Psychological Research - Assignment Example

1. Name the independent and dependent variables used; include the levels of each variable (maximum 2 sentences; 1 point)

The independent variable is the color cue, while the dependent variable is attention. The color cue is red, while spatial attention is the focus of the dependent variable.

2. Are there any methodological flaws or limitations in the experimental design? Explain. (maximum 3 sentences; 2 points)

Some possible methodological flaws are not determining other internal and external variables that may affect the response to the color cue and not controlling other mediating factors that could impact the data and interpretation of the data. The limitations of the experimental design are that it does not determine how the goals of the participant might affect his/her attention capture, and it cannot ascertain if the color change, the onset of color itself, or both, has captured the attention and why.

3. How did the experimenter's control for possible confounding variables? (maximum 3 sentences; 2 points)

Snowden controlled other possible confounding variables by removing all potential sources of luminance information that can affect the attention of the participants. He also allowed the participants to get used with the green screen by letting them stare at it for two minutes, which will help improve the visibility of the red cues to be introduced later on in the experiment. In addition, Snowden also put the equiluminant point through the conditions where the red cues flashed for only 1/10 of the cycle of the flicker to make sure that there is not too much emphasis placed on the color to get the attention of the participant unnaturally.

4. Explain the role of the magnocellular and parvocellular streams (you can find it online http://www.brightstar-learning.com/the-science/magnocellular-visual-pathway/ this might be helpful, but you can still find your own). Explain what functions of the streams the researchers seek to test.(maximum 5 sentences, 4 points)

The magnocellular stream (M stream) functions to help people see where things are in relation to their positions and guides their movement towards objects, whereas the parvocellular stream (P stream) helps people see things for what they are, including the size, shape, color, and other details of visual objects. Snowden wants to test, if it is true that the M stream dominates attentional guidance, and if color cues cannot successfully capture attention. He seeks to know if the P stream can also play some role in pure chromatic cues that can capture attention.

5. What are the implications of the author’s findings? Relate your answer to a sensation or perception topic (general sensation and perception, signal detection theory, the visual system of the retina, the visual system of cortex, color, and object perception) (maximum 5 sentences, 3 points)

The implications of the author’s findings impact general sensation and perception because they suggest that it is possible to improve the perception of new things by changing colors or introducing new objects. This study also has implications for signal detection theory by helping determine how new objects or new, different colors may impact the way “occurrences” can be detected, such as tumors. These findings may also have implications for the visual system of the cortex because they suggest that it is possible to understand and resolve color-blindness by studying how people perceive and respond to new colors or new object cues.

6. Design an experiment to test whether the parvocellular stream is sensitive to motion processing (maximum 1 page, 7 points as detailed below)

I will also use the peripheral cueing paradigm to test if the P stream is sensitive to motion processing. The participants would be asked to stare at a yellow screen for two minutes. After that, two yellow patches will appear on the screen for 1000 ms. The stimulus would be the movement of a color cue. Instead of just flickering for 50 ms, the violet color cue will also move horizontally for 50 ms. There will be a cue lag of 100 ms. Like Snowden, I will also control residual luminance through the use of dynamic noise. The task is to determine if the movement captured the spatial attention of participants.

I expect to find that participants will see the movement of the color cue. They will see the new color or the new object and its movement because the P stream will help process the movement as part of what is being seen.

The implications of my findings are that the P stream could be using moving inputs too, and not just color, for people to detect and respond to signals in the environment. It is possible that adding movement to colors may help the color blind distinguish different colors. Furthermore, these findings suggest that the P stream impacts where objects are. The visual system of the retina can be influenced by new objects, new colors, and new movement; although it is unclear which factors can affect perception and detection the most. It is important to also find other ways of determine if and how the visual systems of the retina and cortex actually respond to motion processing through imaging studies and other tools.