Sensory adaptation

adaptation

The process by which sensory receptors become less sensitive to constant stimuli over time

habituation

A decrease in response to a repeated stimulus over time.

dishabituation

The recovery of a response to a stimulus after it has been habituated.

selective attention

Focusing on one specific thing while ignoring others

cocktail party phenomenon

The ability to focus on one conversation in a noisy environment.

shadowing

Repeating words or sounds immediately after hearing them, often used in attention studies.

filter theories

The idea that attention works like a filter, blocking out irrelevant information.

attentional resource theories

The idea that we have a limited amount of attention to distribute across tasks.

divided attention

The ability to focus on multiple tasks at the same time.

inatttentional blindness

Failing to notice something in plain sight because attention is focused elsewhere.