Chapter 5 Attention and Performance

Question 1

attention

Answer 1

is the taking into possession of the mind, in clear vivid form, of one out of what seem several simultaneous possible objects or trains of thought. Focalisation, consentration, of consciousness are of its essence

Question 2

focused attention

Answer 2

a situation in which individuals try to attend to only one source of info while ignoring other stimuli; also known as selective attention

Question 3

divided attention

Answer 3

a situation in which two tasks are performed at the same time; also known as multi-tasking

Question 4

shadowing

Answer 4

(participants asked to repeat back)

repeating back a message that goes to one ear, and not with the message going to the opposite ear

Question 5

breakthrough (Treismann´s theory)

Answer 5

when info on the unattended channel exeeds the threshold of the attended channels

Question 6

covert attention

Answer 6

attention to an object or sound in the absence of covert movements of the relevant receptors (e.g. looking at an object in the periphery of vision without moving one´s eyes)

Question 7

detect onset of light

Answer 7

presented with either central cue (accurate info of location) or peripheral cue (inaccurate info)

Question 8

endogenous system

Answer 8

controlled by your intentions and expectations, involved when peripheral cues are presented

Question 9

exogenous system

Answer 9

automatically shifts attention (salient info), involved when uninformative peripheral cues are presented

Question 10

spotlight

Answer 10

illuminate a small part of the visual space

Question 11

split attention

Answer 11

allocation of attention to two (or more) non-adjacent regions of visual space

Question 12

inhibition of return

Answer 12

a reduced probability of visual attention returning to a previously attended location or object

Question 13

main attentional disorders: neglect and extinction

Answer 13

a disorder of visual attention in which stimuli or parts of stimuli presented to the side opposite the brain damage are undetected and not responded to; the condition resembles extinction but is more severe

Question 14

cross-modal attention

Answer 14

the coordination of attention across two or more modalities (e.g. vision and auditory)

Question 15

endogenous spatial attention

Answer 15

attention to a given spatial location determined by voluntary or goal directed mechanisms

Question 16

exogenous spatial attention

Answer 16

attention to a given spatial location determined by “involuntary” mechanisms triggered by external stimuli (e.g. loud noise)