Chapter 6.2- "Pay Attention!"
Early on, attention was defined as a cognitive process that focuses on a particular feature within the environment surrounding us, while others are ignored. The problem with this definition is that it defined attention as one system. Recent research, however, has identified multiple networks that work towards attention. Early psychologists like Edward Bradford Tichener suggested that attention determines the content of consciousness and influences the quality of conscious experience. Later, Psychologists focused less consciousness and more on behaviours that made attention recognisable. Humans do not control the way their attention is directed at an experience. For example, when someone experiences difficulty concentrating to a conversation. Another example is that sometimes someone's attention is seized as a result of an unexpected event taking place, which is not voluntary. Attention is a state of current awareness by an individual. Simply by existing we are exposed to a mult...