ATTENTION, PERCEPTION ANO MEMORY

Further reading

Baddeley, A. D. (1997) Human M emory: Th~o ry and practi ·r· . ll 1111 • li

Psychology Press. For a good acco unt of different ryp ·s 111 1111 11111
representation and connection ist modelling.
Ellis, R. and Humphreys, G. (1999) Connectionist Psychology: A /o•• I lt I
readings. Hove, UK: Psychology Press. For more detai l 0 11 1'111' 11
connecrionism , see Chapter 1.
Eyse nck , M . W. and Keane, M . T. (2000) Cognitive Psychology: A l lll olt III
handbook (4th ed. ). Hove, UK: Psychology Press. For a sh rt ., H h

threshold . The point ar which a stimulus can be

,fr rccted 50% of the time. It is rhe lower limit of
r nsation.
modation . The thickening or rhinning of the lens in
thc cye, controlled by muscles that provide feedback
lo the brain about the degree of change in the lens.
A cue for distance.
signal. A sound pattern of frequency and a mpli-
tude detected by the auditory system.
schema. A schema organised in a hi erarchical way,
with parent and child schemas that are recruited as
nccessary to complete an acrion sequence.
stimulus. The stimulus that is norma ll y encoded
hy a sensory receptor; in vision, for exa mple, it is light.
t. A neural signal from the sense organs going to
the brain.
. A neuropsycho logical disorder in which new
informatio n cannot be encoded into long-term
storage such that it can be made consciously avail-
able in the future. Implicit learnin g, which can be
demonstrated without conscious recollection, is
preserved.

302
303
GLOSSARY
Amplitude. The peak-to-peak meas urement of a sound wave, measurcd 1
sound pressure levei in decibels. The psychological correlate 1
lo udness.
Analysis by synthesis. A rerm coined by Neisser (1967) to refer to th
interpretation of a stimulus in terms of rhe way it is expected to h
on the basis of existing knowledge.
Anterior attentional orienting system . An attentional system within
the frontal lo bes invo lved in selecting and enhancing attenrion
processing to a visuallocatio n.
Articulatory suppression. A procedure to occupy the articul ator
appa ratus with irrelevant articul ation, such as repeating ' tlu·',
' the', 'the', to prevent articul atio n of other verb al experimelll I
stimuli.
Attention for action. The type of atte nti o n necessary fo r planning control
ling and executing responses, or actions.
Attention for perception. The type of attention
and imerpreting sensory data.
Auditory input lexicon. A store of word representations within which
word detectors collect evidence for their occurrence. If therc i
sufficient evidence for a word it will o utput its associated inforn111
tion to the rest of the processing system.
Automatic processing. Process ing that does not demand attention. h
runs o ff o utside intentio nal contrai and is not capacity limite
or resource limited, or interfered w ith by another task. Automati
processes are no t available for conscious inspection .
Basilar membrane. The membrane within the cochlea covered with hai
cells that is responsible for transducing the physical properties o
sound into a neural code.
Basket cells. Receptors wrapped aro und the base of the hair shaft in th
skin sensitive to movement of the ha ir.
Behavioural rigidity. The inability to change from one menta l task t
a nothe r. A symptom of frontal lo be damage.
Binding problem . As the brain codes ma ny perceptual properties o
o bj ects in separare speciali sed cel ls a nd pathways, the problem i
how ali the different properties are correctl y put together, or bound
into the correct combination.
Blind spot. The place where the optic nerve leaves the back of the eye.
this po int the retin a effectively has a 'hole' in it, and so no visu
infor mation is coded over this area.
Bottom-up. A term tha t refers to processing driven by the info rmation in
304
GLOSSARY
IIII' s i imulus, proceeding upward from low leveis of analysis toward
IIII' lligher leveis.
t ti. t hm ugh. T he ability of some information to capture conscious
IWM ·ness despi te being unattended, usually used wi th respect to the
llll .lll nded channel in dichotic listening experiments.
tlttll 1 nl view. The typical view of an object that reveals the principal
11 ' S.
1' 11111 , T he ability of one source of informatio n to take over from
111 01hcr. For example, if visual and tactile information are in con-
111 1, vi sion may capture touch so tha t an o bj ect is .recognised by
1h<· way it looks rather than the way it feels. A different example
wn uld be the sudden onset of novel information within a modality,
1, 1r ·xa mple an apple falling may interrupt ongoing attentional
Jll o · ··sing.
11 t 111i ·nl perception. The phenomenon whereby a stimulus that
f',l.t lu ally changes is only heard as one thing or another, with no
i 'l' '' · ·ption of the graded change. Usua lly applied to auditory stimuli
11 ·h as phonemes, which are never heard as ambiguous, but always
1 nl ·gorised.
Hill d ·ue. A symbo l, such as an arrow, presented to indicare which side
•ti visua l space a target will arrive.
tl llt od · ccutive. A hypothetical attentional system whose purpose is to
d11' · t contro lled processing. Part of Baddeley and Hitch's (1974)
111 odel of workin g memory and equated with the supervisory
111 ·ntional system in N orman and Shallice's (1986) model of willed
l <·hnv io ur.
11 lllt\ · blindness. The phenomenon of the inability of participan ts to
11 0 ti ce gross changes in the environment th at occur while attention is
d1 v •rted.
l1 o1111 ·t ·ristic features . The features tha t a n o bject usually has, none of
which are necessary and sufficient to define it as a category member,
hut whi ch a re shared by most members.
1.. -, d loop. Performance controlled this way demands attention and
on g ing activity is monitored for errors and for moving towards the
llllcnded goal.
'" hil- n. T he spiral-sh aped structure of the inner ear, which is divided
11l ng its length by the basilar membrane.
111 kt oii party effect. The ability to selectively listen to one of a number of
\) ncurrent conversations.
" 11 tive neuropsychology. A branch of cognitive psychology concerned
305
GLOSSARY
with the analysis of functional loss in patients who have suffercd
brain damage. One of its assumptions is that the brain i
modular and rhat functions can be selectively lost. Eviden ·t
can be used to support or refute "theories or models of norm :d
function.
Cognitive neuroscience. The combined approach of cognitive psycholog ,
cognitive neuropsychology, neuropsychology and neurophysiolog
to understanding the brain at both the biological and cognitiw
leveis. Modem imaging techniques such as PET and fMRI are u n l
to observe the intact brain in action, together with other phy Í( l
logical methods.
Conjunction. A rerm from the feature imegration theory of attention thal
describes a rarget defined by at least two separable features, such :1
a red O amongst green Os and red Ts.
Connectionist. Applied to parallel distributed processing models th.tl
comprise a large number of units that are highly interconne ln l
by inhibitory and excitatory links. ln such models know ledl\1
is held as a pattern of activity distributed across the units in ''
network.
Consistent mapping. A task in which distractors are never targets nntl
targets are never distractors; there is a consistem relation hlp
between the stimuli and the responses to be made to them.
Content addressable memory. A memory system that can be accesscd IIII
the basis of any of the information held within it.
Contention schedulcr. A component of Norman and Shallice's (] 9Ht•)
model that is responsible for rhe semi-automatic control of sch "111 11
activation to ensure that schema run off in an orderly way.
Controlled processing. Processing that is under conscious, intenri on11 l
control. It requires attentional resources, or capacity, and is suhi <'t I
to interference.
Conscious processing. See controlled processing.
Constructivist approach. The view that perception involves hypo rh r -
testing, and that interpretation of stimuli is guided by what tht
observer knows and expects. It acknowledges top-down influ 111 1
on bottom-up processing. Similar to analysis-by-synthesis.
Convergence. The movement of the eyes as they turn in towards each Olltt I
when an object moves closer to them. A cue to depth perceprion ti
dose distances.
Copy cue. The presentation of a stimulus that has been seen befor · 111 1
test of recognition memory.
306
GLO SS ARY
space. The area of cortex thar corresponds to the site of activity
1\Ssociated with the presentation of a visual stimulus.
attentional orienting. Orienting attention without making any
movement of the eyes.
Any signal that indicares what is to be done in a psychological task.
recall. Recall in response to the presentation of a word that was
presented at the sarne time as the stimulus word . For example, if
the word pair was cold-ground, and cold has been responded
to in the first test, ground would be presented as the cue to recall
COLD .
. The distance between the means of two distributions, used in
ignal detection theory to measure the overlap between signal and
A task that cannot be performed any better no matter
how much attentional resource is allocated to it, because there is
insufficient perceptual data or knowledge.
tive knowledge. Knowledge that can be retrieved from memory
into conscious awareness, and told to someone.
A term that describes the necessity for preventing ali stimuli
from concurremly activating their associated responses in order that
thc selected action can be made.
features. The features of an object that are necessary and
ufficient to define it as a member of a category. Ali category
mcmbers will have the defining features of their category.
listening. A task in which two messages are delivered concur-
rc:ntly, one to each ear, and the participam has to selectively listen to
une designated message and ignore the other.
threshold. The smallest change in the physical properties of
11 !ltimulus that give rise to a noticeable psychological change. The
1Une as a just-noticeable difference.
pc:rception. The view of ]. ]. Gibson (1950), that perception
uuld proceed directly from the perceptual input without need for
lnrcrpretation from memory or top-down processes.
shift. The compression of a sound wave to the from of a moving
uhjcct produces a rise in pitch, while the sound wave behind the
moving object is expanded, producing a drop in pitch. This has
th cffect of producing pitch changes as the object moves past. An
411ditory cue to movement.
A pathway for visual information that encodes what an
307
GLOSSARY
GLOSSARY
Double dissociation. Refers to the case where one neuropsychologica I
context. Context surrounding an event that is not integral to the
patient can do task A but not task B, and another patient ca 11
stimulus being processed; for example, the room you are reading this
do task B but not task A. Taken as evidence for the tasks beinJ hook in is extrinsic context.
processed by independent modules in the brain .
rc comparison model. A model from Rips, Shoben and Smith (1974)
Early selection. Selective attention that operares on the physical inform3 •
of how object category decisions are made, which involves the com-
tion available from early perceptual analysis.
parison of the object's features to those that are, first, characteristic
Ecological approach. An approach to perception taken by ]. ]. Gibso11
of the category, and then, if a match is not made, to the defining
(1950), that emphasises the importance of perception and action i11
fcatures of the object category.
processing environmental information.
rc integration theory. Treisman and Gelade (1980) proposed that
Efference copy. A copy of the signal for a muscle movement that inform s
when a conjunction of features is necessary to identify an object
the rest of the brain that it sho uld expect a change related to th~l
in visual search, serial search of object locations with focal attention
movement. Used to differentiate between whether we are touchin 11
is required, and attention is the 'glue' that binds features together.
ourself or are being touched , and to distinguish between movemc111
Scarch for individual features is parallel and does not require
across the retina produced by an eye movement, and that of 311
urrcntion . Without focal attention, illusory conjunctions may be
object crossing visual space.
formed where features in the display are incorrectly combined.
Efferent. A neural signal that leaves the brain to go to (for example) rlw
map. A component of feature integration theory. The feature
muscles.
map represents the location of individual feat ures on the map for
Encapsulated end organs. The primary receptors for touch in the hairl 'N
thnr feature. There are separare maps for colour and orientation,
regions of the body. fllr example.
Encoding specificity principie. Proposed by Tulving (1972), the prin cipl1
of knowing. A term introduced by Huppert and Piercy (1976) for
states that only a cue that is encoded with a memory trace cana 1 .1
thc effect observed in patients with amnesia who did not recognise a
a cue for retrieval of that memory at a !ater time.
timulus as having been seen before, but had a less definire feeling
Endogenous attention. Attention that is controlled by the intention of 1 that they knew it in some way.
participam.
The selective process whereby a class of stimuli meeting some
Endorphin. A neurotransmitter substance that is the body's natural pii 11
niterion, such as 'in the left ear', o r 'red Os' are allowed access
killer. It is related to opiate drugs such as morphine, which havc 1i11
to further processing, while stimuli not meeting that criterion are
sarne effect.
hlocked from further processing. A central aspect of Broadbent's
Engram. Tulving's (1972) term for a memory trace in long-1'1;1'111
( 1958) model of information processing.
memory.
The time the fovea of the eye dwells on a location in visual space,
Episodic memory. Long-term memo ry that has contextuai inform ali1111
during which time information is collected.
associated with ir. The memory for having experienced an event 1h111
r nnalysis. Used to ana lyse the component sine waves from the wave
can be remembered as such . lorm of a complex sound .
Exogenous attention . Attention that is drawn automatically to a stim1d11
, 'J'hc area of the retina with highest resolution and the highest
without the intention of the participam. Processing by exogc n11 11
l'oncentration of cones for detecting colour.
attention cannot be ignored . lt is attracted, for example h I
t completion task. A task introduced by Warrington and
peripheral cue, invisual orienting experiments.
Wciskrantz (1976) in which a fragmentary outline of a picture is
Extinction. A phenomenon sometimes exhibited by patients with 11111
]ll'cscnted and the participam is asked to name the object repre-
lateral visual neglect, in which the introduction of a second stim11h1
lt'ntcd. Previous presentation of the complete picture primes
roward the good side of visual space 'extinguishes', o r m1d 1
ll'l'Ognition of the fragment in patients with amnesia, despire their
invisible, the previously seen stimulus.
llmhility to remember the learning trial.

308
309
GLOSSARY
Frames. A type of schema introduced by M insky (1975) fo r representing
an orga nised system of kn owledge abo ut pa rticular areas of
understa nding.
Free nerve endings. The most common skin recepto r found ali over the
body.
Free recall . A memory test in which after the learning episode a par ticipam
is simply as ked to recai! as mu ch as t hey can witho ut any additi o nal
cues being given.
Frequency. ln aco ustics, the period of the sine wave that gives rise to thc
psycho logica l property of pitch. ln language, the number of times a
word appea rs in regular usage o f the language. T he wo rd freq uency
effect is the findin g that frequent wo rds are recognised more qui ck ly
rhan less freq uent wo rds.
Frontal lobe syndrome. T he pattern of deficits exhibited by pa tients
w ith da mage to the fronta l lo bes. T hese pati enrs are distractabl ,
show behavi o ural ri gidity, are poor ar pla nnin g and may exhibi t
utili satio n behavio ur.
Galvanic skin response. A measurable change in the electrical condu cti vity
of the skin when emo tio nally significa m stimuli are presente I.
O ften used to detect the unconscio us p rocessing of stimuli.
Generate-recognise theory. A theory of retrieva l fro m lo ng-term memo ry
that suggests candid ate wo rds a re first generated, and th ·n
exa mined to see if they can be recognised . D oes not acco un t fo t
recogniti on failure of recall able wo rds.
Gestalt principies. Princip ies of perceptu a l gro uping proposed by rlw
Gesra lt school of psychology. Pred o minantl y Ger man , the Gestnlt
movemenr is most fa mous for the say ing ' the whole is more rh n11
the sum of its parts'. T he principies emph asise the o rganisati on o l
perceptual pa tterns that emerge fro m the overa ll information in tlw
display. Exa mples are: proximity- things that are d ose to cn lt
o ther tend to be grouped together; continuity-thin gs thar fo ll ow
o ne fro m a nother are grouped togerher; and similarity-things th ,tt
are simila r tend to be grouped together.
Global processing. Processing of the overall shape of an o bj ect ra ther th .ll t
its local elemenrs. For exa mple, processing a ' tree' rather than ti
leaves.
Graceful degradation. A property of connectionist and para ll el processit l)'
models in which some units can be dest royed without the sys tt'llt
fa iling.
Hypothetical stage. A stage of info rma tion processing that can be hypotlt
310
GLOSSARY
csi ed to exist in o rder for a par ti cular operatio n to be achieved or
be possible. For example, a buffer memory fo r senso ry information
is a hypothetica l stage, durin g which sensory in fo rmation is held in
memor y whil e selective processes act to transfo rm the info rmation
10 a different, more dura ble code.
unic memory. A high capacity, fas t decay memory for visual informa-
l io n, fro m which o nl y a subset can be repo rted before the memo ry
is lost.
I umotor compatibility. T he co mpatibility between the stimulus and
its required respo nse in terms of, usually, sp atial relations. For
·xa mple, if th e task is to indicare if a stimulus was to the left or to
lhe ri ght, respo nse times are fasrer if the responses for left and right
invo lve press in g a button on the left a nd right. If the resp o nses are
crossed, reacti o n time is slowed .
1111lk it memory. M emory tha t ca nnot be expli citly repo rted , but can be
J cmonstra ted to exist by the perform ance of a tas k. M emory tha t a
pcrson does no t have conscio us access to.
I •mity difference. If a sound source is pl aced cl oser to one ear than the
m her the inrensity of sound is greater at the cl oser ear. A binaural
·uc for loca tion, most useful for high freq uencies.
I 'hlllral time difference. T he difference between the time of arrival of a
~<) und signa l at each ear. A bina ura l cue to locario n.
11 ln~i c context. Properties of a stimulus tha t are a n integral part of it
fo r exa mple, a word may be in italics or in upper case.
llmpcction. A method used by earl y psycho logists to examine the
l'O ntents of the mind . A participam who introspects repor ts the
·o ntents of their experience to the experimentei. The data produced
is subj ective and no t open to o bj ective verificati on . If I tell yo u the
sky looks red to me, yo u have no way of proving otherwise.
I IWticeable-difference. The minimum differe nce in the physical
pro perties of two stimuli tha t can be subj ectively reported. T he
~a m e as a difference threshold .
1, of processing. An approach to memor y pro posed by C raik and
l.o khart (1972), that suggested the durability of memory is rela ted
to the depth of processing carried o ut o n rhe stimulus.
M perspective. A pictorial cue to depth based o n the convergence of
pnrallellines as they recede into rhe distance.
I processing. Processing of the local elements of a larger shape, for
r ample, attending to the shape of the leaves o n a tree rather than
I h · glo bal shape of the tree.
3 11
GLOSSARY
Long-term memory. Memory for information that has left short-term
memory and is unconscious umil retrieved. Varieties of long-
term memory include semantic; episodic, procedural, declara tive,
implicit, explicit, prospective, autobiographical and meta memory.
Master map of locations. A componem of feature integration theory. ln
order to combine features represemed on individual feature maps,
the master map is referred to, which represents ali features presem ar
a particular location on ali maps.
Mental rotation. The ability to mentally manipulare an image to deter-
mine if it marches another shape. Mental rotation appears to be an
analogue process.
Modality effect. The finding that visually presemed word lists are better
recalled than auditorily presemed lists.
Monocular cues. Cues to the visual perception of depth that only require
the use of one eye.
Mood congruency. The finding that items learned in a particular mood
state are best recalled if the sarne mood state is reinstated ar the time
of memory retrieval.
Negative recency. If a number of lists have been recalled in a serial
position experiment, and then ar the end alllists are asked for again
in a final recall test, items that previously showed recency are now
recalled worst of ali.
Neurotransmitter substance. A range of chemicals that are released imo
the synapse between neurons that allow neural transmission to cross
the synaptic gap.
Nociceptor. A receptor in the skin that detects damage and signals pain.
Object-centred. A representation of an object that is cemred on its
major axis and allows an object to be recognised irrespective of
viewpoint.
Object file. A temporary represemation of the resulrs of feature ime-
gration that allows an object to be recognised.
Olivocochlear bundle. The final stage of auditory processing in thc
auditory system that sends information from the brain to the ha ir
cells of the basilar membrane. Thought to be involved in setting
selective attemion.
Open-loop control. An action system comrolled in such a way that rh c
action sequence is triggered automatically and output is not con -
stantly monitored or modified by feedback from the environmem.
Optic array. The structured partem of light falling on the retina.
Pacinian corpuscle. The major receptor in hairless areas of skin.
312
GLOSSARY
Parallel distributed processing. A computational model in which pro-
cessing is distributed over many imerconnected units working in
parallel.
Partia! report. Selective report of a subset of information on the basis of a
cu e.
Perceptual constancy. The phenomenon where, despire changes in the size
or shape in the retina! image, an object is perceived as a constam
shape or size; e.g., a person running roward you expands on the
retina but is not perceived as growing.
Pcrformance operating characteristic. A graph plotting the performance
of one task against the performance of another concurrem task. If
attemional resources are equally shared the graph will be a straight
line, but if one task begins to demand more resources and the other
task suffers, the line will reflect the way resources are allocated
between tasks.
Pcrseveration. The persistem repetition of a previous action or mental
process despire the intention to change ir. A symptom of frontal
lobe damage.
l'honeme. The smallest unir of the speech signal that can carry meaning.
l'honemic confusability. The confusion in memory of phonemes that
share articulatory features.
Phonologicalloop. A component of Baddeley and Hitch 's (1974) model of
working memory, comprising a phonological store and articulatory
loop. Responsible for maintaining short-term verbal information .
Pictorial cues. Monocular cues to depth in a two-dimensional representa-
tion, such as occlusion and linear perspective.
l'iKeon-holing. A concept introduced by Broadbent (1970) to account for
conceptual effects in selective attention .
l1lans. A version of schema for representing generalised knowledge about
everyday life.
Point localisation. The ability to poim accurately to the place on the skin
surface that is touched. This ability varies over the skin surface
depending on the distribution of receptors.
llctp-out. An object will pop out from a display if ir is detected in parallel
and is different from ali other items in the display.
llctsterior attentional orienting system. A system believed to comrol low-
level aspects of attemion such as disengagemem.
l'uwer law of practice. The relationship between the amoum of practice
and improvemem in performance. A law of diminishing returns:
early in practice, improvemem is much greater than later in practice.
313
GLOSSARY
Primacy effect. The recall advantage for the first few items in a list. Part of
the serial position curve.
Primai sketch. The first levei of processing in object description in
Marr and Nishihara's (1978) model. lt derives a representation of
intensity changes, edges and contours. · hcarsal. The vocal or subvocal repetition of verbal information used to
Primary memory. An alternative term for short-term memory.
Primary motor cortex. The area of cortex responsible for sending signals
to the muscle for making movements. Closely associated with the
somatosensory cortex and arranged somatotopically.
Procedural knowledge. Knowledge for skills that cannot be made explicit
and can only be demonstrated by performance.
Production system. A computational model based on IF- THEN con-
dition action pairs. IF the rule is represenred in working memory
THEN the production stored in long-term memory is applied ;
e.g., Anderson's (1983) ACT'' model.
Proprioception. lnformation from sensors in the joints and muscles tell thc
brain the positions of body parts.
Propositional representations. Language-like memory representation s
stored as truth statements.
Prospective memory . Long-term memory for actions and plans to bc
carried out in the future.
Prototype. A represemation of the characteristic attributes, or bes1
example of a concept.
Psychological refractory period . The time delay between the response tO
two overlapping signals that reflects the time required for the fir 1
response to be organised before the response to the second sign al
can be organised.
Random dot stereogram. A pair of dot patterns, one of which is displaccd
in relation to the other, such that when viewed binocularly a threc-
dimension al shape appears as a result of retina! disparity.
Reality monitoring. A term used to describe the differentiation of rea l
from imagined evems on the basis of episodic and sour l'
information.
Recency effect. The report advamage of the most recently presented item H
in a supraspan list.
Receptive field. The receptive field of a cell; for example, in vision, it iH
the area of retina that, when stimulated, will affect the firing of th nl
cell.
Recollective experience. The experience in memory retrieval of the evc111
of the memory itself.
314
GLOSSARY
,)undancy. This refers to the fact that more information than necessary
for idemification is presem in the incoming data and so decisions
can be made on the basis of only partia! information, the remainder
being redundam.
retain it in short-term memory.
Jlrcsentation . Any symbol or set of symbols that stands for or represents
something, usually in the absence of what is being represemed.
ource-limited. A task is resource limited when there are no more
attemional resources available to improve or support performance.
1inotopic. A representation of a pattern of stimulation in the brain that
is distributed in space in the sarne way as it is distributed on the
retina.
ll'nspective memory. Memory for past events.
ccade. The movement of the eyes during which information uptake is
suppressed. Between saccades the eyes make fixations during which
there is information uptake at the fixated area.
hcma. Organised packets of knowledge stored in long-term memory
involved in the encoding and interpretation of the environment,
cvents and people.
I'Ípt . A version of schema, particularly concerned with how to act in
social situations.
wndary memory. Another term for long-term memory, used by William
James (1890), Waugh and Norman (1965) and Craik and Lockhart
(1972).
mnntic memory . Long-term memory for facts, general knowledge,
language. The store for what we know.
n~Hry homunculus. A distorted shape of a person that represents body
parts in proportion to the area of sensory cortex dedicated to
processing information from the different areas of the body.
nl ·nce verification task. A task in which a participam is asked to decide
as quickly as possible whether the given sentence is true or false. For
cxample, 'Can canaries f!y?' Used to probe the structure of semantic
memory.
1htl position curve. When a list of words that must be remembered is
longer than that which can be held in short-term memory, the first
:l!1d last items in the list are more accurately recalled than items
from the middle of the list.
hotdowing. Used in a dichotic listening task. Participants repeat aloud,
or shadow, the attended message.
3 15
GLOSSARY
Short-term memory. A memory system that holds information in con-
scious awareness. Usually . applied to verbal material, but can also
hold visual images. See also working memory, the phonological
loop and the visuo-spatial sketch pad.
Simultanagnosia. The phenomenon in which a patient is unable to 'see'
two stimuli at once. Usually a resulr of parietal damage and associ-
ated with visual neglect.
Size constancy. A pictorial cue to depth based on the known size of
objects.
Slips of action. Errors in carrying out sequences of actions, e.g., where a
step in the sequence is omitted, or a~ appropriate action is made but
to the wrong object.
Somatosensory cortex. The strip of cortex running over the top of the
head, roughly from ear to ear, that is responsible for processing
information received from the receptors in the skin.
Somatotopic map . The orderly partem of representation of body parts
and the skin surface that is laid out in the cortex in the sarne spati al
relationship as the body parts.
Source information . Information encoded with a memory that specifics
the time and place that the information was encoded.
Spatial medium. A hypothetical component of Kosslyn's computation a l
theory of imagery, which preserves the spatial relations between
parts of an image and has properties similar to the retina.
Spinal gate control theory. A theory of pain perception that allows for thl."
influence of cognitive factors in opening or closing the 'gate' fo r
pain perception.
Split span technique. Used in dichotic listening experiments. A sequen ~·
of words is presented altemately to the ears, but the participani N
asked to report the messages from each ear in tum.
Spontaneous generalisation. A property of connectionist and parallel di ~
tributed models that allows the properties or features of kn own
examples to be applied to new examples.
Spreading activation. The concept that activity spreads among rel arcd
concepts in semantic memory, which is used to account for primi11 11
effects between related stimuli .
State dependency. When material is leamed in a particular mOClli
or physiological state, memory performance is best when II I!'
participam is in the same state at recai!.
Stereopsis. A cue to depth perception based on the retina! disparity.
Stimulus-response compatibility. This refers to how direct the mapJ in 1
316
GL O SSAR Y
between a stimulus and its response is. A stimulus of a spoken word
is more compatible with repeating the word than, for example, with
pointing to a written word on a page.
1roop effect. The effect of a well-leamed response to a stimulus slowing
the ability to make the less well-leamed response. For example,
naming the ink colour of a colour word.
uhvocal articulation. Making movements of the vocal apparatus used to
pronounce words wirhout producing rhe words aloud.
uffix effect. The effect of an irrelevant item presented at the end of a list
for serial recall, such as 'recall', on reducing the probability for recall
of the last item of a list.
upc:rvisory attentional system. A component of Norman and Shallice's
model of intentional control. lt is the system that uses attentional
biasing to allow the intended schema to take control of action.
upplc:mentary motor area. A part of the cortex adjoining the rest
of the motor cortex that is involved in making voluntary
movements.
ncrgistic ecphory. The combined activity of a cue and a memory trace,
or engram, that work together to retrieve a memory.
mplate theory. An early theory of partem recognition that proposed
that recognition involves matching perceptual input to templates
tored in memory. Not successful, as there are too many variations
in the perceptual features of pattems.
ture density gradient. The change in visible texture of a surface as it
recedes into the distance.
hnhre. A complex sound form that is characteristic of a musical instru-
ment. ln addition to the frequency of the musical tone produced,
resonances in the instrument add harmonics that change the sound
property of the tone.
IINlown processing. Processing in which knowledge and expectations
in memory act back on the stimulus to interpret it.
nsfer appropriate processing. Processing in which the most appropriate
levei is selected for the ongoing task. A flexible approach allowing
for a fit between task and memory demands.
I"' I processing. One of the rypes of rehearsal in the leveis of processing
npproach, in which information is recirculated at the sarne levei with
no additional processing for depth.
11 processing. According the leveis of processing approach, this type
involves recoding of information to another levei of depth and leads
to a more durable memory trace.
317
GLOSSARY

Typicality effect. The finding that more typical members of a category are
recognised or categorised more quickly than less typical members.
Unilateral visual neglect. The inability of patients with brain damage
(usually right parietal) to orient visual attention to the left side of
space or an object, so that they effectively ignore it.
Utilisation behaviour. The inability to inhibit the action most frequemly
made to an object whenever an object is presented, for example, if a Solutions
glass and water are in view a patient with this problem will fill the
glass and drink, even if they have no conscious intention to doso.
Varied mapping. The condition in which a stimulus and its response are
changed from trial to trial.
Ventral stream. A pathway in the brain that deals with the visual informa-
tion for what objects are.
Viewer-centred. An object representation that is dependem on the view-
point of the observer, which means as the observer o r object moves,
the representation will change.
Visua l capture. ln a situation where there is information from a number of
sensory modalities but the information from vision dominares.
Visuo-spa tial sketch pad . A component of Baddeley and Hitch 's (1974) Chapter 2, p. 25
working memory model that holds visuo-spatial information I lntrospection is not objectively ver ifiable because no
necessary for manipulating images and predominantly spatial one can check if what the person introspecting is saying
informarion.
is true or not. Therefore it is not scientific. lntrospection
Willed behaviour. T he term used by James (1890) and Norman and Shal - cannot be used for unconscious processes.
lice (1986) for intentional, consciously controlled behaviour. Hypothetica l processing stages can be proposed a nd
Word-length effect. T he finding that the number of words that can be held tested by measuring speed and accuracy of responses,
in short-term memory depends on how long the words ta ke to b which are objective measures. Both conscious and un-
artic ul ated.
conscious processes can be experimemed on. Cognitive
Working memory. A term used to encompass a ll components of short- models can be tested using compu ter simu lation and the
term memory and the attentiona l contrai required to ho ld , rehears performance of bra in-damaged patients.
and manipulare the information while it is worked on by other pro- Top-down processes involve interpretation of incoming
cesses. Sometimes considered the active part of long-term memory information in terms of existing knowledge. Bottom-up
and conscious awareness. processing is dependem only on t he information in the
stimulus.
4 (a) Attention can be selective, divided, executive. Atten-
1ion may be for perception o r for action. It is sometimes
c nsidered a limited resource of processing capacity. ln
o th er models it is necessary for binding the properties
nf objects together.
(h) Perception involves the encoding of the physica l
wo rld imo sensory properties that the brain can

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