Attention and Focus Games Flashcards

In the Pymetrics 'Stop Signal' game, what cognitive ability is primarily being evaluated?

Answer: Inhibitory control and impulse suppression

The Stop Signal task measures inhibitory control — your ability to suppress an already-initiated response when a stop signal appears.

During the Balloon Analog Risk Task (BART) in Pymetrics, a balloon that has been pumped many times is about to pop. What does continuing to pump it measure?

Answer: Risk tolerance and reward-seeking behavior

Continuing to pump a nearly-full balloon reflects higher risk tolerance and the tendency to pursue potential rewards despite increasing danger.

In Pymetrics attention tasks, 'sustained attention' refers to which ability?

Answer: Maintaining focus on a single task over an extended period

Sustained attention is the capacity to keep your concentration directed at a task for a prolonged duration without mental fatigue.

A candidate scores high on 'false alarm rate' in a Pymetrics vigilance task. What does this suggest?

Answer: They respond to non-target stimuli as if they were targets

A high false alarm rate means the candidate frequently responded to stimuli that were not targets, indicating impulsive or undiscriminating attention.

In the 'Digits' memory game used in Pymetrics, what aspect of cognition is most directly tested?

Answer: Working memory capacity

The Digits game tests working memory by requiring you to hold and manipulate a sequence of numbers in mind over a short period.

During a Pymetrics attention game, stimuli are presented very briefly (e.g., 200 ms). What is this design feature testing?

Answer: Perceptual processing speed and rapid detection

Brief stimulus presentations test how quickly and accurately the perceptual system can detect and identify information before it disappears.

If a Pymetrics player consistently misses targets in the second half of an attention task but performed well early on, this pattern most likely indicates:

Answer: Attentional fatigue or vigilance decrement

Declining performance over time in a sustained-attention task is called vigilance decrement, caused by mental fatigue reducing alertness.