Question 1

Limiting the amount of conscious awareness that we have for our own information processing may have the advantage of all of the following EXCEPT
A)this allows us to filter out sensory information before it has received much processing by the brain.
B)this reduces the number of extra cognitive operations that accompany conscious processing.
C)this minimizes the amount of time for information processing to be completed.
D)this reduces the amount of metabolic resources that are used for information processing.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Limiting the amount of conscious awareness that...

Question 2

With regard to the three-stage model of attention of Posner and his colleagues (1984),which component of attention is associated with the pulvinar?
A)The ability to engage visual attention at a particular location in the visual field
B)The capacity to move the focus of visual attention from one location to another
C)The ability to disengage attention from a particular location in the visual field
D)The ability to locate a conjunction target that is embedded in a field of distracters

Accepted Answer

The pulvinar is associated with the ability to engage visual attention at a particular location in the visual field.

Question 3

ERP studies of visual and auditory attention suggest that early ERP components like the P1 and N1 are not modulated by the participant's attentional state.

Accepted Answer

ERP studies have shown that early ERP components like P1 and N1 are indeed modulated by the participant's attentional state. For example, P1 amplitude is larger for attended stimuli compared to unattended stimuli, and N1 amplitude is reduced for attended stimuli compared to unattended stimuli.

Question 4

The primary functional problem that results from posterior parietal injury and that produces the neglect syndrome is that patients
A)fail to process sensory information from the ipsilesional side of space.
B)fail to process sensory information from the contralesional side of space.
C)cannot disengage attention from information in the ipsilesional side of space.
D)cannot disengage attention from information in the contralesional side of space.

Accepted Answer

Patients with posterior parietal injury cannot disengage attention from information in the ipsilesional side of space.

Question 5

Spatial attention to one hemifield leads to increased neural activity in the fusiform gyrus in the ipsilateral hemisphere.

Accepted Answer

Spatial attention to one hemifield leads to increased neural activity in the contralateral hemisphere, not the ipsilateral hemisphere. This is because the visual field is processed by the opposite side of the brain.

Question 6

Extrastriate cortical regions specialized for the processing of color,form,and motion are modulated by visual attention to these stimulus features.

Accepted Answer

This statement is true. Research has demonstrated that attention can enhance the activity in areas of the brain specialized for processing color, form, and motion.

Question 7

Attention can be directed to both spatial and nonspatial features of target visual stimuli.

Accepted Answer

Attention can be directed to both spatial (e.g. the location of a target) and nonspatial (e.g. color or shape of a target) features of visual stimuli.

Question 8

Unilateral spatial neglect typically results from damage to the left temporal lobe.

Accepted Answer

Unilateral spatial neglect typically results from damage to the right parietal lobe, not the left temporal lobe.

Question 9

According to the three-stage model of attention of Posner and colleagues (1984),injury to this brain structure results in a deficit in moving focused attention from a particular location in the visual field to another.
A)The posterior parietal lobe
B)The pulvinar nucleus of the thalamus
C)The superior colliculus
D)The lateral geniculate nucleus of the thalamus

Accepted Answer

The answer of According to the three-stage model of attention...

Question 10

The observation that extinction is worse when identical,rather than different,stimuli are simultaneously presented to the ipsilesional and contralesional sides of the visual field indicates that
A)neglected stimuli do not undergo perceptual processing in the absence of focused attention.
B)neglected stimuli undergo perceptual processing in the absence of focused attention.
C)neglected stimuli can capture attention involuntarily.
D)neglected stimuli are often confused with stimuli that are successfully attended.

Accepted Answer

The observation that extinction is worse when identical stimuli are presented to both sides of the visual field suggests that the neglected stimuli are still undergoing perceptual processing in the absence of focused attention. If they were not being processed at all, the identical stimuli on both sides should not have any differential effect on extinction. This is consistent with the idea that the attentional deficit in extinction is related to a failure to integrate information from the two sides of space, rather than a complete failure to process the neglected stimulus.

Question 11

The N400 ERP component is most associated with covert focusing of visual attention.

Accepted Answer

The N400 ERP component is actually most associated with semantic processing, particularly related to language comprehension. It is not specifically linked to covert focusing of visual attention.

Question 12

The main deficit in Balint's syndrome is that patients can focus attention on only
A)contralesional objects.
B)ipsilesional objects.
C)one object at a time.
D)the foveal part of the visual field.

Accepted Answer

Patients with Balint's syndrome can only focus their attention on one object at a time, which is known as simultanagnosia. They also have difficulty shifting attention from one object to another. They do not have a preference for contralesional or ipsilesional visual stimuli and their deficit is not limited to the foveal part of the visual field.

Question 13

The symptoms of patients with neglect and Balint's syndrome reflect disruption of the ________ pathway.
A)"what"
B)"where"
C)geniculostriate
D)tectopulvinar

Accepted Answer

Neglect and Balint's syndrome are both associated with impairments in spatial attention and perception. This suggests that the "where" pathway, also known as the dorsal visual stream, which is responsible for object localization and spatial attention, is disrupted in these patients. Choices A, C, and D are not primarily involved in spatial perception and attention.

Question 14

When spatial attention is introduced to one stimulus in a spatial array,simultaneous presentation of competing stimuli interferes less compared to the absence of spatial attention.

Accepted Answer

This statement is true. Spatial attention is known to enhance processing of attended stimuli and reduce interference from competing stimuli. Therefore, when spatial attention is introduced to one stimulus in a spatial array, the interference from competing stimuli is reduced compared to the absence of spatial attention.

Question 15

Models of late selection hypothesize that attended and ignored inputs are processed equivalently by the perceptual system,reaching a stage of semantic analysis.

Accepted Answer

Models of late selection propose that all inputs, whether attended or ignored, are processed to a semantic level before only the attended input is selected for further processing and response. Thus, both attended and ignored inputs are processed equivalently by the perceptual system.

Question 16

In visual search tasks,the amount of time it takes to find a target among distracters is independent of the number of distracters if the target can be identified by a single feature.

Accepted Answer

If the target can be identified by a single feature (such as color or shape), it can be detected quickly regardless of the number of distracters. This is known as "pop-out" and is a characteristic of preattentive processing.

Question 17

When Bisiach and Luzzatti (1978)asked patients with the neglect syndrome to describe their own mental images of the Italian city in which they lived,the researchers found that
A)these patients demonstrated a deficit in moving attention from one location in their mental images to another.
B)patients had great difficulty in generating mental images in general.
C)there was no evidence of neglect for internally generated mental images.
D)the patients also neglected the contralesional side of their own mental images.

Accepted Answer

Bisiach and Luzzatti's study showed that patients with neglect syndrome also neglected the contralesional side (the side opposite to their brain lesion) of their mental images, similar to how they neglected the contralesional side of real-world scenes.

Question 18

In exogenous cuing,the orienting of attention to the cue is driven primarily by the participant's goals.

Accepted Answer

In exogenous cuing, the orienting of attention to the cue is driven primarily by the characteristics of the cue, such as its salience or novelty, rather than the participant's goals.

Question 19

What is the difference between voluntary attention and reflexive attention? Between overt and covert attention? Are the distinctions the same? If not,how do they differ?

Accepted Answer

The answer of What is the difference between voluntary attention...

Question 20

The idea that we successfully perform many tasks even though we have little conscious awareness of the information processing operations that are involved in completing these tasks is best supported by
A)the Stroop effect.
B)experiments with the visual search task.
C)studies of subliminal perception.
D)investigations of explicit long-term memory.

Accepted Answer

Studies of subliminal perception have demonstrated that people can process information and respond to stimuli even when they are not consciously aware of them. This supports the idea that we can perform tasks without conscious awareness of the information processing involved.

Quiz 12: Attention and Consciousness

Limiting the amount of conscious awareness that we have for our own information processing may have the advantage of all of the following EXCEPT

With regard to the three-stage model of attention of Posner and his colleagues (1984) ,which component of attention is associated with the pulvinar?

ERP studies of visual and auditory attention suggest that early ERP components like the P1 and N1 are not modulated by the participant's attentional state.

The primary functional problem that results from posterior parietal injury and that produces the neglect syndrome is that patients

Spatial attention to one hemifield leads to increased neural activity in the fusiform gyrus in the ipsilateral hemisphere.

Extrastriate cortical regions specialized for the processing of color,form,and motion are modulated by visual attention to these stimulus features.

Attention can be directed to both spatial and nonspatial features of target visual stimuli.

Unilateral spatial neglect typically results from damage to the left temporal lobe.

According to the three-stage model of attention of Posner and colleagues (1984) ,injury to this brain structure results in a deficit in moving focused attention from a particular location in the visual field to another.

The observation that extinction is worse when identical,rather than different,stimuli are simultaneously presented to the ipsilesional and contralesional sides of the visual field indicates that

The N400 ERP component is most associated with covert focusing of visual attention.

The main deficit in Balint's syndrome is that patients can focus attention on only

The symptoms of patients with neglect and Balint's syndrome reflect disruption of the ________ pathway.

When spatial attention is introduced to one stimulus in a spatial array,simultaneous presentation of competing stimuli interferes less compared to the absence of spatial attention.

Models of late selection hypothesize that attended and ignored inputs are processed equivalently by the perceptual system,reaching a stage of semantic analysis.

In visual search tasks,the amount of time it takes to find a target among distracters is independent of the number of distracters if the target can be identified by a single feature.

When Bisiach and Luzzatti (1978) asked patients with the neglect syndrome to describe their own mental images of the Italian city in which they lived,the researchers found that

In exogenous cuing,the orienting of attention to the cue is driven primarily by the participant's goals.

What is the difference between voluntary attention and reflexive attention? Between overt and covert attention? Are the distinctions the same? If not,how do they differ?

The idea that we successfully perform many tasks even though we have little conscious awareness of the information processing operations that are involved in completing these tasks is best supported by