Chapter Five Vocab

Question 1

What is Attentional Load?

Answer 1

A measure of how much processing resources are needed in order to perform a task.

Question 2

What is the Attenuator Model?

Answer 2

A theory of attention in which unattended stimuli are processed but at a reduced level relative to attended stimuli.

Question 3

What is Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)?

Answer 3

A developmental disorder that can lead to deficits in language, impaired social behaviors, repetitive actions and general delays in cognitive development.

Question 4

What is Automatic Processing?

Answer 4

Processing that happens even without the allocation of selective attention, typically for highly familiar stimuli or tasks.

Question 5

What is Balint Syndrome?

Answer 5

A neurological disorder typically resulting from damage to both parietal lobes that carries several attentional deficits including occulomotor apraxia and simultanagnosia.

Question 6

What is Change Blindness?

Answer 6

A form of inattentional blindness in which people have difficulty detecting the difference between two versions of a picture that are alternately presented.

Question 7

What is the Cocktail Party Effect?

Answer 7

The ability to attend to a specific voice in an environment in which other competing voices are present as well.

Question 8

What are Conjunction Errors?

Answer 8

A failure to accurately bind together the discrete features of a single object.

Question 9

What is a Conjunction Search?

Answer 9

A version of a visual-search task in which the target is distinguished from the distractors based on a several features.

Question 10

What is Covert Attention?

Answer 10

Attentional selection and processing of a location while eye fixation is maintained elsewhere.

Question 11

What is a Dichotic Listening Task?

Answer 11

An experimental task designed to assess selective attention. Participants are presented, via headphones, with two different audio streams to each of the two ears and tasked with repeating only one of the streams while ignoring the other.

Question 12

What is Divided Attention?

Answer 12

The allocation of processing resources to multiple objects or tasks simultaneously.

Question 13

What are Early-Selection Models?

Answer 13

A model of attention that posits that unattended information is filtered based on basic physical characteristics without processing meaning.

Question 14

What does Endogenous mean?

Answer 14

Control of attention that is driven by factors internal to the individual.

Question 15

What is the Eriksen Flanker Task?

Answer 15

A technique used to study attention in which an irrelevant distractor is included alongside experimental stimuli in order to see whether the distractor is processed, increasing reaction time.

Question 16

What does Exogenous mean?

Answer 16

Control of attention that is driven by factors external to the individual.

Question 17

What is Feature-Integration Theory?

Answer 17

A theory of attentional function that holds that attention is necessary in order to bind together discrete features of an object unto a unified whole.

Attention is the “glue” 🧩 that combines an object’s separate features (like color, shape, and motion) into one unified perception.

Question 18

What are Frontal Eye Fields (FEFs)?

Answer 18

A portion of the frontal lobes associated with allocation of attention via eye movements.

Question 19

What is a Go/No-Go Task?

Answer 19

An experimental procedure used to test cognitive control and the subject’s ability to control impulsive responses.

Question 20

What is Inattentional Blindness?

Answer 20

The failure to perceive an object or event that occurs in plain sight. The failure is not due to visual impairments.

Question 21

What is Inattentional Deafness?

Answer 21

A phenomenon in which auditory information is not perceived when a different high-load task is being performed

Question 22

What are Late-Selection Models?

Answer 22

A model of attention that posits that unattended information is first processed in terms of its meaning, and then filtered based on irrelevance to the current task.

Question 23

What are Medial Temporal Lobes (MT)?

Answer 23

A portion of the cortex that has been found to be involved in the perception of motion.

Question 24

What is Occulomotor Apraxia?

Answer 24

The inability to execute visually guided movements.

Question 25

What is Overt Attention?

Answer 25

Selective attention of a location that is accompanied by eye fixation of the same region.

Question 26

What is the Primary Visual Cortex?

Answer 26

The portion of the occipital lobe is the primary processing center for vision and organizes visual information for further processing throughout the occipital lobe.

Question 27

What is a Retinotopic Map?

Answer 27

The location of pattern stimulation on the retina is preserved at the cortical level.

Question 28

What is Selective Attention?

Answer 28

A form of attentional control in which a single data stream (e.g., an object or voice) is processed while others are ignored.

Question 29

What is Simultanagnosia?

Answer 29

The inability to identify or use more than one object or property in a scene at a time.

Question 30

What is a Single-Feature Search?

Answer 30

A version of a visual-search task in which the target is distinguished from the distractors based on a single feature.

Question 31

What is Visual Neglect?

Answer 31

A deficit of attention in which the individual fails to notice or process a particular location in space, typically the left visual field due to right parietal lobe damage.

Question 32

What is a Visual Search?

Answer 32

An experimental task in which participants must search for a target object among distractors.