We can think of attention as like a pyramid.
We give very small amounts of attention, or none, to loads of objects, ideas, features, perceptions, whatever. They have to do something pretty big to push their way up to the conscious mind. That’s consciousness, right at the top there.
We give a little attention to a few things. These will have to make a noise or flash or something to push their way up. Keep in mind I’m talking about second-by-second attention, by the way. This isn’t, like, how much attention you give a particular job. This is right in the moment.
At the top of the pyramid is the focus. Just one or a couple of things that we’re sensitive to changes in.
Now, I want to talk about the top two levels.
You give a small amount of attention to things just by recognising them as objects and looking at them. You can only look at a small number of things – as individuals – at once, but just by looking at them, you can immediately tell stuff about them.
We saw that just now, with pop out. This is another thing you can tell.