Question 1

Reynolds et al. (1999) measured the responses of a single neuron in area V4 of a macaque monkey. The monkey was trained to keep its eyes on the fixation point at all times and to direct its attention in various ways while the experimenters presented either an effective stimulus, an ineffective stimulus, or both. When the monkey attended to the effective stimulus, the neuron's response was:

Accepted Answer

A)  enhanced as the effective stimulus was presented alone. 
B)  suppressed as the ineffective stimulus was presented alone. 
C)  a compromise due to the presence of both the effective and ineffective stimuli. 
D)  inconsistent, as it did not match the neuron's tuning function.

Question 2

The inability to quickly detect changes in complex scenes is called:

Accepted Answer

A)  inattentional blindness. 
B)  change blindness. 
C)  object-based attention. 
D)  selective attention.

Question 3

Unilateral visual neglect is MOST likely to occur:

Accepted Answer

A)  on the left side of the visual space. 
B)  on the right side of the visual space. 
C)  as a result of damage to the left eye. 
D)  as a result of damage to the right eye.

Question 4

What are the two important sources of attentional control signals in the human brain?

Accepted Answer

A)  the posterior parietal cortex and the frontal eye field 
B)  the anterior parietal cortex and the frontal eye field 
C)  the occipital cortex and the frontal eye field 
D)  the posterior parietal cortex and the anterior parietal cortex

Question 5

According to an fMRI experiment conducted by Pelphrey et al. (2005), the comparison of the brain activity in neurologically typical individuals and individuals with autism shows that:

Accepted Answer

A)  individuals with autism are able to shift attention from one stimuli to the next in a serial fashion, until the target is found. 
B)  individuals with autism are able to look intently at the gaze cues, automatically directing their attention in a particular direction. 
C)  both neurologically typical individuals and individuals with autism are able to make inferences about the intentions of others. 
D)  neurologically typical people are better able to make inferences about the intentions of others than are individuals with autism.

Question 6

A typical study of change blindness uses the rapid alternation of two photos, with each presented for about one-quarter of a second and with a brief blank interval after each exposure. How many alternation cycles does an observer require to detect the change in the photos?

Accepted Answer

A)  around 10 
B)  around 12 
C)  around 9 
D)  around 7

Question 7

Chiu and Yantis (2009) directed participants in a study to keep their eyes fixed on the center of a display as they directed their attention to rapidly changing letters and digits on either the left side or the right side of the display. When they used fMRI to measure changes in brain activity, they found that:

Accepted Answer

A)  brain activity was affected only when the eyes moved. 
B)  brain activity was not related to attention. 
C)  actual eye movements were not necessary to cause changes in brain activity. 
D)  brain activity was greater in the left hemisphere when attention was directed to the left.

Question 8

In an fMRI study conducted by Tong et al. (1998), the observers viewed a face-house composite image through red-blue glasses that evoked perceptual bistability. The results of the fMRI measurements of brain activity showed increased FFA activity when the observer:

Accepted Answer

A)  perceived the house. 
B)  perceived the face. 
C)  did not wear the red-blue glasses. 
D)  was instructed to attend to the house only.

Question 9

In the context of attention to locations, _____ attention means selectively attending to some information by moving one's eyes.

Accepted Answer

A)  overt 
B)  covert 
C)  selective 
D)  cueing

Question 10

_____ resolves the binding problem by proposing that attention is directed to one object at a time.

Accepted Answer

A)  William James's selective attention theory 
B)  Broadbent's filter theory of attention 
C)  Triesman's feature integration theory 
D)  Biased competition theory

Question 11

_____ attention refers to being acutely aware of only one thing at a time.

Accepted Answer

A)  Focused 
B)  Overt 
C)  Divided 
D)  Covert

Question 12

A phenomenon in which an unchanging visual stimulus leads to repeated alternation between two different perceptual experiences is known as:

Accepted Answer

A)  perceptual bistability. 
B)  binocular rivalry. 
C)  blindsight. 
D)  inattentional blindness.

Question 13

In one of the experiments conducted by Bushnell et al. (1981), the activity of single PPC neurons was recorded as a monkey performed four different types of tasks involving an eye or hand movement and the direction of the monkey's attention. In the saccade task, it was found that the:

Accepted Answer

A)  PPC neuron never increased its firing rate above baseline. 
B)  PPC neuron's firing rate decreased with the shift of attention, as the monkey waited for the stimulus to dim. 
C)  PPC neuron continued to fire at its baseline rate throughout the task. 
D)  PPC neuron's firing rate increased soon after the stimulus appeared, with the shift of attention, even before the eye movement occurred.

Question 14

An individual's ability to attend to several things at one time is called:

Accepted Answer

A)  focused attention. 
B)  attentional blink. 
C)  divided attention. 
D)  attentional cueing.

Question 15

Rogers and Monsell (1995) conducted a study involving a simplified multitasking situation that aimed at measuring the cost of switching between two simple tasks. The difference in response time, as demonstrated in the trials, can be attributed to:

Accepted Answer

A)  the time required to resume a task after interruption. 
B)  the task that required the participant to come up with appropriate responses and thereby increased performance significantly. 
C)  the need to switch attention between two different tasks. 
D)  the complex task that requires quick response to turn the attention of the participant.

Question 16

Jonides and Yantis (1988) showed that response time for a target letter was unrelated to the number of letters to be searched when the target was an abrupt-onset item because the abrupt onset captures the participant's attention. _____ attentional control can produce a quick response to sudden events.

Accepted Answer

A)  Top-down 
B)  Bottom-up 
C)  Value-driven 
D)  Either top-down or bottom-up

Question 17

When we observe a clock on the wall in order to check the time, our focus is on some crucial features of the clock-the numbers running around the circumference and the orientation of the hands pointing out from the center-but our sense is that we are taking in the whole clock while focusing on those features. This is called _____ attention.

Accepted Answer

A)  location-based 
B)  feature-based 
C)  object-based 
D)  illusion-based

Question 18

Tong et al. (1998) used a binocular rivalry task to study neural correlates of consciousness and found that:

Accepted Answer

A)  activity in both the FFA and the PPA correlated with alternating perceptual experiences. 
B)  neither the activity in the FFA nor the PPA correlated with alternating perceptual experiences. 
C)  only the activity in the FFA was related to alternating perceptual experiences. 
D)  only the activity in the PPA was related to alternating perceptual experiences.

Question 19

According to Broadbent's filter theory of attention, the mechanism that performs the selection of signals for access to a limited-capacity system is attention, which serves as a filter, and the limited-capacity system permits:

Accepted Answer

A)  awareness of and other cognitive responses to stimuli. 
B)  awareness and the storage of information in memory. 
C)  the brain to resolve the competition for neural representation. 
D)  the observer to detect the unique feature.

Question 20

Strayer and Johnston (2001) investigated the effects of attention on driving performance. In the first task, the driver had to listen to a list of words over the phone and repeat or shadow them back. In the second task, the driver had to listen to a list of words over the phone and had to say a word beginning with the last letter of the word just heard. The results of the study showed that:

Accepted Answer

A)  shadowing words did not impair driving performance. 
B)  neither shadowing words nor generating words impaired driving performance. 
C)  shadowing words impaired driving performance significantly more than generating words. 
D)  generating words impaired performance significantly more than the simple shadowing task.

Exam 9: Attention and Awareness