AP PSYCHOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Selective attention: the focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus. Also known as the cocktail party effect. Inattentional blindness: failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere.

Detailed explanation-2: -At the alternative extreme, it has been proposed that con-scious awareness is fully determined by selective attention – that we are conscious only of the cur-rent contents of attention. A more moderate posi-tion is that attention modulates awareness, but we have some awareness of unattended stimuli.

Detailed explanation-3: -Selective attention is the process of focusing on a particular object in the environment for a certain period of time. Attention is a limited resource, so selective attention allows us to tune out unimportant details and focus on what matters.

Detailed explanation-4: -Visual consciousness tends to be associated with the “what” stream of visual feature neurons in the ventral temporal lobe. In contrast, attentional selection and maintenance are mediated by other brain regions, ranging from superior colliculi to thalamus, prefrontal cortex, and anterior cingulate.

Detailed explanation-5: -A selective attention example is having a conversation with someone in a crowded, public space. One chooses to focus on what the friend is saying rather than every single noise present in the background. This ability is a phenomenon known as the cocktail party effect.