Selective attention is the brain’s ability to select important information and ignore irrelevant information. The selected information will appear clearer and more intense, and will be chosen based on the interest and meaning of the topic most of the time unconsciously.
The stimuli sent to the brain can be visual, olfactory, audible, tasteful or tactile, but at some point the brain is unable to assimilate them all and ends up using selective attention as a strategy to filter information.
- People typically get stimuli based on current needs.
- For example.
- If someone is thinking about buying a car.
- They’ll pay more attention to cars on the street.
- Ads.
- And conversations about it.
Selective attention has a big influence on learning as it helps people maintain focus in the classroom or book, avoiding distractions and delivering a good growing performance.