Cog. Ch 4
Placing tomatoes, onions, jalapenos, garlic, cilantro, and lime juice into a blender and turning it on to produce salsa is similar to which of the following?
the focused attention stage of feature integration theor
automatic processing
understanding which occurs without intention and while using only some of a person's cognitive resources
The difficulty we have in recognizing even an obvious alteration in a scene is called __________ blindness.
change
Balint's syndrome
condition caused by brain damage whereby a person has difficulty focusing attention on individual objects
When we search a scene, initial fixations are most likely to occur on __________ areas.
high-saliency
The technique where the participant's task is to focus on the message in one ear, called the attended ear, and to repeat what he or she is hearing out loud is known as
dichotic listening.
illusory conjunction
situation in which features from different objects are inappropriately combined
change detection
task where a person has to determine the difference between two pictures
Stroop effect
task where a person has to respond to one aspect of a stimulus and ignore another aspect
Proponents of multitasking would note ________ to support their opinion, whereas opponents of multitasking would point to ________ to justify their perspective.
divided attention; distraction
stimulus salience
bottom-up factors that determine attention to elements of a scene
attentional warping
brain changes to allow more space for what is being searched for
focused attention stage
second step of Treisman's feature integration theory, in which features combine to perceive the object
When Sam listens to his girlfriend Susan in the restaurant and ignores other people's conversations, he is engaged in the process of __________ attention.
selective
Research on the use of cell phones while driving indicates that
the main effect of cell phone use on driving safety can be attributed to the fact that attention is used up by the cognitive task of talking on the phone.
shadowing
procedure of repeating a message out loud as it is heard
precueing
procedure where participants are given a prompt that may help them accomplish a subsequent task
binding
process of combining features to create the perception of a coherent object
attenuator
process that analyzes the incoming message in terms of physical characteristics, language, and meaning
load theory of attention
proposal that the ability to ignore task-irrelevant stimuli depends on how much the person is doing
same-object advantage
quickened response that occurs when enhancement spreads throughout an item
Attentional capture
rapid shifting of focus usually caused by a stimulus, such as a loud noise
Saccadic eye movement is a ______________.
rapid, jerky movement from one fixation to the next
With the Stroop effect, you would expect to find longest response times when
the color and the name differed.
feature integration theory
idea that attributes are first analyzed and then combined, resulting in perception of an object
A high threshold in Treisman's model of attention implies that
it takes a strong signal to cause activation.
Which of the following illustrates how we can miss things even if they are clearly visible?
Inattentional blindness
Which stage in Treisman's attenuation model has a threshold component?
The dictionary unit
According to Treisman's attenuation model, which of the following would you expect to have the highest threshold for most people?
The word "platypus"
Which of the following attention model components produces two levels of output?
Treisman's attenuator
early selection model
idea that a filter eliminates unattended information at the beginning of the flow of information
feature search
looking among distractors for a target item that involves detecting one attribute
dictionary unit
part of processing that contains stored words and thresholds for activating the words
saliency map
picture of a scene that indicates physical properties of areas and objects in the scene
dichotic listening
presenting one message to the left ear and a different message to the right ear
The notion that faster responding occurs when enhancement spreads within an object is called
same-object advantage.
covert attention
shifting observation without moving the eyes
filter model of attention
theory that stimuli are selected to be attended to during processing
Selective attention
ability to focus on one message and ignore all others
conjunction search
looking among distractors for a target that involves two or more features
Which of the following is an experimental procedure used to study how attention affects the processing of competing stimuli?
Dichotic listening
How does perceptual load differ from processing capacity?
Perceptual load is individual and processing capacity is universal.
cocktail party effect
ability to focus on one stimulus while filtering out other stimuli
Divided attention
ability to focus on, or carry out, two or more different tasks simultaneously
processing capacity
amount of information input that a person can handle
change blindness
difficulty detecting differences in similar, but slightly altered, scenes that are presented one after another
If you are folding towels while watching television, you may find that you don't have to pay much attention to the act of folding while keeping up with the storyline on the TV show. Folding the towels would be an example of a(n) ________ task.
low-load
The Stroop effect demonstrates people's inability to ignore the __________ of words.
meaning
detector
mechanism which processes information to determine higher-level characteristics of the message, such as its meaning
__________ is the process by which features such as color, form, motion, and location are combined to create our perception of a coherent object.
Binding
continuity error
film error where one aspect of the scene changes from one shot to the next
preattentive stage
first step of Treisman's feature integration theory, in which an object is analyzed into features
Suppose twin teenagers are vying for their mother's attention. The mother is trying to pay attention to one of her daughters, though both girls are talking (one about her boyfriend, one about a school project). According to the operating characteristics of Treisman's attenuator, it is most likely the attenuator is analyzing the incoming messages in terms of
meaning
inattentional blindness
not noticing something even though it is in clear view
Distraction
occurs when one stimulus interferes with attention to or the processing of another stimulus