selective attention

British  

noun

1. psychol the process by which a person can selectively pick out one message from a mixture of messages occurring simultaneously

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Example Sentences

Previous research had shown pigeons learned how to solve complex categorization tasks that human ways of thinking -- like selective attention and explicit rule use -- would not be useful in solving.

From Science Daily

It's a textbook case of what social scientists have long called "Missing White Woman Syndrome," or selective attention paid to missing person cases involving young, white, upper-middle-class women or girls.

From Salon

Christopher F. Chabris, a research psychologist who has studied selective attention, said there may be “a memory phenomenon going on here.”

From New York Times

For example, there’s a “selective attention test” available on YouTube that illustrates perceptual distortion by asking you to count the number of times certain players pass a basketball to each other.

From Washington Post

If you watched the selective attention test, did you see the gorilla?

From Washington Post