Unit 5: How People Focus Their Attention

• Attention is selective: if a person is given a directive before reading text their focus will be on the direction given, "read only the bold text in this paragraph," for example. Selective Attention can filter out other stimuli and focus on the task at hand. Don't expect this focused attention to last too long however.  Of particular note is what humans inherently focus on: food, sex and danger. The author points out that selective attention is a genetic inheritance from days gone by where we needed food to survive, had to watch for danger to survive, and sex to continue our race.
• Sounds can gain attention but should only be used for alerts. When a sound or behavior is repeated, a user will become accustomed to it and ignore it.
• Sustained attention can only last 10 minutes.
• Mental Model of Frequency: signal if it's infrequent or important. Like sounds an indicator that is stressing importance should be used for alerts.
• People do not multitask.

Hotlinks
Signal Detection Theory
Only 2% of People can Multitask Successfully - Infographic
Humans Have Three Brains