According to Goldstein (2011) attention is our ability to focus and concentrate on distinct subject matter. In psychology there are multiple theories and studies done to try to determine our capacity for attention. I will examine two aspects of attention, selective attention or our “ability to focus on one message and ignore all others,” (Goldstein, 2011) and divided attention “paying attention to more than one thing at a time.” These theories are exemplified by Broadbent’s filter model of attention, Treisman’s attenuation model of attention and Nilli Lavie’s concepts of processing capacity and perceptual load.

In Broadbent’s filter model of attention information enters our mind, is held in sensory memory for a fraction of a second, is filtered based on its physical characteristics (tone of voice, pitch, speed of talking, and accent), and then essentially processed. The information is deciphered early and only the filtered message gets further attention. The Broadbent model shows that we can pay attention to one activity while filtering out everything else around us. An example of which would be attending a crowded party and carrying on a conversation while disregarding, or filtering out, the background noise around us, also referred to as selective attention. Another would be driving down the road and being so focused on driving that you missed your exit along with the large sign marking the exit.

In the Treisman model messages are split into two streams based on the message’s physical characteristics, language and meaning by a process known as the attenuator. The primary, attended, message gets most of the further processing attention while a portion of the unattended messages also get some processing, rather than just being filtered out as in the Broadbent model. An example of this would be while at the same party as previously mentioned, and carrying on a conversation, someone says your name and you immediately focus on where your name came from. Although we have the capacity to focus on one activity while filtering out others as in the Broadbent model, we can also process background, or unattended, messages depending on how pertinent they are to the listener as in the Treisman model.

The Nilli Lavie’s theory suggests that we can pay attention to more than one thing at a time, however, we have a limited capacity to process information based on the division of processing resources into processing capacity (how much information we can process) and perceptual load (how easy information is to process). Essentially, we can process more information depending on how easy the information is to process. For an example watching a ball game is a relatively easy task to process whereas a meeting at work will have a higher perceptual load. If you were to engage in a conversation while watching the ball game, you would be adding to the processing capacity however your processing capacity would not be overwhelmed. If you were to engage in the same conversation while in a meeting at work, you would be adding more processing to an already high processing capacity and although the new information is easy to process you will become overwhelmed with too much information and thus not be able to process all the information.

The Broadbent’s filter model of attention and Treisman’s attenuation model of attention shows us how to some degree we can focus on one message while ignoring everything else. Nilli Lavie’s concepts of processing capacity and perceptual load show us that we have a limited capacity for information processing and divided attention can result in our inability to process all the information. We all have been involved in a conversation or a task that was interrupted by another person or event that had the potential to cause us to lose focus on the task at hand. We either ignored the interruption through selective attention or tried to divide our mental faculties among the current objective and the new occurrence with divided attention depending on our capacity for attention.

References

Goldstein, E. B. (2011). Cognitive psychology: Connecting mind, research and everyday experience (4th ed.). Wadsworth, Inc.