49. For People to Pay Attention to Something, they Must First Perceive It
For you to pay attention to something, you must be able to sense and perceive it. Here are some examples of the sensitivity of your senses:
Sight: If you’re standing at a high point in total darkness, you can see a candle 30 miles away.
Sound: If you’re in a very quiet room, you can hear a watch ticking 20 feet away.
Smell: You can smell a drop of perfume in about 800 square feet of space.
Touch: You can feel a human hair on your skin.
Taste: You can taste a teaspoon of sugar in two gallons of water.
Signal Detection Theory
If you can’t find your watch, and you’re trying to figure out where you left it, then you’ll hear it ticking if you’re within 20 feet of it. But what ...
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