Problem
You are taking a very challenging psychology course at Baruch College, and on this one particular day you are (a) trying to take detailed notes as you (b) listen to your professor talk non-stop during an in-class (i.e., in-person) lecture. Unfortunately for you, the professor is NOT showing any slides, and there is a LOT of student chatter in the back of the lecture hall where you're sitting. Furthermore, someone within earshot of you (but not in sight) has actually just queued up your *favorite* Black Mirror episode on NETFLIX!
1) Drawing upon Anne Treisman's (1964) Attenuation Theory of Selective Auditory Attention, carefully explain WHY (from a "cognitive" / "theoretical" perspective) you are likely to MISS some of the information that the professor is talking about in class. HOW would a "Treisman explanation" of your experience be more realistic (theoretically) than Broadbent's Early Filter Theory?
2) ALSO then explain what you might ACTIVELY DO to help keep yourself focused on the lecture at hand. As you explain your action in this scenario, provide solid rationale from Attenuation Theory as to WHY that action should work. Your goal here is to explain your actions from a "cognitive" / "theoretical" perspective.
3) Be sure to incorporate the general principles of bottom-up *ATTENTION* and top-down *ATTENTION* (Corbetta & Shulman, 2011) into your overall response.