Perception

Cognitive Psychology

Perception and attention questions

Q1.Explain the relationship between perception and attention. Provide specific examples in your explanation.

Attention is defined as the "selection of information for specialized processing usually in the context of some goal or task" (Attention lecture, n.d., PSY 394). It is impossible to focus on everything within our sensory field; we must be selective, either consciously or unconsciously. Perception can be defined as "the active process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting the information brought to the brain by the senses" (Psychology class notes: Sensation and perception, 2012, Class notes). Attention applies the principle of selectivity to what we perceive.

It has been noted in several experimental psychology studies on working memory that "individuals with higher scores in such tasks also are better at controlling their attention, in ways such as counteracting the impulse to look toward a suddenly-appearing object or ignoring one's own name...
[ View Full Essay]