Attention is the process of directing awareness toward some information or activity while giving less priority to others. This lesson introduces major ways attention has been defined and traces key ideas in its historical study.
In cognitive psychology, attention is often described as the allocation of limited processing resources to a subset of information, thoughts, or tasks. In neuropsychology, it is a set of mechanisms through which sensory cues and internal goals influence neural activity and guide behavior and thought.
All flashcards
What is attention?
Attention is the concentration of awareness on selected information or activity, while other possible inputs receive less priority.
How does intentionality differ from attention?
Intentionality is the mind's being about or representing something. Attention is the process of bringing selected content into clear awareness and sustaining it.
What is apperception in Leibniz's account?
Apperception is the process through which new experience combines with prior experience to form a conscious whole.
What is mental chronometry?
A method of studying mental operations by measuring response times and using timing differences to estimate how long processes take.
What is the cocktail party problem?
The challenge of following one conversation amid competing voices.
Quiz questions
What did Juan Luis Vives propose about attending closely to stimuli?Answer: Close attention helps stimuli be retained better in memory.
What is subitizing?Answer: Rapidly recognizing a small number of items without counting.
What task-switching result did A. T. Jersild report?Answer: Switching between task categories takes longer than completing a consistent list.
What is the usual immediate effect of a brief, valid peripheral cue?Answer: Responses to a target at the cued location become faster.
In Posner's framework, what is the main function of executive attention?Answer: Resolving conflict between competing stimuli or responses.
Based on the Wikipedia article Attention, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Adapted into a summary, flashcards and quizzes.