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Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science pp 1–3Cite as

Selective Attending

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Synonyms

Alternating attention; Controlled attention; Directed attention; Divided attention; Executive attention; Sustained attention

Definition

Concentration on certain stimuli in the environment and not on others, enabling important stimuli to be distinguished from peripheral or incidental ones (APA n.d.)

Introduction

Theories and models of attention differ in a number of ways, as they attempt to explain how and when an individual processes the physical and semantic aspects of their environment. Early selection models of attention suggest that stimuli pass through a filter before they can be attended to and processed for meaning. Broadbent (1958) investigated this idea of early selection by using a split-span, or dichotic listening paradigm. In the dichotic-listening paradigm, participants are presented with two different auditory stimuli (one in each ear) at the same time and are instructed to attend to one or both of the stimuli. Afterward, they are asked about the content of...

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References

  • APA Dictionary of Psychology (n.d.). Retrieved from https://dictionary.apa.org/selective-attention

  • Broadbent, D. E. (1958). Perception and communication. New York: Elmsford.

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  • Cherry, C. (1953). Some experiments on the reception of speech with one and with two ears. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 25, 975–979

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  • Deutsch, J. A., & Deutsch, D. (1963). Attention: Some theoretical considerations. Psychological Review, 70(1), 80–90.

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  • Gray, J. A., & Wedderburn, A. A. I. (1960). Shorter articles and notes: Grouping strategies with simultaneous stimuli. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 12(3), 180–184.

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  • Johnston, W. A., & Heinz, S. P. (1978). Flexibility and capacity demands of attention. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 107(4), 420–435.

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  • Treisman, A. M. (1969). Strategies and models of selective attention. Psychological Review, 76(3), 282–299.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Counseling and Psychology, Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville, TN, USA

    Miles M. Schiller & Stephanie A. Kazanas

Authors
  1. Miles M. Schiller
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  2. Stephanie A. Kazanas
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stephanie A. Kazanas .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

  2. Rochester, MI, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Guilherme S. Lopes

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Schiller, M.M., Kazanas, S.A. (2019). Selective Attending. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2793-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2793-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

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