Related to the difficulty of a task. When someone is familiar with a task, or it is simple it is considered a low-load task. This is in contrast to high-load tasks which require more effort and may be less familiar.

Perceptual load

The amount of incoming information someone can handle at a given time.

Processing capacity

People ignore distracting stimuli through two factors:
- Perceptual load
- Processing capacity

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Selective attention is the psychological process of focusing on a specific subset of available sensory information while ignoring other distracting stimuli. Because it acts as a filter for incoming sensory data, selective attention helps explain why some environmental stimuli are consciously perceived and others are not.

Selective Attention

- Dual systems: System 1 (automatic) and system 2 (controlled)
- Hierarchical processing
- Load theory of attention
- Differences in Processing Positive and Negative Information

Focuses of research on processing

Goldstein, E. B. (2014). Cognitive psychology: Connecting mind, research and everyday experience. Nelson Education.


Cognitive psychology: Connecting mind, research and everyday experience

-  Salience: How obvious is it?
-  Expectancy: Are you looking for it?
-  Value: How much do you care about it?
-  Effort: How much energy does it take?

Mechianisms of Selective Attention

Presenting audial stimuli to both ears at one time. Often used in experiments regarding attention

Dichotic Listening

There exists different models to map the process of attending to something. These include:
- The filter model of attention (early)
- Treisman's attenuation model (intermediate)
- Late selection models

Models of attention selection

Load theory of attention

Inattentional blindness is a psychological phenomenon where an individual fails to perceive a fully visible, yet unexpected, stimulus because their attention is engaged on a different task or object. This occurs because attentional resources are limited, and focusing on a primary task can effectively prevent other prominent stimuli in the visual field from being consciously processed.

Inattentional Blindness

Humans use two distinct cognitive systems:
- System 1 is fast, intuitive, unconscious and automatic.
- System 2 is slow, reflective, conscious and controlled.

Dual systems of cognition

There exists a progression of processing that starts at lower-level areas of the brain and moves to higher-level areas. These lower-level areas respond to simple stimuli and send their feedback to areas in charge of more complex tasks in pursuit of eventually forming a representation.

Hierarchical Processing

Concerns differences in how we process positive and negative information

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