Nature of Attention, Meaning, Definition, Models, Theories and Factors affecting attention

1. Nature of Attention
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Dr Rajesh Verma
Assistant Professor in Psychology
Govt. College Adampur, Hisar (Haryana)

2. Meaning
The efforts required to assemble the
cognitive faculties in response of sensory or
psychological
inputs.
In simple terms
attention is voluntary or involuntary attending
to the external or internal stimuli.

3. Definition
The process through which certain stimuli are
selected from a group of others is generally referred to as
attention (NCERT, XI).
A state in which cognitive resources are focused on
certain aspects of the environment rather than on others
and the central nervous system is in a state of readiness to
respond to stimuli (APA).
In essence, attention
is the state of awareness
centered towards the
specific stimuli.

4. Introduction
Attention is the cognitive phenomenon. It’s
a kind of cognitive arousal. The brain has its
limited resources that can be pressed into service
for maintaining focus upon certain selected
stimulus. Attention has three important
properties: -
(i) Alertness,
(ii) Concentration, and
(iii) Search.

5. (i) Alertness – Alertness refers to an individual’s
readiness to deal with stimuli that appear before
her/him (NCERT).
(ii) Concentration – Concentration
refers to focusing of awareness
on certain specific objects while
excluding others for the moment
(NCERT).
(iii) Search – In search an
observer looks for some
specified subset of objects
among a set of objects
(NCERT).

6. Models of Attention
(i) Spotlight model – This model compares focus of
attention to a spotlight where attention has a focus as
well as a fringe. When the field of awareness is centered
on a particular object or event, it is called focus or the
focal point of attention. On the contrary, when the
objects or events are away from
the center of awareness and one is
only vaguely aware of them, they
are said to be at the fringe of
attention. When the fringe
extends out to a specified area,
and the cutoff is called the margin.

7. (ii) Zoom-lens model (Eriksen & Yeh, 1985) – This
model conceptualizes that brain resources for attention
are allocated according to interest, task demands, or
other factors. Because of limited processing capacities,
however, there is a tradeoff between size adjustment
and detail: An increase in the area attended results in a
decrease in the resolution of detail about stimuli within
that area (APA). The larger the focus the slower
processing will be of that region of the visual scene,
since this fixed resource
will be distributed over
a larger area.

8. Theories of Attention
(i) Filter Theory (Broadbent, 1956) - This theory
explains that simultaneously several stimuli enter our
receptors. The multitude of these stimuli creates a kind
of “bottleneck” situation. Moving through the STM
these stimuli meets a filter. This filter permits only one
stimulus to move through it for further processing.
Other stimuli are left out.

9. (ii) Filter Attenuation Theory (Triesman, 1962)
– According to this theory the stimuli which are
not allowed to pass through the filter are not
completely blocked out rather their strength is
attenuated or weakened by the filter. Despite
being attenuated some
stimuli manage to pass
through the filter and
reached for higher
processing.

10. (iii) Multimode Theory (Johnston and Heinz (1978) –
According to this theory the selection of stimuli for
attention takes place in three stages.
(a) Stage I – Sensory representations (visual images)
of stimuli are constructed;
(b) Stage II – Semantic
representations (names of
objects) are constructed;
(c) Stage III – Both
(Sensory and semantic)
representations enter the
consciousness.

11. Factors Affecting Attention
(i) External Factors – The factors that are
related to the stimuli are characterized as
external factors. These factors include size,
movement, brightness, intensity, newness etc.

12. (ii) Internal Factors – The factors that are
related to the perceiver such as motivational
(biological motives such as hunger, thirst etc.)
and cognitive (interest, intellectual ability,
preparedness,
interest etc.).

13. References:
1. NCERT, XI Psychology Text book.
2. https://dictionary.apa.org/attention.
3. https://www.britannica.com/science/attention
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14. Next Discussion
Characteristics of Attention

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