Theories of Selective Attention

Filter Theory
- Proposed by Donald Broadbent in 1958.
- Suggests that information is filtered based on physical characteristics before being processed further.
- Only relevant information passes through the filter and reaches conscious awareness.

Attenuation Theory
- Proposed by Anne Treisman in 1960.
- Suggests that rather than completely blocking out irrelevant information, it is simply attenuated or weakened.
- The strength of the signal determines whether it will be attended to or not.

Late Selection Theory
- Proposed by Deutsch and Deutsch in 1963.
- Suggests that all information is processed to a semantic level before selection occurs.
- Selection is based on meaning, relevance, and importance rather than physical characteristics.

Feature Integration Theory
- Proposed by Anne Treisman in 1980.
- Explains how different features of an object are combined to create a coherent perception.
- Consists of two stages: preattentive stage where features are processed automatically, and focused attention stage where features are combined to create a whole perception.

Load Theory
- Proposed by Lavie in 1995.
- Suggests that attentional resources are limited and can be allocated based on the perceptual load of the task.
- High perceptual load tasks require full attention, reducing the likelihood of distraction by irrelevant information.

These theories provide different perspectives on how attention operates and help us understand the mechanisms behind selective attention in psychology.