Attention, Thought Processes and Decision Making

These flashcards cover key vocabulary and concepts related to attention, thought processes, and decision making discussed in the lecture.

Attention

The ability to selectively bring certain stimuli into conscious awareness while ignoring others.

Cocktail Party Phenomenon

The ability to focus one's hearing on a single conversation despite background noise.

Inattentional Blindness

The failure to notice unexpected stimuli in one's environment.

Change Blindness

The inability to detect large changes in a visual scene when they coincide with a momentary disruption.

Divided Attention

The process by which attention is split between multiple stimuli or tasks.

Schemas

Mental frameworks that help organize and interpret information.

Scripts

Schemas that dictate appropriate behavior in specific situations.

Categorization

The process of recognizing similarities between objects and grouping them into categories.

Prototype

An abstraction that serves as a mental representation for a specific category.

Exemplar

An ideal representation of a category based on individual experience.

Defining Features

Characteristics that are shared by all examples within a category.

Hierarchical Categorization

The organization of categories in a structured manner, from broader to more specific.

Inductive Reasoning

Reasoning that involves making generalizations based on specific instances.

Deductive Reasoning

Reasoning that involves drawing specific conclusions from general principles.

Analogical Reasoning

Reasoning by comparing a new situation with a familiar one.

Cognitive Bias

Systematic errors in thinking that affect decision-making.

Framing Effect

The manipulation of how information is presented to influence decision-making.

Anchoring

The tendency to rely heavily on the first piece of information encountered.

Overconfidence Bias

The tendency to overestimate one's knowledge and predictions.

Availability Heuristic

Making decisions based on information that is readily available in memory.

Representative Heuristic

Judging the likelihood of an event based on how much it resembles a typical case.

Heuristics

Mental shortcuts that ease cognitive load during decision-making.

Bounded Rationality

Making decisions that are rational within the limits of available information.

Risk-Averse

Preferring to avoid losses rather than acquiring equivalent gains.

Risk-Seeking

Preferring to take risks in order to avoid certain losses.

Emotional Decision-Making

The process of making decisions influenced by emotions.

Prospect Theory

A behavioral economic theory that describes the effects of loss aversion on decision-making.

Deliberate Decision-Making

Engaging in thorough analysis and evaluation before making a choice.

Automatic Decision-Making

Making quick judgments without conscious deliberation.

Cognitive Load

The amount of working memory resources required to process information.

Selective Attention

The process of focusing on a particular object in the environment for a certain period.

Sensory Register

The initial stage of memory where sensory information is stored briefly.

Perceptual Filter

A mechanism that manages which information enters conscious awareness.

Short Term Memory (STM)

The capacity for holding a small amount of information for a brief period.

Environmental Salience

The degree to which certain stimuli stand out in the environment and draw attention.

Levels of catorgization

• Superordinate: The broad, general category (like vehicle).

• Subordinate: A more specific member of a category (like motorcycle).

• Hyperordinate: Sometimes used interchangeably with superordinate, meaning the broadest category.

• Simple: Not really used in standard categorization theory here.