PSYCH 1X03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Fire Hydrant, Donald Broadbent, Colin Cherry
2 Apr 2013
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Definition by william james: everyone knows what attention is. Selection: at the centre of the definition is the concept of selection, attending to something causes the object of attention to be selected apart from the rest of the unattended objects, ex. Attention also refers to our conscious ability to attend to information that is relevant to our goals. The irrelevant information in the environment acts as noise that can make it difficult to identify and attend to important information. Nevertheless, we are adept at distinguishing the relevant from the irrelevant information in the environment. Automatic and controlled processes are fundamentally different types of processes that influence attention. Automatic processes: triggered involuntarily by external events and tripped the capture of attention, operate in a fast, efficient and obligatory manner. Controlled processes: guide attention voluntarily and consciously to objects of interest, operate more slowly because requires cognitive effort. Driving a car through busy traffic: controlled processes.
