Strategic
D)Maneuvering

Question 48

Drews,Pasupathi,and Strayer (2008)investigated the impact of cell phone and in-person conversations at the operational,tactical,and strategic levels of driving performance.They found

A)deficits at both the operational and strategic levels of performance for both types of conversations.
B)deficits at both the operational and strategic levels of performance only for cell phone conversations.
C)deficits at both the operational and strategic levels of performance only for in-person conversations.
D)no deficits at all in either conversation condition.

Question 49

In their investigation of cognitive errors in individuals suffering from work burnout,Van Der Linden,Keisjers,Eling,and Van Schaijk (2005)found that burnout sufferers had ______ rates of cognitive failures relative to those not suffering from burnout;in addition,metacognitive questionnaires indicated that burnout sufferers had ____ metacognitive awareness regarding their error rates.

A)higher;good
B)higher;poor
C)lower;good
D)lower;poor

Question 50

McIntyre (2008)investigated methods to improve visual searches while driving.What was his recommendation?

A)Change the color of the brake lights
B)Change the color of the cars
C)Change the color of the stop lights
D)Change the color of the traffic signs