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Terms Type Definition
Paced Auditory Serial Addition TestPaced Auditory Serial Addition Test task No definition submitted yet.
painpain concept An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage.
pain habituationpain habituation concept A painful stimulus is perceived less painful over the time course of stimulation.
Pain Monitor/Discrimination TaskPain Monitor/Discrimination Task task Subjects experience thermal or electrical stimulation at a painful threshold.
pain sensitization pain sensitization concept A painful stimulus is perceived more painful over the time course of stimulation.
Paired Associate LearningPaired Associate Learning task was invented by Mary Whiton Calkins in 1894 and involves the pairing of two items (usually words)—a stimulus and a response. For example, words such as calendar (stimulus) and shoe (response) may be paired, and when the learner is prompted with the stimulus, he responds with the appropriate word (shoe).
Paired Associate RecallPaired Associate Recall task Subjects are shown paired stimuli prior to the task. During the task, subjects are shown a single stimuli and are asked to recall the associated pair. Stimuli may be words, faces, objects, etc.
Pantomime TaskPantomime Task task is when a subject is asked to explain an emotion or how an object is used by only gesturing with their hands and not using speech.
paraphasiaparaphasia concept generally refers to errors in naming. Collectively, this term is applied to any unintended error of word or sound choice.
parity judgment taskparity judgment task task
Parrott ScaleParrott Scale task No definition submitted yet
parsingparsing concept to resolve (as a sentence) into component parts of speech and describe them grammatically; to examine in a minute way, analyze critically.
passive attentionpassive attention concept refers to the involuntary process directed by external events that stand out from their environment, such as a bright flash, a strong odor, or a sudden loud noise.
passive avoidance taskpassive avoidance task task
Passive ListeningPassive Listening task Subjects listen to various auditory stimuli and make no response. Stimuli include speech (words, sentences), noise, tones, etc. If the stimulus is tones, then the experiment is co-coded with Tone Monitor/Discrimination.
Passive ViewingPassive Viewing task Subjects view various visual stimuli and make no response. Stimuli include houses, faces, objects, fractals, letter strings, line drawings, complex scenes, etc. If the presented stimuli were faces, the experiments are co-coded with Face Monitor/Discrimination...
past tensepast tense concept refers to a form of a verb that indicates that the action already has occurred
pattern comparisonpattern comparison task No definition submitted yet.
pattern recognitionpattern recognition concept The process of identifying a meaningful pattern in raw data.
pavlovian conditioningpavlovian conditioning concept a form of learning in which either (1) a given stimulus (or signal) becomes increasingly effective in evoking a response or (2) a response occurs with increasing regularity in a well-specified and stable environment...
perceptionperception concept the conscious experience or mental registration of a sensory stimulus
perceptual bindingperceptual binding concept is the cognitive ability to couple characteristics between items that one is perceiving. This can be illustrated by the one observing a blue square and a yellow circle. Through the neural mechanisms of perceptual binding, one can ensure that the sensing of blue is coupled to that of a square shape and that of yellow is coupled to that of a circle...
perceptual categorizationperceptual categorization concept A selective system that can have no a priori information about the particular stimuli that might be encountered in its environment, other than boundary conditions implicit in the construction of its recognizing elements...
perceptual fluencyperceptual fluency concept is the ease at which the brain can process information.
perceptual identificationperceptual identification concept has two different processing stages. The first stage yields a state of of perceptual information about the stimulus presented. The second stage is the processing of attained perceptual information in a response...
perceptual learningperceptual learning concept long lasting improvement in performing perceptual (visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory or taste) tasks as a function of experience.
perceptual similarityperceptual similarity concept Perceptual similarity is the subjective similarity between two stimuli as perceived by the observer. Thus, object A may be rated as more similar to object B than to object C despite a greater difference in some physical metric (such as height or width) between objects A and C than between objects A and B...
perceptual skillperceptual skill concept The ability to observe and understand the events surrounding an individual.
performance monitoringperformance monitoring concept No definition submitted yet
Phasic pain stimulationPhasic pain stimulation task A short pain stimulus (usually up to 3 seconds) is applied to the skin and the participant rates the stimulus on a visual analogue scale. Pain can be induced with thermal (hot/cold), electrical or mechanical stimuli.
phonationphonation concept process by which the vocal folds produce certain sounds through quasi-periodic vibration; any oscillatory state of any part of the larynx that modifies the airstream.
phoneme detection taskphoneme detection task task
phonemic fluency taskphonemic fluency task task
phonemic paraphasiaphonemic paraphasia concept is the production of unintended sounds or syllables in the utterance of partially recognizable word, e.g., ‘paker’ for ‘paper.’
phonetic discrimination taskphonetic discrimination task task A task in which the subject discriminates stimuli based on phonetic features.
phoneticsphonetics concept the system of speech sounds of a language or group of languages; the study and systematic classification of the sounds made in spoken utterance.
phonological bufferphonological buffer concept a passive storage device that is part of the articulatory rehearsal loop; serves as a part of the mechanisms ordinarily needed for hearing. In rehearsal, the buffer is loaded by means of subvocalization.
phonological codephonological code concept No definition submitted yet
Phonological DiscriminationPhonological Discrimination task Subjects view or listen to phonemes, syllables, or words and discriminate according to some feature of their sounds (rhyming, number of syllables, homophones, etc.).
phonological encodingphonological encoding concept involves retrieval of segmental and supra-segmental information and the generation of a syllabified phonological word, and the computation of the phonetic form of the intended utterance, referred to as phonetic encoding...
phonological loopphonological loop concept deals with sound or phonological information and consists of two parts: a short-term phonological store with auditory memory traces that are subject to rapid decay and an articulatory rehearsal component that can revive the memory traces...
phonological retrievalphonological retrieval concept No definition submitted yet
phonological taskphonological task task Any task that requires the subject to process the sound structure of words.
phonological working memoryphonological working memory concept The process of maintaining sound information online for a limited amount of time.
picture naming taskpicture naming task task participants are shown pictures of objects and asked to identify the item.
Picture Set TestPicture Set Test task No definition submitted yet.
Picture-word Stroop taskPicture-word Stroop task task No definition submitted yet.
Pitch Monitor/DiscriminationPitch Monitor/Discrimination task Subjects are presented with various stimuli (human speech and non-speech vocalizations, animal vocalization, mechanical noise, etc.) and are instructed to listen to them passively (also co-coded with Passive Listening), or discriminate based on pitch (pleasant/unpleasant, same/different, duration, familiar/unfamiliar, male/female).
planningplanning concept the act or process of making or carrying out plans; the establishment of goals, policies, and procedures for a social or economic unit.
PointingPointing task Subjects look and point at a target (e.g., cursor with their arm, hand, finger, or shoulder.
Porteus maze testPorteus maze test task No definition submitted yet.
Positive and Negative Affect ScalePositive and Negative Affect Scale task A psychometric scale to measure positive and negative affects in individuals, and both as states and traits. Positive affect questions assess to what extent the participant is attentive, interested, alert, excited, enthusiastic, inspired, proud, determined, strong and active...
Posner cueing taskPosner cueing task task Subjects view two stimuli (boxes, letters, etc.) and are cued by an arrow to attend to one of the stimuli. Subjects then discriminate and respond (e.g., press a button when one of the boxes is filled with a diagonal cross, or press the left button for an "X" and the right button for an "O")...
pragmatic inferencepragmatic inference concept Inferences are made when a person (or machine) goes beyond available evidence to form a conclusion. A pragmatic inference (also known as an inductive inference) is one which is likely to be true because of the state of the world...
pragmatic knowledgepragmatic knowledge concept is how individuals communicate meaning and how they produce contextually appropriate utterances, sentences, or texts. Pragmatic knowledge includes sociolinguistic and functional knowledge.
pragmatic reasoningpragmatic reasoning concept Pragmatic reasoning is defined as the process of finding the intended meaning(s) of the given, and it is suggested that this amounts to the process of inferring the appropriate context(s) in which to interpret the given.
preattentive processingpreattentive processing concept background activity that necessarily precedes conscious mental activity; major purpose is the preparation of sensory input for use in focal-attentive processes including encoding of the basic properties of sensory input.
preconscious perceptionpreconscious perception concept is the subthreshold process of visual perception.

precueingprecueing concept is a task that attracts spatial attention to a target location, by presenting an abrupt onset cue next to the target location prior to its onset.
prejudiceprejudice concept preconceived judgment or opinion; an adverse opinion or leaning formed without just grounds or before sufficient knowledge; an irrational attitude of hostility directed against an individual, a group, a race, or their supposed characteristics.
primary memoryprimary memory concept the temporary maintenance system for conscious processing of information.
primingpriming concept Priming is the effect of prior exposure to a somehow (e.g. perceptually or semantically) related stimulus on the response to a subsequent stimulus. This effect may be positive and facilitatory (e.g. naming of an object is typically faster when that object has already been recently named) or negative and detrimental (e...
proactive inhibitionproactive inhibition concept the forgetting of information due to interference from the traces of events or learning that occurred prior to the materials to be remembered; occurs when in any given context, past memories inhibit an individual’s full potential to retain new memories.
proactive interferenceproactive interference concept No definition submitted yet
Probabilistic classification taskProbabilistic classification task task Subjects are presented with a set of stimuli and must classify those stimuli into one of two categories. In a common version known as the "weather prediction task" the stimuli are cards with geometric shapes on them and the outcomes are rainy versus sunny weather...
Probabilistic gambling taskProbabilistic gambling task task Two cards are drawn without replacement from a deck containing cards numbered from one to ten (one of each). After the first card is presented, participants bet whether the next card will be higher or lower than the first card...
probabilistic reversal learningprobabilistic reversal learning task No definition submitted yet.
problem solvingproblem solving concept Broadly, the mental processes involved in finding a solution to a problem.
problem solving taskproblem solving task task A task in which subjects must solve a conceptual problem.
procedural knowledgeprocedural knowledge concept Knowledge exercised in the performance of a task/activity. Its acquisition or structure is often unavailable to the actor.
procedural learningprocedural learning concept A non-verbal process of knowledge acquisition.
procedural memoryprocedural memory concept memory for how to do things; procedural memories are automatically retrieved and utilized for the execution of the step-by-step procedures involved in both cognitive and motor skills.
procedural ruleprocedural rule concept No definition submitted yet
processing capacityprocessing capacity concept No definition submitted yet
processing stageprocessing stage concept A subset of mental operations that are confined some feature space of information within a stream and/or hierarchy of mental operations.
pronunciationpronunciation concept the way a word or a language is spoken, or the manner in which someone utters a word.
proper nounproper noun concept A subject that usually indicates a particular person, place, or object.
proprioceptionproprioception concept the sense of the relative position of neighboring parts of the body.
prosodic stressprosodic stress concept the stress and intonation patterns of an utterance.
prosodyprosody concept the rhythm, stress, and intonation of speech.
prospective memoryprospective memory concept remembering to perform an intended action...prospective memory is self-initiated and does not operate directly on external stimuli.
prospective memory taskprospective memory task task
prospective planningprospective planning concept No definition submitted yet
prototypeprototype concept A most common, standard or basic mental representation of some category.
prototype distortion taskprototype distortion task task
Pseudoword naming taskPseudoword naming task task Participants are presented (usually one at a time, rather than in list form) with words and pseudowords, which are strings of letters that have no meaning in the language but are still pronounceable and asked to read aloud what they see...
Pursuit Rotor TaskPursuit Rotor Task task The pursuit rotor task is a task used in common use in the mid 20th century which involved a participant trying to follow (pursue) a small disc on a rotating turntable. Original mechanical versions had typical rotation rates of 60 RPM, which is probably too fast for mouse-controlled versions...
pyramids and palm trees taskpyramids and palm trees task task a semantic memory test that presents one word or picture above two others. The participant is then asked to identify which of the bottom items best matches the top item. Semantic memory is necessary for the identification of the analogies, which link conceptually two perceptually, and functionally distinct entities.