ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we focus on attention in sensation and perception, which are the earliest stages of human information processing. The chapter outlines the role of selective attention, focused attention, and divided attention between channels of sensory information. This chapter proposes that attention is a filter of environmental stimuli. The filter sometimes narrows, or focuses, to decrease irrelevant visual or auditory input, and sometimes it broadens, or divides, to take in parallel streams of environmental information for integration or multitasking. The effective breadth of the filter is dictated by the limits of our senses (e.g., foveal vision), task demands, the differences and similarities between stimulus channels, and the strategies and understanding of the human operator. The chapter explains models useful in understanding how attention in these situations work and provides specific principle-based guidance for the layout of display, and the design of head-up displays, object displays, and auditory displays.
