Chapter 5 Terms

Question 1

Selective Attention

Answer 1

The skill through which a person focuses on one input or one task while ignoring other stimuli that are also on the scene.

Question 2

Dichotic Listening

Answer 2

A task in which research participants hear two simultaneous verbal messages – one presented via headphones to the left ear and a second one presented to the right ear.

Question 3

Attended Channel

Answer 3

A stimulus (or stimuli) that a person is trying to perceive. Ordinarily, information is understood or remembered from the attended channel. Contrasted with the unattended channel.

Question 4

Unattended Channel

Answer 4

A stimulus (or stimuli) that a person is not trying to perceive. Ordinarily, little information is understood or remembered from the unattended channel. Contrasted with the attended channel.

Question 5

Shadowing

Answer 5

A task in which research participants repeat back a verbal input, word for word, as they hear it.

Question 6

Inattentional Blindness

Answer 6

A pattern in which perceivers seem literally not to see stimuli right in front of their eyes; this pattern is caused by the participants focusing their attention on some other stimuli and not expecting the target to appear.

Question 7

Change Blindness

Answer 7

A pattern in which perceivers either do not see or take a long time to see large-scale changes in a visual stimulus. This pattern reveals how little people perceive, even from stimuli in plain view, if they are not specifically attending to the target information.

Question 8

Early Selection Hypothesis

Answer 8

A proposal that selective attention operates at an early stage of processing, so that the unattended inputs receive little analysis.

Question 9

Late Selection Hypothesis

Answer 9

A proposal that selective attention operates at a late stage of processing, so that the unattended inputs receive considerable analysis.

Question 10

Biased Competition Theory

Answer 10

A proposal that attention functions by shifting neurons’ priorities, so that the neurons are more responsive to inputs that have properties associated with the desired or relevant input.

Question 11

Spatial Attention

Answer 11

The mechanism through which people allocate processing resources to particular positions in space, so that they more efficiently process any inputs from that region in space.

Question 12

Limited-Capacity System

Answer 12

A group of mental processes in which mental resources are limited, so that extra resources supplied to one process must be balanced by a withdrawal of resources somewhere else – with the result that total resources expended do not exceed the limit of what is available.

Question 13

Mental Resources

Answer 13

Some process or capacity needed for performance, but in limited supply.

Question 14

Endogenous Control of Attention

Answer 14

A mechanism through which a person chooses (often on the basis of some meaningful signal) where to focus attention.

Question 15

Exogenous Control of Attention

Answer 15

A mechanism through which attention is automatically directed, essentially as a reflex response, to some “attention-grabbing” input.

Question 16

Feature Integration Theory

Answer 16

A proposal about the function of attention in “gluing” together elements and features that are in view.

Question 17

Divided Attention

Answer 17

The skill of performing multiple tasks simultaneously.

Question 18

Executive Control

Answer 18

The mental resources and processes that are used to set goals, choose task priorities, and avoid conflict among competing resources.

Question 19

Perseveration Error

Answer 19

A pattern of responding in which a person produces the same response over and over, even though the person knows that the task requires a change in response. This pattern is often observed in patients with brain damage in the frontal lobe.

Question 20

Goal Neglect

Answer 20

A pattern of behavior in which people fail to keep their goal in mind, so that, for example, they rely on habitual responses even if those responses will not move them toward the goal.

Question 21

Automaticity

Answer 21

A state achieved by some tasks and some forms of processing, in which the task can be performed with little to no attention. In many cases, automatized actions can be combined with other activities without interference. Automatized actions are also often difficult to control, leading many psychologists to refer to them as “mental reflexes”. This process can be interrupted by effortful attention.