exam cogn 2

ambiguity resolution theory of visual selective attention: proposes that the primary function of visual selective attention is to resolve ambiguities that arise when multiple objects are present in a scene, by essentially choosing which interpretation of overlapping or partially-perceived features to prioritize and process further, effectively clarifying the visual information by focusing on specific details of an object rather than being overwhelmed by competing stimuli

Attention: a family of cognitive mechanisms that combine to help us select, modulate, and sustain focus on information that might be most relevant for behavior (Chun et al., 2011).

Attentional bias: our tendency to direct attention to some types of stimuli over others, and when we show a preference to attend to emotional stimuli, this is known as an emotion-driven attentional bias

Attentional Bias Modification (ABM) – A cognitive training technique designed to alter attentional biases, often used in treating anxiety and other emotional disorders.  

Attentional Blink – A brief period after detecting a stimulus during which a person is less likely to notice a second stimulus.  

Attentional Capture – The automatic attraction of attention by a sudden or salient stimulus, like a flashing light or loud sound.  

Attenuator Model of Attention – A theory by Treisman suggesting that instead of completely filtering out unattended information, the brain "attenuates" (weakens) it, allowing some unattended information to still be processed.  

Biased Competition Model of Attention – A theory stating that different stimuli compete for neural processing, with attention influencing which stimulus wins this competition.  

Binding Problem – The challenge of how the brain integrates information from different sensory modalities to form a unified perception.  

Blindsight – A condition in which individuals with damage to the visual cortex can respond to visual stimuli without conscious awareness of seeing them.  

Bottom-Up Selection – A process where attention is automatically guided by stimulus-driven properties, such as brightness or motion, rather than by conscious intention.  

Broaden-and-Build Theory – A psychological theory suggesting that positive emotions broaden an individual’s thought-action repertoire and help build lasting personal resources.  

Capacity-Limited – The idea that cognitive processing has a finite capacity, limiting how much information can be attended to at one time.  

Change Blindness – A failure to notice large changes in a visual scene when the change occurs during a brief visual disruption.  

Cocktail Party Problem – The difficulty of focusing on a single auditory stimulus while filtering out multiple background conversations and noises.  

Conjunction – In attention research, a condition where multiple features (e.g., color and shape) must be combined to identify an object.  

Contextual Cueing – A phenomenon in which past experience with visual context helps guide attention to relevant stimuli more efficiently.  

Continuous Performance Task (CPT) – A test used to measure sustained attention and response control by requiring individuals to respond to certain stimuli over time.  

Covert Attention – Shifting attention without moving the eyes or head, focusing mentally on something without directly looking at it.  

Dichotic Listening – A task where participants hear different auditory streams in each ear and must selectively attend to one.  

Dot Probe Task – A cognitive test measuring attentional biases by assessing how quickly a person responds to stimuli appearing in previously cued locations.  

Early Selection – A model of attention that proposes filtering of stimuli occurs at an early stage of processing, before perceptual analysis.  

Emotion-Induced Blindness – A phenomenon where emotionally salient stimuli disrupt awareness of subsequent visual stimuli.  

Endogenous (or Central) Cue – A cue that originates internally and voluntarily directs attention, such as an arrow pointing in a specific direction.  

Exogenous (or Peripheral) Cue – A stimulus-driven cue that automatically captures attention, such as a sudden flash of light.  

Explicit Attention – Conscious and deliberate focus on a particular stimulus or task.  

External Attention – Attention directed toward stimuli in the external environment rather than internal thoughts.  

Eye Tracking – A technology that measures eye movement and gaze patterns to study attention and visual processing.  

Feature-Based Attention – A type of attention focused on specific characteristics of stimuli, such as color, shape, or motion.  

 Feature Integration Theory – Treisman’s theory that explains how different visual features (e.g., color, shape) are combined through attention to form coherent perceptions.  

 Filter Model of Attention – Broadbent’s theory that suggests attention acts as a bottleneck, filtering out unattended stimuli early in processing.  

Gabor Patches – Visual stimuli consisting of sinusoidal gratings used in vision and attention research to study spatial frequency and contrast sensitivity.  

Gist – The overall meaning or summary of a scene that can be quickly perceived without focusing on specific details.  

Illusory Conjunctions – A phenomenon where features from multiple objects are mistakenly combined, supporting the idea that attention is needed for accurate perception.  

 Implicit Attention – Automatic, unconscious attention to stimuli without intentional focus.  

Inattentional Blindness – The failure to notice unexpected objects in a visual scene when attention is engaged elsewhere.  

 Inhibition of Return (IOR) – A cognitive process that discourages reorienting attention to previously attended locations, facilitating efficient visual searches.  

 Late Selection – A model of attention that suggests filtering occurs later in processing, after perceptual analysis but before response selection.  

 Load Theory – A theory stating that attentional resources are limited, and how much we process unattended stimuli depends on the cognitive load of a task.  

 Modulation – The process by which attention alters neural responses to sensory input, enhancing or suppressing specific stimuli.  

 Object-Based Attention – A theory suggesting that attention is allocated to entire objects rather than just spatial locations or features.  

 Overt Attention – Directing attention by physically moving the eyes toward a stimulus.  

Parallel Processing – The simultaneous processing of multiple stimuli or features, often seen in early visual perception.  

 Perceptual Load – The amount of cognitive effort required to process a given stimulus, affecting how attention is allocated.  

 Posner Cueing Task – A psychological test used to study attention by measuring reaction times to targets appearing in cued versus uncued locations.  

Preattentive Processing – The automatic analysis of visual information before conscious attention is engaged.  

Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP) Task – A task in which stimuli are presented in quick succession at the same spatial location, used to study attentional processes.  

Receptive Field – The specific area in the visual field that a neuron or group of neurons responds to.  

Reflexive Attention: The automatic shifting of attention in response to an unexpected stimulus.  

Saccades: Rapid, ballistic eye movements that shift the gaze from one point to another.  

Saliency Map: A computational representation highlighting visually distinct areas in an image that are likely to capture attention.  

Selection: The process of choosing which stimuli to focus on while ignoring others.  

Serial Processing: The step-by-step processing of information, as opposed to handling multiple elements simultaneously (parallel processing).  

 Acoustic Similarity Effect: The phenomenon where similarsounding words or letters are more likely to be confused in shortterm memory.  

 Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC): A brain region involved in cognitive control, error detection, and conflict monitoring.  

 Articulatory Rehearsal Loop: A component of working memory where information is maintained through subvocal repetition.  

 Articulatory Suppression: A process that disrupts the phonological loop by requiring participants to speak or repeat irrelevant sounds, preventing rehearsal.  

 Attention Restoration Theory: Proposed by Kaplan (1995), this theory suggests that exposure to natural environments restores cognitive resources depleted by directed attention tasks.  

 Automatic Process: A mental process that occurs quickly and without conscious effort, often as a result of extensive practice.  

 Central Bottleneck Model: A theory that suggests there is a processing bottleneck that limits the ability to perform two cognitive tasks simultaneously.  

 Central Executive: A component of working memory (from Baddeley’s model) responsible for directing attention and managing cognitive processes.  

 Chunks: Meaningful units of information grouped together in working memory to increase retention capacity.  

 Cognitive Control: The ability to regulate thought and behavior in response to goals or environmental demands.  

 Cognitive Interference: Disruption in cognitive processing caused by irrelevant thoughts, emotions, or distractions.  

 Cognitive Load: The amount of working memory resources required to perform a task.  

 Cognitive Overlap: The degree to which two tasks share mental resources, influencing multitasking performance.  

 Conflict Monitoring: The process of detecting and resolving cognitive conflicts, often associated with the anterior cingulate cortex.  

 Conflict Resolution: The ability to suppress or manage competing cognitive processes to achieve a goal.  

 Controlled Process: A mental process that requires conscious effort and attention, often used in novel or complex tasks.  

 Digitspan Task: A memory test where individuals recall a sequence of numbers to measure working memory capacity.  

 Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex (DLPFC): A brain region involved in executive functions, such as working memory and decisionmaking.  

 Dualtask Experiments: Studies where participants perform two tasks simultaneously to examine cognitive resource allocation.  

 Ego Depletion: The idea that selfcontrol is a finite resource that becomes depleted with use, affecting cognitive performance.  

 Emotion Regulation: Strategies used to influence emotions, including reappraisal and suppression.  

 Episodic Buffer: A component of Baddeley’s working memory model that integrates information from different sources into a unified representation.  

 Error Detection: The cognitive ability to recognize mistakes in realtime.  

 Errorrelated Negativity (ERN): A neural response observed in EEG recordings that signals the detection of errors.  

 Flanker Task: A cognitive task used to measure attentional control by presenting distracting stimuli around a target stimulus.  

 Individuate: The process of distinguishing between similar stimuli or concepts in memory or perception.  

 Inhibition: The ability to suppress irrelevant information or responses to maintain cognitive control.  

 Internal Attention: The allocation of cognitive resources to internally generated thoughts, memories, or plans.  

 Irrelevant Speech Effect: The phenomenon where background speech disrupts verbal working memory performance.  

 Longterm Memory: A system for storing information over extended periods, including declarative and procedural memory.  

 Manipulates: In cognitive psychology, this refers to the process of modifying or reorganizing mental representations.  

 Mental Chronometry: The study of reaction times to infer cognitive processing speed.  

 Perceptual Interference: When irrelevant sensory information disrupts perception and cognition.  

 Perseveration Errors: The repetition of incorrect responses, often observed in cognitive flexibility tasks.  

 Phonological Loop: A component of working memory involved in storing and processing verbal information.  

 Phonological Store: A temporary storage system for verbal information within the phonological loop.  

 Prediction Error: The difference between expected and actual outcomes, important in learning and decisionmaking.  

 Preparation Effect: Improved cognitive performance when given time to prepare for a task.  

 Proactive Control: A form of cognitive control where goalrelevant information is actively maintained to guide behavior.  

 Psychological Refractory Period: The delay in response when processing multiple stimuli in quick succession.  

 Reactive Control: A form of cognitive control where adjustments are made in response to unexpected demands.  

 Residual Switch Cost: The lingering cognitive cost of switching between tasks.  

 Resource: The mental capacity available for cognitive tasks.  

 Resource Model: Theoretical frameworks that describe how cognitive resources are allocated among tasks.  

 Resource Sharing: The division of cognitive resources among multiple tasks.  

 Response Interference: When competing responses create difficulty in task performance.  

 Rumination: Repetitive, negative thinking that interferes with cognitive control.  

 Scarcity Hypothesis: The idea that cognitive resources become taxed when managing limited resources, such as time or money.  

 Serial Recall: A memory task requiring recall of items in the exact order of presentation.  

 Seven Plus or Minus Two: A principle from Miller (1956) stating that the capacity of working memory is about 7 ± 2 items.  

 Simon Task: A task that measures cognitive control by examining reaction times when spatial cues conflict with response mapping.  

 Slot Model: A theory of working memory suggesting a fixed number of storage slots for discrete items.  

 Stopsignal Task: A cognitive task measuring response inhibition by instructing participants to stop a preplanned response.  

 Storage: The process of maintaining information in memory over time.  

 Stroop Interference: The delay in reaction time when naming the color of a word that spells a conflicting color name.  

 Sustained Attention: The ability to maintain focus on a task over a prolonged period.  

 Taskswitch Cost: The decrease in efficiency when switching between cognitive tasks.  

 Vigilance: The ability to maintain attention for rare, unpredictable events.  

 Visual Shortterm Memory: A system for temporarily storing visual information.  

 Visuospatial Sketchpad: A component of working memory responsible for processing visual and spatial information.  

 Wordlength Effect: The phenomenon where shorter words are more easily remembered in working memory than longer words.  

 Working Memory: A cognitive system responsible for temporary storage and manipulation of information.  

 Yerkes–Dodson Curve: A psychological principle describing the relationship between arousal and performance, with optimal performance occurring at moderate levels of arousal.  

• A-B, A-C Learning Paradigm: A method in memory research where participants first learn an association (A-B) and later learn a new association (A-C) with the same initial stimulus (A), testing interference effects.

• Autobiographical Memory: A type of long-term memory involving personal life experiences and events.

• Blocking: A memory phenomenon where prior learning interferes with the retrieval of new information.

• Chunking: The process of grouping related information into meaningful units to enhance memory capacity.

• Cognitive Interview: A memory retrieval technique used in forensic settings to enhance eyewitness recall by focusing on context and multiple perspectives.

• Consistency Bias: The tendency to recall past beliefs and behaviors as more similar to current ones than they actually were.

• Context-dependent Memory: The idea that memory recall is improved when the learning environment matches the retrieval environment.

• Deese/Roediger-McDermott (DRM) Effect: A false memory phenomenon where people recall words related to a studied list but that were never actually presented.

• Depth of Encoding: The extent to which information is processed at a meaningful level, with deeper processing leading to better memory retention.

• Distributed Practice: A learning strategy that involves spreading study sessions over time, which improves retention compared to massed practice.

• Divided-attention Tasks: Tasks that require focusing on multiple streams of information, testing cognitive load and multitasking abilities.

• Elaboration: A memory strategy that involves adding meaning or connections to new information to improve retention.

• Encode: The process of transforming sensory input into a format that can be stored in memory.

• False Memories: The recall of events or details that never actually occurred, often influenced by suggestion or misinformation.

• Fan Effect: The observation that recall slows down when a concept is associated with many different facts, due to increased retrieval competition.

• Flashbulb Memories: Vivid and detailed memories of emotionally significant events, though they are not always accurate.

• Forgetting Curve: A concept by Ebbinghaus showing that memory retention declines rapidly after learning but stabilizes over time.

• Generation Effect: The phenomenon where information is better remembered when actively generated rather than passively received.

• Google Effect: The tendency to forget information that can be easily accessed online, also known as digital amnesia.

• Hierarchical Organization: A memory structure where information is arranged in a nested, top-down format for better recall.

• Hyperthymestic Syndrome: A rare condition where individuals have an extraordinary ability to recall personal life events in extreme detail.

• Iconic Memory: A form of sensory memory that holds visual information for a brief period (milliseconds).

• Infantile Amnesia: The inability to recall autobiographical events from early childhood, typically before age 3.

• Intrusive Memories: Unwanted, involuntary recollections of traumatic or emotionally charged experiences.

• Long-term Memory: A system for storing information over extended periods, including declarative and procedural knowledge.

• Massed Practice: A learning strategy where study sessions are concentrated in a short period, leading to poorer retention compared to spaced learning.

• Memory: The cognitive process of encoding, storing, and retrieving information.

• Memory Suggestibility: The extent to which external factors, such as misleading information, influence memory recall.

• Metamemory: Awareness and understanding of one’s own memory processes and capabilities.

• Method of Loci: A mnemonic device that involves associating information with specific physical locations to improve recall.

• Mnemonists: Individuals with exceptional memory abilities, often using advanced mnemonic strategies.

• Mood-dependent Memory: The phenomenon where recall is better when a person’s mood at retrieval matches their mood during encoding.

• Proactive Interference: A memory phenomenon where older information interferes with the recall of newer information.

• Reality Monitoring: The ability to distinguish between memories of real events and imagined or distorted experiences.

• Rehearsal: The cognitive process of repeating information to enhance retention in working memory.

• Retrieval: The process of accessing stored information from memory.

• Retrieval Cues: Stimuli that aid in recalling information from memory.

• Retrieval-induced Forgetting: A phenomenon where recalling some aspects of a memory suppresses the retrieval of related but unpracticed information.

• Retroactive Interference: When new learning disrupts the recall of previously learned information.

• Retrograde Memory Enhancement: The improvement of memories formed before an event, often linked to emotional arousal or brain stimulation.

• Savings Measure: A method in memory research that quantifies the retained knowledge by comparing the effort needed for initial and relearning trials.

• Schemas: Cognitive frameworks that help organize and interpret information based on past experiences.

• Self-imagining: A memory technique where information is encoded by associating it with oneself, improving recall.

• Self-reference Effect: The tendency to remember information better when it is personally relevant.

• Sensory Memory: A temporary memory system that holds sensory input for a very brief duration before it fades or is transferred to short-term memory.

• Sequential Lineup: A lineup procedure in eyewitness identification where suspects are presented one at a time instead of all at once.

• Short-term Memory: A temporary memory system that holds information for a brief duration (seconds to minutes) before it is either forgotten or encoded into long-term memory.

• Source Confusion: When people misattribute the origin of a memory to the wrong source.

• Source Misattribution: A memory error where a person incorrectly recalls the source of information.

• Source Monitoring: The cognitive process of determining where a memory came from.

• Spacing Effect: The principle that distributing learning over time leads to better retention than cramming.

• State-dependent Memory: The tendency to recall information better when in the same mental or physical state as during encoding.

• Testing Effect: The phenomenon where retrieval practice (e.g., taking tests) enhances long-term memory retention.

• Tip-of-the-Tongue Phenomenon: A temporary inability to recall a known word or fact, often accompanied by a feeling of being close to remembering it.

• Von Restorff Effect: The tendency to remember distinctive or unique items more easily than common ones.

Weapon Focus: The phenomenon where a witness’s attention is drawn to a weapon in a crime scene, leading to impaired memory for other details.