A Writer's Notebook, Day Nine-Hundred-And-Eighty-One

I have been considering the question of attention, of how it is a person's focus is attracted to one thing over another.  It is clear, I think, that attention is a step in a process.  First, their is exposure to the stimulus, then there is awareness of it, then it becomes noticed, then it is attended.  Exposure is obvious: the stimulus is present.  Awareness is the initial response to that stimulus, before it reaches conscious notice.  Once it has been noticed, it can be attended.  That is the point when there is some degree of real conscious choice.  We do not decide to notice a thing, but we can choose to keep paying it attention.   I think that these earlier layers impact that choice, though I can't explain that intuition beyond the knowledge that repeat exposure impacts the response to a stimuli in positive ways.  I have to consider more and look at it from other perspectives before I can develop a real understanding.  

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