His attention to
his book is shifted to the window, not because he wills it so, but
because of the suddenness and force of the stimulus. The excitation of
the auditory nerve centers compels attention. The attendant feeling may
be one of pleasure or of pain--there may be an interest developed or
there may not. Involuntary attention clearly does not rest upon
interest.
Then there is what is called _Nonvoluntary_ attention. I go to a theatre
and some particular musical number is featured. It grips my interest and
I follow it with rapt attention, wholly without conscious effort. Unlike
the case of a sudden noise, in this experience my attention is not
physiologically automatic--I could control it if I chose--but I choose
now to give it. Interest clearly is the motor power behind such
attention. Then, finally, there is _Voluntary_ attention. I sit at a
table working out a problem in arithmetic. Outside there is being played
a most exciting ball game. My interests are almost wholly centered in
the outcome of the game, but duty bids me work out my problem. I make
myself attend to it in spite of the pull of my natural interests.
And so attention is seen to be purely the result of physiological
stimulus; it is seen to accompany--fairly to be born out of
it--interest.
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