Attention

Attention or focus, is the concentration of <a href="/facts/Awareness/PazhgWFC">awareness</a> on some <a href="/facts/Phenomenon/4CBrlVeW">phenomenon</a> to the exclusion of other stimuli. It is the selective concentration on discrete information, either <a href="/facts/Subjectivity/XVvftgCU">subjectively</a> or <a href="/facts/Objectivity_(philosophy)/nbUpe5Bp">objectively</a>. <a href="/facts/William_James/IdmT5LX7">William James</a> (1890) wrote that "Attention is the taking possession by the mind, in clear and vivid form, of one out of what seem several simultaneously possible objects or <a href="/facts/Train_of_thought/TTox0Aws">trains of thought.</a> Focalization, concentration, of <a href="/facts/Consciousness/IAxmgt6c">consciousness</a> are of its essence." Attention has also been described as the <a href="/facts/Attention_economy/BsfRNFla">allocation</a> of limited cognitive processing resources. Attention is manifested by an attentional <a href="/facts/Bottleneck_(engineering)/v5gbkUqG">bottleneck</a>, in terms of the amount of data the <a href="/facts/Brain/EKla9NkJ">brain</a> can process each second; for example, in <a href="/facts/Visual_perception/g7Tfaq2l">human vision</a>, less than 1% of the visual input data stream of 1MByte/sec can enter the bottleneck, leading to <a href="/facts/Inattentional_blindness/sufG0ork">inattentional blindness</a>.
Attention remains a crucial area of investigation within <a href="/facts/Education/WIwsQKF9">education</a>, <a href="/facts/Psychology/duoqW7Sz">psychology</a>, <a href="/facts/Neuroscience/o5RV8Cas">neuroscience</a>, <a href="/facts/Cognitive_neuroscience/VWcV08yY">cognitive neuroscience</a>, and <a href="/facts/Neuropsychology/eWY83ago">neuropsychology</a>. Areas of active investigation involve determining the source of the <a href="/facts/Sensory_cue/YXFfqWys">sensory cues</a> and signals that generate attention, the effects of these sensory cues and signals on the <a href="/facts/Neuronal_tuning/tzapFP2W">tuning</a> properties of sensory <a href="/facts/Neurons/G7CyTVdH">neurons</a>, and the relationship between attention and other behavioral and cognitive processes, which may include <a href="/facts/Working_memory/kzeDD3KQ">working memory</a> and <a href="/facts/Vigilance_(psychology)/aIq1CdBl">psychological vigilance</a>. A relatively new body of research, which expands upon earlier research within psychopathology, is investigating the diagnostic symptoms associated with <a href="/facts/Traumatic_brain_injury/DTq110vw">traumatic brain injury</a> and its effects on attention. Attention also varies across cultures. For example, people from cultures that center around <a href="/facts/Collectivism/J88lTIWB">collectivism</a> pay greater attention to the big picture in the image given to them, rather than specific elements of the image. On the other hand, those involved in more individualistic cultures tend to pay greater attention to the most noticeable portion of the image.
The relationships between attention and consciousness are complex enough that they have warranted philosophical exploration. Such exploration is both ancient and continually relevant, as it can have effects in fields ranging from <a href="/facts/Mental_health/QIszfk6D">mental health</a> and the study of <a href="/facts/Disorders_of_consciousness/HuoY14MY">disorders of consciousness</a> to <a href="/facts/Artificial_intelligence/lJGauQwX">artificial intelligence</a> and its domains of research.

Attention open-in-new

Attention