Editing Attention (section)

==Other descriptors for types of attention==
* '''[[Mindfulness]]:'''  Mindfulness has been conceptualized as a clinical model of attention.<ref>{{Cite journal| vauthors = Carmody J |date=2009|title=Evolving Conceptions of Mindfulness in Clinical Settings|journal= Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy|volume=23 | issue = 3 |pages=270–280|doi=10.1891/0889-8391.23.3.270|s2cid=143844777}}</ref>  [[Mindfulness]] practices are clinical interventions that emphasize training attention functions.<ref>{{Cite journal| vauthors = Kabat-Zinn J |date=2015 | title = Mindfulness |journal=Mindfulness |volume=6 | issue = 6 |pages=1481–1483|doi=10.1007/s12671-015-0456-x|s2cid=255796380 }}</ref>
* '''Vigilant attention:''' Remaining focused on a non-arousing stimulus or uninteresting task for a sustained period is far more difficult than attending to arousing stimuli and interesting tasks, and requires a specific type of attention called 'vigilant attention'.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Langner R, Eickhoff SB | title = Sustaining attention to simple tasks: a meta-analytic review of the neural mechanisms of vigilant attention | journal = Psychological Bulletin | volume = 139 | issue = 4 | pages = 870–900 | date = July 2013 | pmid = 23163491 | pmc = 3627747 | doi = 10.1037/a0030694 }}</ref> Thereby, vigilant attention is the ability to give sustained attention to a  stimulus or  task that might ordinarily be insufficiently engaging to prevent our attention being distracted by other stimuli or tasks.<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Robertson IH, O'Connell R | chapter = Vigilant attention. | veditors = Nobre AC, Nobre K, Coull JT| title = Attention and Time | publisher = Oxford University Press |date = 2010 | pages = 79–88 | isbn = 978-0-19-956345-6 }}</ref>

===Neural correlates===
Most experiments show that one [[neural correlate]] of attention is enhanced firing. If a neuron has a different response to a stimulus when an animal is not attending to a stimulus, versus when the animal does attend to the stimulus, then the neuron's response will be enhanced even if the physical characteristics of the stimulus remain the same.

In a 2007 review, Professor Eric Knudsen<ref name="Knudsen">{{cite journal | vauthors = Knudsen EI | title = Fundamental components of attention | journal = Annual Review of Neuroscience | volume = 30 | issue = 1 | pages = 57–78 | year = 2007 | pmid = 17417935 | doi = 10.1146/annurev.neuro.30.051606.094256 | s2cid = 9875095 }}</ref> describes a more general [[Conceptual model|model]] which identifies four core processes of attention, with [[working memory]] at the center:
* [[Working memory]] temporarily stores information for detailed analysis.
* Competitive selection is the process that determines which information gains access to working memory.
* Through top-down sensitivity control, higher cognitive processes can regulate signal intensity in information channels that compete for access to working memory, and thus give them an advantage in the process of competitive selection. Through top-down sensitivity control, the momentary content of working memory can influence the selection of new information, and thus mediate voluntary control of attention in a recurrent loop (endogenous attention).<ref name="Pattyn">{{cite journal | vauthors = Pattyn N, Neyt X, Henderickx D, Soetens E | title = Psychophysiological investigation of vigilance decrement: boredom or cognitive fatigue? | journal = Physiology & Behavior | volume = 93 | issue = 1–2 | pages = 369–78 | date = January 2008 | pmid = 17999934 | doi = 10.1016/j.physbeh.2007.09.016 | s2cid = 9861215 }}</ref>
* Bottom-up saliency filters automatically enhance the response to infrequent stimuli, or stimuli of instinctive or learned biological relevance (exogenous attention).<ref name="Pattyn"/>

Neurally, at different hierarchical levels spatial maps can enhance or inhibit activity in sensory areas, and induce orienting behaviors like eye movement.
* At the top of the hierarchy, the [[frontal eye fields]] (FEF) and the [[dorsolateral prefrontal cortex]] contain a retinocentric spatial map. [[Microstimulation]] in the FEF induces monkeys to make a [[saccade]] to the relevant location. Stimulation at levels too low to induce a saccade will nonetheless enhance cortical responses to stimuli located in the relevant area.
* At the next lower level, a variety of spatial maps are found in the [[parietal cortex]]. In particular, the lateral intraparietal area (LIP) contains a [[saliency map]] and is interconnected both with the FEF and with sensory areas.
*Exogenous attentional guidance in humans and monkeys is by a bottom-up saliency map in the [http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Area_V1 primary visual cortex].<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" />  In lower [[vertebrate]]s, this saliency map is more likely in the [[superior colliculus]] (optic tectum).<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Zhaoping L | title = From the optic tectum to the primary visual cortex: migration through evolution of the saliency map for exogenous attentional guidance | journal = Current Opinion in Neurobiology | volume = 40 | pages = 94–102 | date = October 2016 | pmid = 27420378 | doi = 10.1016/j.conb.2016.06.017 | s2cid = 206952820 | url = https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1503732/ }}</ref>
* Certain automatic responses that influence attention, like orienting to a highly salient stimulus, are mediated subcortically by the [[superior colliculi]].
* At the neural network level, it is thought that processes like [[lateral inhibition]] mediate the process of competitive selection.

In many cases attention produces changes in the [[EEG]]. Many animals, including humans, produce [[gamma wave]]s (40–60&nbsp;Hz) when focusing attention on a particular object or activity.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Kaiser J, Lutzenberger W | title = Induced gamma-band activity and human brain function | journal = The Neuroscientist | volume = 9 | issue = 6 | pages = 475–84 | date = December 2003 | pmid = 14678580 | doi = 10.1177/1073858403259137 | s2cid = 23574844 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Siegel M, Donner TH, Oostenveld R, Fries P, Engel AK | title = Neuronal synchronization along the dorsal visual pathway reflects the focus of spatial attention | journal = Neuron | volume = 60 | issue = 4 | pages = 709–19 | date = November 2008 | pmid = 19038226 | doi = 10.1016/j.neuron.2008.09.010 | s2cid = 19010227 | doi-access = free | hdl = 2066/71012 | hdl-access = free }}</ref><ref name="ReferenceB"/><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Baldauf D, Desimone R | title = Neural mechanisms of object-based attention | journal = Science | volume = 344 | issue = 6182 | pages = 424–7 | date = April 2014 | pmid = 24763592 | doi = 10.1126/science.1247003 | bibcode = 2014Sci...344..424B | s2cid = 34728448 | doi-access = free }}</ref>

Another commonly used model for the attention system has been put forth by researchers such as [[Michael Posner (psychologist)|Michael Posner]]. He divides attention into three functional components: alerting, orienting, and [[Executive system|executive attention]]<ref name="Posner"/><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Posner MI, Boies SJ |title=Components of attention|journal=Psychological Review |volume=78 |issue=5 |pages=391–408 |year=1971 |doi=10.1037/h0031333 }}</ref> that can also interact and influence each other.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Trautwein FM, Singer T, Kanske P | title = Stimulus-Driven Reorienting Impairs Executive Control of Attention: Evidence for a Common Bottleneck in Anterior Insula | journal = Cerebral Cortex | volume = 26 | issue = 11 | pages = 4136–4147 | date = August 2016 | pmid = 27550866 | pmc = 5066828 | doi = 10.1093/cercor/bhw225 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Fan J, Gu X, Guise KG, Liu X, Fossella J, Wang H, Posner MI | title = Testing the behavioral interaction and integration of attentional networks | journal = Brain and Cognition | volume = 70 | issue = 2 | pages = 209–20 | date = July 2009 | pmid = 19269079 | pmc = 2674119 | doi = 10.1016/j.bandc.2009.02.002 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Callejas A, Lupiáñez J, Tudela P | title = The three attentional networks: on their independence and interactions | journal = Brain and Cognition | volume = 54 | issue = 3 | pages = 225–7 | date = April 2004 | pmid = 15050779 | doi = 10.1016/j.bandc.2004.02.012 | s2cid = 775862 }}</ref>
* Alerting is the process involved in becoming and staying attentive toward the surroundings. It appears to exist in the [[Frontal lobe|frontal]] and [[Parietal lobe|parietal]] lobes of the [[right hemisphere]], and is modulated by [[norepinephrine]].<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Coull JT, Frith CD, Frackowiak RS, Grasby PM | title = A fronto-parietal network for rapid visual information processing: a PET study of sustained attention and working memory | journal = Neuropsychologia | volume = 34 | issue = 11 | pages = 1085–95 | date = November 1996 | pmid = 8904746 | doi = 10.1016/0028-3932(96)00029-2 | s2cid = 25430660 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Marrocco RT, Witte EA, Davidson MC | title = Arousal systems | journal = Current Opinion in Neurobiology | volume = 4 | issue = 2 | pages = 166–70 | date = April 1994 | pmid = 7913640 | doi = 10.1016/0959-4388(94)90067-1 | s2cid = 35709525 }}</ref>
* Orienting is the directing of attention to a specific stimulus.
* Executive attention is used when there is a conflict between multiple attention cues. It is essentially the same as the [[Baddeley's model of working memory#Central executive|central executive]] in [[Baddeley's model of working memory]]. The [[Eriksen flanker task]] has shown that the executive control of attention may take place in the [[anterior cingulate cortex]]<ref>{{cite web | vauthors = Fan J, McCandliss BD, Flombaum JI, Thomas KM, Posner MI | date = 2001 | url = https://cognet.mit.edu/library/conferences/paper?paper_id=53066 | title = Comparing images of conflict in frontal cortex | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150110125228/https://cognet.mit.edu/library/conferences/paper?paper_id=53066 |archive-date=2015-01-10 | work =  Annual meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society | location = New York, NY }}</ref>

===Cultural variation===
Children appear to develop patterns of attention related to the cultural practices of their families, communities, and the institutions in which they participate.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Correa-Chavez M, Barbara R |title=Cultural variation in children's attention and learning |journal=Psychology and the Real World: Essays Illustrating Fundamental Contributions to Society |year=2009 }}</ref>

In 1955, [[Jules Henry]] suggested that there are societal differences in sensitivity to signals from many ongoing sources that call for the awareness of several levels of attention simultaneously. He tied his speculation to ethnographic observations of communities in which children are involved in a complex social community with multiple relationships.<ref name="Chavajay 1999 1079–1090"/>

Many [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Indigenous children in the Americas]] predominantly learn by [[Observational Learning|observing]] and pitching in. There are several studies to support that the use of keen attention towards learning is much more common in Indigenous Communities of North and Central America than in a middle-class European-American setting. This is a direct result of the [[Learning by Observing and Pitching In]] model.

Keen attention is both a requirement and result of learning by observing and pitching-in. Incorporating the children in the community gives them the opportunity to keenly observe and contribute to activities that were not directed towards them. It can be seen from different Indigenous communities and cultures, such as the [[Mayans]] of [[San Pedro La Laguna|San Pedro]], that children can simultaneously attend to multiple events.<ref name="Chavajay 1999 1079–1090"/> Most [[Maya peoples|Maya]] children have learned to pay attention to several events at once in order to make useful observations.<ref>{{cite book| vauthors = Rogoff B |title=The Cultural Nature of Human Development|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780195131338|date=2003-02-13}}</ref>

One example is simultaneous attention which involves uninterrupted attention to several activities occurring at the same time. Another cultural practice that may relate to simultaneous attention strategies is coordination within a group. San Pedro toddlers and caregivers frequently coordinated their activities with other members of a group in multiway engagements rather than in a dyadic fashion.<ref name="Chavajay 1999 1079–1090"/><ref name=Morelli/> Research concludes that children with close ties to Indigenous American roots have a high tendency to be especially keen observers.<ref name="Silva 2010 898–912"/>

This learning by observing and pitching-in model requires active levels of attention management. The child is present while caretakers engage in daily activities and responsibilities such as: weaving, farming, and other skills necessary for survival. Being present allows the child to focus their attention on the actions being performed by their parents, elders, and/or older siblings. In order to learn in this way, keen attention and focus is required. Eventually the child is expected to be able to perform these skills themselves.

In one study, it was found that when looking at a picture, Americans focus more on the center figure than Japanese do, especially after 1 second has passed. Japanese individuals spent larger amounts of time focusing on parts in the background.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Masuda |first1=Takahiko |last2=Ellsworth |first2=Phoebe C. |last3=Mesquita |first3=Batja |last4=Leu |first4=Janxin |last5=Tanida |first5=Shigehito |last6=Van de Veerdonk |first6=Ellen |date=2008 |title=Placing the face in context: Cultural differences in the perception of facial emotion. |url=https://doi.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0022-3514.94.3.365 |journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology |language=en |volume=94 |issue=3 |pages=365–381 |doi=10.1037/0022-3514.94.3.365 |pmid=18284287 |issn=1939-1315}}</ref> Miyamoto et al. compared pictures of landscapes in Japan and the US, noting that Japanese scenes contained more boundaries and edges than the American ones.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Miyamoto |first1=Yuri |last2=Nisbett |first2=Richard E. |last3=Masuda |first3=Takahiko |date=February 2006 |title=Culture and the Physical Environment: Holistic Versus Analytic Perceptual Affordances |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01673.x |journal=Psychological Science |language=en |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=113–119 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01673.x |pmid=16466418 |issn=0956-7976}}</ref>

===Modelling===

In the domain of [[computer vision]], efforts have been made to model the mechanism of human attention, especially the bottom-up intentional mechanism<ref name="Li J, Levine MD, An X, Xu X, He H 2012">{{cite journal | vauthors = Li J, Levine MD, An X, Xu X, He H | title = Visual saliency based on scale-space analysis in the frequency domain | journal = IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence | volume = 35 | issue = 4 | pages = 996–1010 | date = April 2013 | pmid = 22802112 | doi = 10.1109/TPAMI.2012.147 | arxiv = 1605.01999 | s2cid = 350786 }}</ref> and its semantic significance in classification of video contents.<ref name="Zang Wang Liu Zhang 2018 pp. 97–108">{{cite book | last1=Zang | first1=Jinliang | last2=Wang | first2=Le | last3=Liu | first3=Ziyi | last4=Zhang | first4=Qilin | last5=Hua | first5=Gang | last6=Zheng | first6=Nanning | title=Artificial Intelligence Applications and Innovations | chapter=Attention-Based Temporal Weighted Convolutional Neural Network for Action Recognition | publisher=Springer International Publishing | publication-place=Cham | volume=519 | date=2018 | isbn=978-3-319-92006-1 | doi=10.1007/978-3-319-92007-8_9 | pages=97–108}}</ref><ref name="Wang Zang Zhang Niu p=1979">{{cite journal | vauthors = Wang L, Zang J, Zhang Q, Niu Z, Hua G, Zheng N | title = Action Recognition by an Attention-Aware Temporal Weighted Convolutional Neural Network | journal = Sensors | volume = 18 | issue = 7 | pages = 1979 | date = June 2018 | pmid = 29933555 | pmc = 6069475 | doi = 10.3390/s18071979 | bibcode = 2018Senso..18.1979W | url = https://qilin-zhang.github.io/_pages/pdfs/sensors-18-01979-Action_Recognition_by_an_Attention-Aware_Temporal_Weighted_Convolutional_Neural_Network.pdf | doi-access = free }}</ref> Both [[Visual spatial attention|spatial attention]] and [[Visual temporal attention|temporal attention]] have been incorporated in such classification efforts.

Generally speaking, there are two kinds of models to mimic the bottom-up salience mechanism in static images. One is based on the spatial contrast analysis. For example, a center–surround mechanism has been used to define salience across scales, inspired by the putative neural mechanism.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Itti L, Koch C, Niebur E |title=A Model of Saliency-Based Visual Attention for Rapid Scene Analysis |journal=IEEE Trans Pattern Anal Mach Intell|volume=20 |issue=11 |pages=1254–1259 |year=1998|doi=10.1109/34.730558 |citeseerx=10.1.1.53.2366 |s2cid=3108956 }}</ref> It has also been hypothesized that some visual inputs are intrinsically salient in certain background contexts and that these are actually task-independent. This model has established itself as the exemplar for salience detection and consistently used for comparison in the literature;<ref name="Li J, Levine MD, An X, Xu X, He H 2012"/> the other kind of model is based on the frequency domain analysis. This method was first proposed by Hou et al..<ref>{{Cite book |vauthors=Hou X, Zhang L |doi=10.1109/CVPR.2007.383267 |chapter-url=http://www.klab.caltech.edu/~xhou/papers/cvpr07.pdf |access-date=2015-01-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150212171627/http://www.klab.caltech.edu/~xhou/papers/cvpr07.pdf |archive-date=2015-02-12 |url-status=dead |title=2007 IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition |pages=1–8 |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-4244-1179-5 |chapter=Saliency Detection: A Spectral Residual Approach |citeseerx=10.1.1.579.1650 |s2cid=15611611 }}</ref> This method was called SR. Then, the PQFT method was also introduced. Both SR and PQFT only use the phase information.<ref name="Li J, Levine MD, An X, Xu X, He H 2012"/> In 2012, the HFT method was introduced, and both the amplitude and the phase information are made use of.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Li J, Levine MD, An X, Xu X, He H | title = Visual saliency based on scale-space analysis in the frequency domain | journal = IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence | volume = 35 | issue = 4 | pages = 996–1010 | date = April 2013 | pmid = 22802112 | doi = 10.1109/TPAMI.2012.147 | url = http://www.cim.mcgill.ca/~lijian/06243147.pdf | arxiv = 1605.01999 | s2cid = 350786 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130301015810/http://www.cim.mcgill.ca/~lijian/06243147.pdf | url-status = dead | archive-date = 2013-03-01 }}</ref> The Neural Abstraction Pyramid<ref>{{Cite book| vauthors = Behnke S |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/b11963|title=Hierarchical Neural Networks for Image Interpretation|date=2003|publisher=Springer Berlin Heidelberg|isbn=978-3-540-40722-5|series=Lecture Notes in Computer Science|volume=2766|location=Berlin, Heidelberg|doi=10.1007/b11963|s2cid=1304548}}</ref> is a hierarchical recurrent convolutional model, which incorporates bottom-up and top-down flow of information to iteratively interpret images.

===Hemispatial neglect===
{{Main|Hemispatial neglect}}
Hemispatial neglect, also called ''unilateral neglect'', often occurs when people have damage to the right hemisphere of their brain.<ref name="Kalat, J. W. 2013">{{cite book | vauthors = Kalat JW | date = 2013 | title = Biological Psychology | edition = 11th | publisher = Cengage Learning }}</ref> This damage often leads to a tendency to ignore the left side of one's body or even the left side of an object that can be seen. Damage to the left side of the brain (the left hemisphere) rarely yields significant neglect of the right side of the body or object in the person's local environments.<ref name="Silveri, M. 2011">{{cite journal | vauthors = Silveri MC, Ciccarelli N, Cappa A | title = Unilateral spatial neglect in degenerative brain pathology | journal = Neuropsychology | volume = 25 | issue = 5 | pages = 554–66 | date = September 2011 | pmid = 21639641 | doi = 10.1037/a0023957 }}</ref>

The effects of spatial neglect, however, may vary and differ depending on what area of the brain was damaged. Damage to different neural substrates can result in different types of neglect. Attention disorders (lateralized and nonlaterized) may also contribute to the symptoms and effects.<ref name="Silveri, M. 2011"/> Much research has asserted that damage to gray matter within the brain results in spatial neglect.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Karnath HO, Rorden C, Ticini LF | title = Damage to white matter fiber tracts in acute spatial neglect | journal = Cerebral Cortex | volume = 19 | issue = 10 | pages = 2331–7 | date = October 2009 | pmid = 19168667 | pmc = 2742593 | doi = 10.1093/cercor/bhn250 }}</ref>

New technology has yielded more information, such that there is a large, distributed network of frontal, parietal, temporal, and subcortical brain areas that have been tied to neglect.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Buxbaum LJ | title = On the right (and left) track: Twenty years of progress in studying hemispatial neglect | journal = Cognitive Neuropsychology | volume = 23 | issue = 1 | pages = 184–201 | year = 2006 | pmid = 21049327 | doi = 10.1080/02643290500202698 | s2cid = 27750259 }}</ref> This network can be related to other research as well; the [[dorsal attention network]] is tied to spatial orienting.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Ptak R, Schnider A | title = The dorsal attention network mediates orienting toward behaviorally relevant stimuli in spatial neglect | journal = The Journal of Neuroscience | volume = 30 | issue = 38 | pages = 12557–65 | date = September 2010 | pmid = 20861361 | pmc = 6633576 | doi = 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2722-10.2010 }}</ref> The effect of damage to this network may result in patients neglecting their left side when distracted about their right side or an object on their right side.<ref name="Kalat, J. W. 2013"/>

===Attention in social contexts===

'''Social attention''' is one special form of attention that involves the allocation of limited processing resources in a social context. Previous studies on social attention often regard how attention is directed toward socially relevant stimuli such as faces and gaze directions of other individuals.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Klein JT, Shepherd SV, Platt ML | title = Social attention and the brain | journal = Current Biology | volume = 19 | issue = 20 | pages = R958–62 | date = November 2009 | pmid = 19889376 | pmc = 3387539 | doi = 10.1016/j.cub.2009.08.010 | bibcode = 2009CBio...19.R958K }}</ref> In contrast to attending-to-others, a different line of researches has shown that self-related information such as own face and name automatically captures attention and is preferentially processed comparing to other-related information.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Humphreys GW, Sui J | title = Attentional control and the self: The Self-Attention Network (SAN) | journal = Cognitive Neuroscience | volume = 7 | issue = 1–4 | pages = 5–17 | date = 2016 | pmid = 25945926 | doi = 10.1080/17588928.2015.1044427 | s2cid = 52867757 }}</ref> These contrasting effects between attending-to-others and attending-to-self prompt a synthetic view in a recent Opinion article<ref name="journal.frontiersin.org">{{cite journal | vauthors = Kuang S | title = Two Polarities of Attention in Social Contexts: From Attending-to-Others to Attending-to-Self | journal = Frontiers in Psychology | volume = 7 | pages = 63 | date = 2016 | pmid = 26869965 | pmc = 4734343 | doi = 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00063 | doi-access = free }}</ref> proposing that social attention operates at two polarizing states: In one extreme, individual tends to attend to the self and prioritize self-related information over others', and, in the other extreme, attention is allocated to other individuals to infer their intentions and desires. Attending-to-self and attending-to-others mark the two ends of an otherwise continuum spectrum of social attention. For a given behavioral context, the mechanisms underlying these two polarities might interact and compete with each other in order to determine a saliency map of social attention that guides our behaviors.<ref name="journal.frontiersin.org"/> An imbalanced competition between these two behavioral and cognitive processes will cause cognitive disorders and neurological symptoms such as [[autism spectrum]] disorders and [[Williams syndrome]].

===Distracting factors===

According to Daniel Goleman's book, ''Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence'', there are two types of distracting factors affecting focus – sensory and emotional.

A sensory distracting factor would be, for example, while a person is reading this article, they are neglecting the white field surrounding the text.

An emotional distracting factor would be when someone is focused on answering an email, and somebody shouts their name. It would be almost impossible to neglect the voice speaking it. Attention is immediately directed toward the source. Positive emotions have also been found to affect attention. Induction of happiness has led to increased response times and an increase in inaccurate responses in the face of irrelevant stimuli. Two possible theories as to why emotions might make one more susceptible to distracting stimuli is that emotions take up too much of one's cognitive resources and make it harder to control your focus of attention. The other theory is that emotions make it harder to filter out distractions, specifically with positive emotions due to a feeling of security.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Pacheco-Unguetti |first1=Antonia Pilar |last2=Parmentier |first2=Fabrice B. R. |date=August 2016 |title=Happiness increases distraction by auditory deviant stimuli |url=https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12148 |journal=British Journal of Psychology |volume=107 |issue=3 |pages=419–433 |doi=10.1111/bjop.12148 |pmid=26302716 |issn=0007-1269|hdl=10481/100857 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

Another distracting factor to attention processes is insufficient sleep. Sleep deprivation is found to impair cognition, specifically performance in divided attention. Divided attention is possibly linked with the circadian processes.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Drummond | first=S | title=The Effects of Total Sleep Deprivation on Cerebral Responses to Cognitive Performance | journal=Neuropsychopharmacology | publisher=Springer Science and Business Media LLC | volume=25 | issue=5 | year=2001 | issn=0893-133X | doi=10.1016/s0893-133x(01)00325-6 | pages=S68–S73| pmid=11682277 }}</ref>

===Failure to attend===
[[Inattentional blindness]] was first introduced in 1998 by Arien Mack and Irvic Rock. Their studies show that when people are focused on specific stimuli, they often miss other stimuli that are clearly present. Though actual blindness is not occurring here, the blindness that happens is due to the perceptual load of what is being attended to.<ref>{{Cite journal| vauthors = Mack A |date=2003|title=Inattentional Blindness: Looking without Seeing|journal=Current Directions in Psychological Science|volume=12|issue=5|pages=180–184|doi=10.1111/1467-8721.01256|jstor=20182872|s2cid=15230550|issn=0963-7214}}</ref> Based on the experiment performed by Mack and Rock, Ula Finch and Nilli Lavie tested participants with a perceptual task. They presented subjects with a cross, one arm being longer than the other, for 5 trials. On the sixth trial, a white square was added to the top left of the screen. The results conclude that out of 10 participants, only 2 (20%) actually saw the square. This would suggest that when a higher focus was attended to the length of the crossed arms, the more likely someone would altogether miss an object that was in plain sight.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Lavie N, Beck DM, Konstantinou N | title = Blinded by the load: attention, awareness and the role of perceptual load | journal = Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences | volume = 369 | issue = 1641 | pages = 20130205 | date = May 2014 | pmid = 24639578 | pmc = 3965161 | doi = 10.1098/rstb.2013.0205 | jstor = 24500065 }}</ref>

[[Change blindness]] was first tested by Rensink and coworkers in 1997. Their studies show that people have difficulty detecting changes from scene to scene due to the intense focus on one thing, or lack of attention overall. This was tested by Rensink through a presentation of a picture, and then a blank field, and then the same picture but with an item missing. The results showed that the pictures had to be alternated back and forth a good number of times for participants to notice the difference. This idea is greatly portrayed in films that have continuity errors. Many people do not pick up on differences when in reality, the changes tend to be significant.<ref>{{Cite journal| vauthors = Rensink RA, O'Regan JK, Clark JJ |date=1997|title=To See or Not to See: The Need for Attention to Perceive Changes in Scenes|journal=Psychological Science|volume=8|issue=5|pages=368–373|doi=10.1111/j.1467-9280.1997.tb00427.x|jstor=40063214|s2cid=1945079|issn=0956-7976|url=https://philarchive.org/rec/RENTSO }}</ref>