Attention splits into immediate capture and slower captivating motor-emotional schemas

Evidence

If we are able to deal with so much information so quickly, this is because our nervous system has developed sensorimotor schemas which are triggered as soon as it is affected by certain stimuli. Jean-Philippe Lachaux has distinguished the immediate ‘capture’ of our attention by salient factors, from its ‘CAPTIVATION’ by processes that absorb us in motor or emotional schemas that take a certain time to develop. … In the same way, certain perceptions trigger motor schemas which prevent us from being attentive to something else: if an object seems to be approaching my face at high speed, I will instinctively close my eyes and move my head to dodge it. — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 370

Categorization

• DEFINE: Distinguishes ‘capture’ from ‘captivation’ as analytic terms within layered attention.
• XREF: connects to: Reflexive neural triggers explain why certain images consistently capture attention — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 66; Attention theories have long split attention into automatic and intentional spheres — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 359; Attention acts as a gate that admits pre-existing sensory information into consciousness — Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing: Resisting the…, 393 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Attention theories have long split attention into automatic and intentional spheres #corroborates (0.80) — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 359
• Attention acts as a gate that admits pre-existing sensory information into consciousness #contradicts (0.80) — Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing, 393
• Reflexive neural triggers explain why certain images consistently capture attention #expands (0.75) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 66
• Concern about attention span misdirects effort from recovering deeper attentional modes #qualifies (0.75)