You are about to take your psychology test when in the next room a nature video is being shown to another class.You focus intensely on reading and answering the test questions.When you look up a few minutes later, you realize that the video has stopped; and you hadn't even noticed.This situation illustrates your _____ to the test questions.
A)sensory adaptation
B)selective attention
C)sensory gating
D)selective accommodation

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Selective attention refers to the ability to focus on a particular stimulus while filtering out others. In this situation, the nature video in the other room was not relevant to the task at hand (taking the psychology test) and therefore, selective attention was key in allowing the individual to ignore the video and focus on the test questions. Sensory adaptation refers to the reduced sensitivity to a constant or unchanging stimulus, sensory gating refers to the filtering of sensory information before it reaches consciousness, and selective accommodation is not a recognized psychological term.

You Are About to Take Your Psychology Test When in the Next