Find over 25,000 psychological definitions


feature attention

a form of selective attention in which the unit of selection is a distinguishing feature or property of a target item (e.g., the red hair of the person one is looking for in a crowd). Numerous studies have confirmed that focusing on one such feature enhances the discriminability of the item being sought. See also focal attention.

Browse dictionary by letter

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Psychology term of the day

May 9th 2024

postural aftereffect

postural aftereffect

a change in posture that arises as an aftereffect of prior stimulation. For example, when viewing a moving scene, a person typically leans in the direction of the motion. When viewing ends, body posture returns to a vertical position and then, briefly, leans in the opposite direction.