PSYC 263 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Inattentional Blindness, Waking Life
Document Summary
Allows us to make sense of the world around us and focus on the things that interest us. There is far too much going on around us to take in at a time. We need it bc we need to be selective about what we process. The ability to orient oneself to some critical and/or unexpected stimulus. "i"ve detected a signal in the environment, it is scary to me" The ability to devote full attention to a single stimulus (complex) Selective: focus on one thing, blocking others out. People think they have a bad memory but really you probably just have bad attention. When people introduce themselves you are usually thinking about what you"re going to say not listening to them. Try to listen to both (which wont work)- divided. Block out one and focus on the other- selective out one and focus on the other- selective.
