PSYC 2320 Lecture Notes - Ulric Neisser, Donald Broadbent, Bell Labs
Document Summary
James" definition emphasizes two important aspects of attention: That attention implies a suppression of information at unattended locations. Info not relevant to the task at hand right now. Some sort of gate that shuts of information that is trying to get into your mind. Other side: when you intentionally select something, boost it somehow, enhance it for the purposes of better perception. Selection can mean both of these things: that attention is a selection of some information for enhanced perception or mental operations. How the mind can select some sub groove of information out of all the information you could possibly perceive, then you have to ask yourself what the consequences are of selection, and how you choose your selection. Tracking one moving object out of many. Something that"s there, and it"s available to be seen, but it isn"t noticed (like when someone is driving) You can"t do much processing of info without attention.
