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: -Selective attention theories have suggested that individuals have a tendency to orient themselves toward, or process information from only one part of the environment with the exclusion of other parts. There is an abundant amount of evidence which supports that selective attention is governed by our arousal level.

Detailed explanation-5: -While many scholars agree that attention and consciousness are distinct, it is popular to assume that attention is necessary for consciousness. For example, Dehaene et al. (2006) argue that without top-down attention, an event cannot be consciously perceived and remains in a preconscious state.