Find over 25,000 psychological definitions


secondary task methodology

an experimental design used in the study of attention in which participants perform a primary task as well as possible and a secondary task to the extent possible while maintaining performance on the primary task. Performance on the secondary task provides a profile of the attention required by the primary task at various phases. See also dual-task performance.

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

February 1st 2025

consistent missing

consistent missing

in parapsychology experiments using Zener cards or similar targets, the phenomenon in which a participant’s “calls,” or guesses, are consistently wrong or significantly below chance expectations. Some people attribute such systematic failure to processing error or a conscious or nonconscious reluctance to confirm psychic ability. See also psi-missing.