Wize University Psychology Textbook > Attention & Memory
Selective Attention
Popular Courses
Psychology
University Study Guides
PSYC 100A
Queen's University
PSYCH 1X03
McMaster University
Psychology
University Study Guides
PSYC 200
University of Calgary
PSYC 100B
Queen's University
PSYC 200
Concordia University
PSYCH 100
Pennsylvania State University
PSC 001
University of California - Davis
PSY 2012
University of Florida
PSY 101
Michigan State University
PSYCH10
University of California - Los Angeles
PSY 101
San Diego State University
PSY 101
University of Arizona
PSC 001Y
University of California - Davis
PSYC 1001
University of Cincinnati
PSY 101
Arizona State University - Tempe
PSY-P 101
Indiana University - Bloomington
PSYC 1315
University of Texas at Arlington
PY 101
The University of Alabama
0:00 / 0:00
Selective Attention
Selective attention - Directing attention to a particular stimulus or set of stimuli. Attention can act like a spotlight or zoom lens, focusing in on what we are attending to.
Cocktail Party Phenomenon - Occurs when you are in a busy room and hear your name mentioned by someone you thought you were ignoring.
The cocktail party phenomenon illustrates that even though we think we're filtering out unattended information completely, it is still being processed at least a little bit.
Practice: Selective Attention
Which of the following are examples of selective attention?