Research-led explanations of human capacity, learning and technological change. Start with the foundations, then follow the evidence and related ideas as the Learning Hub grows.
Arousal names activation, but activation is not one thing. Subjective intensity, autonomic activity, wakefulness, motor readiness and neural activation can move together or apart, which is why careful affective science distinguishes among them instead of treating “arousal” as a universal meter of emotional intensity.
Attachment as a relationship-specific pattern of seeking safety and supporting exploration, with measurement and developmental limits.
A critical guide to Fraley’s 2019 review of adult attachment, developmental continuity and contested relationship models.
Attention is not a single mental spotlight. It is a family of selection processes shaped by goals, salience, learning history, bodily state and context, and one of the central capacities through which a world becomes actionable.
What the Attention Network Test compares, how its difference scores are formed, and where interpretation becomes uncertain.
A source-first guide to Lutz and colleagues’ 2008 model of focused attention and open monitoring, its later tests and transfer limits.
A research-led account of attention sovereignty as an Institute design concept in persuasive digital environments.
Why a second target can be missed in a rapid stream after a first target is detected.
Attentional capture occurs when a stimulus receives priority despite competing goals. The phenomenon is robust, but the conditions under which capture is automatic, contingent, suppressible or shaped by learning remain one of attention research’s most important debates.
A critical guide to Jan Theeuwes’s 2025 review of attentional capture, control and selection history.