Explanation
Selectiveattentionreferstoonlypayingattentiontocertainstimuliorcertainaspectsofstimulifromthemanyexternalstimuli,whileignoringotherstimuli.Inasense,thewordattentionitselfhasaselectivemeaning,sothewordissuperfluous.However,itssyntheticformisstilloftenusedforemphasis.
Relatedresearch
Thehumansensesmayreceivealargenumberofstimuliatalltimes,andperceptiondoesnotrespondtoallstimuli.Theselectiveretentionofperceptionensuresthatpeoplecanfocusonimportantstimuliorimportantaspectsofstimuli,eliminatetheinterferenceofsecondarystimuli,andperceiveandadapttotheexternalenvironmentmoreeffectively.
Earlyresearchonselectiveattentionusuallyinvolvesthebinauralpresentationofmaterials.Participantsworestereoheadphones,anddifferentinformationwasinputtoeachear.Telltheparticipanttopayattentiontoonlyoneearandmakesuretofollowthisinstruction:Asktheparticipanttofollowtheattentionear.Shadowingistolistentotheinformationcarefullyandrepeatitasquicklyaspossibleafterlistening.Assumingthatthesubjectsdonotmakemistakeswhenfollowingtheattentionear,thistechniqueseemstobeaneffectivewaytoensureselectiveattentiontoinformation.Cherry(1953)usedthebinaurallisteningprogramandfoundthatitwasobviousthatthesubjectshadalmostnodifficultyinusingthefollowingtechnique,andtheymadealmostnomistakeswhenfollowingtheattentionear.Participantscanaccuratelyreportwhetherthenon-attentioninformationishumanvoiceornoise,andcanalsoreportwhetherthevoiceismaleorfemale,especiallyinpitch.Inotherwords,therespondentappearstohaveknowledgeaboutthemeaningofnon-attentionalinformation.
Thebottlenecktheoryofattention
Filtertheory,attenuationtheory,lateselectiontheory.
Origin
People'sresearchonattentioninpsychologyhasfocusedonwhethertheselectiveeffectofattentionoccursintheearlystagesofperceptionorwhetheritoccursinperceptionforalongperiodoftime.Lateonthisissue.Formanyyears,peoplehavebeenunabletoreachconsensusonthisissue.Inthefieldofpsychology,people'sunderstandingoftheseissuesisstilldivided.Researchershavedisputesoverwhetherthelocationoftheprocessingbottleneckexistsintheearlystagesofprocessingorinthelaterstages.Inrecentyears,therehavebeenmanypsychologicalexperimentalstudiessupportingtheearlyselectiontheory.Butatthesametime,somestudieshaveconcludedthattheselectivityofattentionoccursinthelatestageofperception.