Abstract This paper describes some of the main theories of selective attention as well as how the selective attention process affects consumers. The paper relates this to advertising, marketing and psychology.
From the Paper "Selective attention has been the focus of several different theories, which have developed over the years with better understanding of the process and of consumers. Anne Treisman describes selective attention as 'the basic features of interest that consumers respond to' (Attention and Effort), in order to obtain information. A feature is a specific characteristic on a dimension that people analyse during the process of perception. Treisman suggests that 'objects have elementary features that we attend to immediately and automatically' . She believes that the features combine to create an impression of a distinctive object. "
