Attention and Perception

Selective Attention

Attending to one thing while ignoring another.

Distraction

One stimulus interfering with another.

William James's Definition of Attention

Taking possession of the mind of one out of several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought.

Divided Attention

Attending to multiple things at once.

Processing Capacity

The amount of information people can handle and limits on their ability to process incoming information.

Attentional Load

The difficulty of a task.

Attentional Capture

Rapid shifting of attention due to salient stimuli like a loud noise or hearing your name.

Load Theory of Attention

We have a finite set of attentional resources; if your budget is used up, dual-tasking is not possible.

Resource Specificity

Dividing attention is easier if tasks pull from different resources rather than overlapping ones.

Generality of Resources in Driving

Talking on a phone while driving impairs driving because both tasks compete for overlapping language and motor resources.

Passenger vs. Phone Conversations

Passengers pick up on traffic cues and adjust conversation accordingly, whereas phone callers do not.

Executive Control

A mechanism that sets goals, chooses strategies, prioritizes, and controls behaviors.

Automaticity

The point at which a familiar behavior requires few resources and no longer requires conscious thought.

Controlled vs. Automatic Tasks

Controlled tasks are new and demand resources; automatic tasks are familiar and free up resources.

Overt Attention

Shifting attention by moving the eyes or body from one place to another.

Covert Attention

Shifting attention while keeping the eyes completely stationary.

Saccades

Quick, rapid movements of both eyes between fixations.

Fixation

The brief pausing of the eye on a target.

Stimulus Salience

Physical properties of a stimulus like color, contrast, and movement that capture attention.

Feature Integration Theory (FIT)

Theory that features (shape, color, motion) are combined to create an object through the process of binding.

Posner Cueing Task

A method to study spatial attention and the ability to focus on a position in space.

Dichotic Listening Task

An early method measuring selective attention by playing different speech signals in each ear.

Cocktail Party Effect

Hearing your own name or relevant words in an unattended channel during dichotic listening.

Early Selection Filtering

Filtering where stimuli receive little consideration at the perceptual level.

Late Selection Filtering

Filtering where all stimuli are perceived and weeded out later in cognitive processing.

Bottleneck Theory

Theory that attentional resources are limited, so unimportant information is filtered out very early.

Filter Theory

Theory stating unimportant information is processed and filtered out later, explaining why we hear our name.

Attenuation (Booster) Theory

Theory that unimportant information is weakened (attenuated) rather than completely lost.