Filter Model of attention (bottleneck; early selection)

Treisman's attenuation model (intermediate selection)

Side-by-side comparison of the different models of attention (early, intermediate and late selection)

Posits that the selecting of where direct one's attention goes on after most of the meaning for a message has already been processed.

Late selection models

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

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

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

Models of attention selection

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

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.

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