5.2.6

Discuss the relationship between selective attention and memory.

            Selective attention (SA) operated in the short-term sensory store (STSS). Only the relevant information is passed to the short-term memory (STM) where it is held for several seconds. SA ensures that information overload does not occur and prevents confusion, as the brain would not be able to cope with streams of information. A filtering mechanism operates, which separates the relevant information so that athletes concentrate on one cue or stimulus (for example, the ball, position of player in a game of tennis) to the exclusion of others. SA is very important when accuracy or fast responses are required and can be improved by learning through past experiences and interaction with long-term memory.

            Selective attention refers to the individual focusing on relevant information while ignoring irrelevant information. Unselected stimuli are filtered out but selected stimuli are compared to information stored in LTM. This allows us to make decisions on what action to take.