Chapter 4: Attention Flashcards
The ways in which a cognitive processor allocates cognitive resources to two or more tasks that are carried out simultaneously
divided attention
The focusing of cognitive resources on one or a small number of tasks to the exclusion of others
selective attention
A task in which a person hears tow or more different, specially recorded messages over earphones and is asked to attend to one of them
dichotic listening task
A theory of attention proposing that information that exceeds the capacity of a processor to process at any given time is blocked from further processing
filter theory
A model of attention in which unattended perceptual events are transmitted in weakened form, but not blocked completely before being processed for meaning
attenuation theory
A phenomenon in which exposure to one stimulus facilitates response to another stimulus
priming
A theory of attention that claims unattended information is never perceived
schema theory
The phenomenon of not perceiving a stimulus that might be literally right in front of you, unless you are paying attention to it
inattentional blindness
A task in which a subject sees a list of words (color terms) printed in an ink color that differs from the word named; the subject is asked to name the ink colors of the words in the list
Stroop task
The carrying out of a cognitive task with minimal resources; typically occurs without intention, interferes minimally with other cognitive tasks, and may not involve conscious awareness
automatic processing
The carrying out of a cognitive task with a deliberate allocation of cognitive resources; typically occurs on difficult and/or unfamiliar tasks requiring attention and is under conscious control
controlled processing
A proposal that perception of familiar stimuli occurs in two stages: the first automatic stage involves the perception of object features, the second attentional stage involves the integration and unification of those features
feature integration theory
A phenomenon in which certain stimuli seem to “pop out” and require a person to shift cognitive resources automatically to them
attentional capture
The proposal that attention is needed during the learning phase of a new task
attention hypothesis of automatization
An experimental paradigm involving presentation of two tasks for a person to work on simultaneously
dual-task performance
