Chapter 5 Key Terms

selective attention

focusing attention on one specific thing, ignoring other stimulus

dichotic listening

one specific input in one each and then another specific input in the other

attended channel

focusing on the specific input from one ear

unattended channel

ignoring the specific input from the other ear

shadowing

saying out loud what the focused on input is saying

filter

blocking certain information from processing, only the attended information passes through

fixation target

the mark in the middle of the screen either a dot or a cross that you’re focusing on

inattentional blindness

not being able to see what is right in front of you because you are so focused on something else

change blindess

something changing right in front of you but you don’t notice it because you are so focused on something else

early selection hypothesis

filtering happens before meaning is processed

late selection hypothesis

meaning is processed before it is filtered

repetition priming

processing a stimulus that occurs because that stimulus was encountered recently, no intentional effort or expectations

limited capacity system

mental resources

the cognitive energy or processing capacity needed to perform mental tasks

spatial attention

processing only what’s in the focused location

endogenous control of attention

top down voluntary goal oriented driven by internal intentions or expectation

exogenous control of attention

bottom up involuntary triggered automatically by external stimulus

unilateral neglect syndrome

damage to the parietal lobe, usually the right side, patient can attend to anything on the right side of space

divided attention

dispersing attention between multiple tasks

executive control

the process of setting goals, organizing strategies, inhibit automatic habits, and monitor performance

preservation error

repeating previous task even after the instructions has changed

goal neglect

failure to change behavior to reach goal

automaticity

doing something so much you can now do it with little to no conscious cognitive control

stroop interference

trying to name the color of the ink instead of just reading the color it spells