Question 1

Damage to the left parietal lobe leads to the inability to focus attention on objects,while damage to the right parietal lobe leads to the inability to focus attention on locations.

Accepted Answer

This is a correct statement. Damage to the left parietal lobe can cause a condition called unilateral neglect, which results in the inability to pay attention to objects on the opposite side of the body. Damage to the right parietal lobe can cause difficulty in attending to spatial locations or the positioning of objects in relation to one's own body.

Question 2

What factor caused the differences seen in the ability to successfully perform two separate cognitive tasks at once in the Byrne and Anderson (2001)experiment and the Schumacher et al.(2001)experiment?

Accepted Answer

The difficulty of the task was the factor that caused the differences seen in the ability to successfully perform two separate cognitive tasks at once in the Byrne and Anderson (2001) experiment and the Schumacher et al. (2001) experiment. Specifically, the Byrne and Anderson task was easier than the Schumacher et al. task, leading to better performance in the former experiment.

Question 3

Which research paradigm is a well-known example of a research method used to assess attentional abilities?

Accepted Answer

The dichotic listening task is a well-known research method used to assess attentional abilities by presenting different auditory stimuli to each ear and asking participants to focus on one of them, thus measuring selective attention.

Question 4

Which phenomena show a lateralization difference?

Accepted Answer

Endogenous and exogenous attentional control show lateralization differences, with endogenous attention often associated with the left hemisphere and exogenous attention with the right hemisphere.

Question 5

Which cognitive psychologist demonstrated that,if an individual is presented with visual stimuli but is not able to attend to them,that individual would be likely to experience illusory conjunctions?

Accepted Answer

The cognitive psychologist who demonstrated that an individual presented with visual stimuli but unable to attend to them would be likely to experience illusory conjunctions is Anne Treisman. Treisman's feature integration theory states that features of an object, such as shape, color, and orientation, are processed in parallel during the preattentive stage. However, attention is needed to bind these features together into a coherent percept, and without attention, illusory conjunctions can occur where features combine incorrectly.

Question 6

With regard to the locus of attentional control in the brain,the _____ lobe is responsible for directing perceptual resources and the _____ lobe is responsible for executive control.

Accepted Answer

The parietal lobe is key in directing perceptual resources, managing spatial processing and attention, while the frontal lobe is crucial for executive functions, including decision making, problem-solving, and controlling attention.

Question 7

According to feature-integration theory,feature information must be in the focus of attention for it to be synthesized into a pattern.

Accepted Answer

According to feature-integration theory, feature information must be in the focus of attention for it to be synthesized into a pattern. This means that attention plays a crucial role in integrating individual features into a coherent perceptual whole.

Question 8

When a task requires little to no thought because one has practiced the central cognitive component of it so much,this is known as:

Accepted Answer

The term described in the question is referred to as automaticity, which occurs when a task is performed without requiring much conscious thought or attention. This happens because the individual has practiced the task enough times that the cognitive component has become automatic. Therefore, choice D, automaticity, is the correct answer.

Question 9

Unilateral visual neglect occurs only in patients with damage to the right hemisphere.

Accepted Answer

Unilateral visual neglect can also occur in patients with damage to the left hemisphere, but it is less common than in patients with right hemisphere damage.

Question 10

What were Strayer and Drews (2007)able to determine about attention in the study of cell phone usage?

Accepted Answer

Strayer and Drews (2007) found that conversing on a cell phone is much more distracting than listening to the radio or conversing with someone in the car. The study also showed that conversation on a cell phone impairs driving performance just as much as driving under the influence of alcohol.

Question 11

In Mangun,Hillyard,and Luck's (1993)experiment involving the measurement of the occipital region in response to the presentation of spots of light to one of four quadrants of a display,which region was activated by a spot of light to the lower left quadrant?

Accepted Answer

The lower left quadrant of a display would activate the right inferior occipital region, based on the organization of the visual system in the brain.

Question 12

In the prefrontal region of the cerebral cortex,the _____ cortex appears to be critical to setting intentions and controlling behavior,while the _____ cortex appears to be critical in monitoring conflict between competing tendencies.

Accepted Answer

The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is critical to setting intentions and controlling behavior, while the anterior cingulate cortex is critical in monitoring conflict between competing tendencies. Choices A, B, and D do not match the correct regions and functions.

Question 13

Using a hands-free headset while driving is safer than using a cell phone.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Using a hands-free headset while driving is...

Question 14

The Stroop effect shows how automatic processes can be difficult to stop from exerting.

Accepted Answer

The Stroop effect is a phenomenon where it is difficult to name the ink color of words that are themselves the name of a different color. This happens because the automatic process of reading the word interferes with the effortful process of naming the color. This demonstrates how automatic processes can be difficult to stop from exerting.

Question 15

Eye movement is required for attention to track an object.

Accepted Answer

Attention can be directed to different objects or locations without the need for eye movements; this is known as covert attention.

Question 16

What was the finding of the study by O'Craven,et al.(1999)regarding human attentional mechanisms?

Accepted Answer

The study by O'Craven et al. (1999) found that attentional mechanisms can choose from among different brain regions based on the current task. Specifically, they found that when participants were instructed to perform a visual task, attentional mechanisms were more likely to select brain regions associated with visual processing, whereas when participants were instructed to perform an auditory task, attentional mechanisms were more likely to select brain regions associated with auditory processing.

Question 17

Damage to the parietal lobe can result in which neuropsychological disorder?

Accepted Answer

Damage to the parietal lobe can result in unilateral neglect, which is the tendency to ignore one side of the body or the environment. Apraxia and aphasia are typically associated with damage to the frontal and temporal lobes, respectively. Achomatopsia, or color blindness, is typically associated with damage to the occipital lobe.

Question 18

What is the difference between Treisman's and Deutsch and Deutsch's late-selection attentional theories?

Accepted Answer

Treisman's attenuation theory suggests that instead of completely filtering out unattended stimuli, the mind attenuates or reduces the strength of these stimuli during processing. Deutsch and Deutsch, on the other hand, proposed that all information is processed to the level of meaning before the selection occurs, meaning that no information is attenuated or weakened in the early stages of processing.

Question 19

Which condition of the experimental paradigm developed by J.Ridley Stroop leads to what we now refer to as the Stroop effect?

Accepted Answer

The Stroop effect is caused by the conflict between the automatic processing of the written word and the controlled processing required to name the ink color. This conflict is the condition of the experimental paradigm developed by J.Ridley Stroop.

Quiz 3: Attention and Performance

Damage to the left parietal lobe leads to the inability to focus attention on objects,while damage to the right parietal lobe leads to the inability to focus attention on locations.

What factor caused the differences seen in the ability to successfully perform two separate cognitive tasks at once in the Byrne and Anderson (2001) experiment and the Schumacher et al.(2001) experiment?