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Attention is the concentration of awareness directed at some task or phenomenon while mostly excluding others.

In cognitive psychology, attention is often described as the allocation of limited cognitive processing resources to a subset of information, thoughts, or tasks. In neuropsychology, attention is understood as a set of mechanisms by which sensory cues and internal goals modulate neuronal tuning and orient behavioral and cognitive processes. Attention is not a unitary phenomenon but an umbrella term for multiple related processes, including selective attention (prioritizing some stimuli over others), sustained attention (maintaining focus), divided attention (sharing resources across tasks), and orienting (shifting focus in space or time). These processes are supported by distributed neural networks in frontal, parietal, and subcortical regions and are closely linked to working memory, executive functions, and consciousness. Patterns of attention also vary across cultures, especially in how individuals attend to context versus focal objects and how children are guided to manage attention in everyday activities.

Berlyne credited the first extended treatment of attention to Nicolas Malebranche, for whom attention is necessary "to keep our perceptions from being confused and imperfect". Leibniz emphasized a reflexive, involuntary view of attention (exogenous orienting), while also recognizing voluntary, directed attention (endogenous orienting). Wundt argued that such differences reflect the time required to shift voluntary attention from one stimulus to another, rather than mere "observation error". James distinguished between sensorial attention (to physically present stimuli) and intellectual attention (to imagined or remembered objects). He also differentiated immediate from derived attention and identified five major effects of attention: it influences perception, conception, discrimination, memory, and reaction time. During the first half of the 20th century, explicit research on attention declined as behaviorism became dominant, leading some, such as Ulric Neisser, to claim that “there was no research on attention”. A growing body of work identified a frontoparietal attention network implicated in the control of attention.

Historically, experimental studies of attention began with Wundt’s work using a 4 x 4 matrix of randomly chosen letters, which informed his theory of attention.

Orienting of attention refers to shifting focus across space, time, or modality.

Bottom-up attention (often equated with exogenous attention) is driven by stimulus properties such as motion, brightness, or sudden onset and is associated with regions in the parietal lobe, temporal lobe, and brainstem. Top-down attention (also called goal-driven, endogenous, attentional control or executive attention) is mediated primarily by the frontal cortex and basal ganglia.

Another influential framework, associated with Michael Posner, divides attention into three functional networks: alerting, orienting, and executive attention, which interact with one another.

Divided attention – allocating resources across multiple tasks or stimuli. The following subsections highlight some specific forms of attention that have been emphasized in the literature.Researchers commonly classify attention into several core types: Alternating attention refers to the ability to shift focus between tasks or stimuli that require different cognitive demands. Research shows performance typically declines when attention is divided across tasks. Some people perform better on tasks requiring divided attention, such as people who tend to chronically spread their attention and incorporate the context.

Remaining focused on a non-arousing stimulus or uninteresting task for a sustained period is more difficult than attending to salient or interesting events and requires a specific form of attention called vigilant attention.

Divided attention refers to attempts to allocate attention to multiple sources of information or tasks at the same time.

Simultaneous attention refers to sustained attention to multiple events at the same time, rather than rapidly switching between them.

Alternating attention: shifting focus and mental set between tasks with different cognitive demands. Divided attention: responding simultaneously to multiple tasks or task demands.

Early-selection models (e.g., Broadbent, Treisman) posit that attention acts before full semantic analysis, whereas late-selection models (e.g., Deutsch & Deutsch) posit that semantic analysis occurs in parallel, with attention determining which representations reach awareness or guide behavior.

Quick Facts

• Attention is not a unitary phenomenon but an umbrella term for multiple related processes, including selective attention (prioritizing some stimuli over others), sustained attention (maintaining focus), divided attention (sharing resources across tasks), and orienting (shifting focus in space or time).
• Leibniz emphasized a reflexive, involuntary view of attention (exogenous orienting), while also recognizing voluntary, directed attention (endogenous orienting).
• Patterns of attention also vary across cultures, especially in how individuals attend to context versus focal objects and how children are guided to manage attention in everyday activities.
• In cognitive psychology, attention is often described as the allocation of limited cognitive processing resources to a subset of information, thoughts, or tasks.
• In neuropsychology, attention is understood as a set of mechanisms by which sensory cues and internal goals modulate neuronal tuning and orient behavioral and cognitive processes.

Source material: Wikipedia - "Attention". Adapted and summarized for DiscoverScroll. Original contributors are credited through the linked Wikipedia article. Read original on Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes were made from the original.