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Concept of the Week · Episode 16
The way some things grab our attention whether we like it or not: a crying baby, a siren, a flashing light, a squirrel darting past.
Explained by Professor Peter Kinderman, clinical psychologist · First published 4 November 2026 · Updated 4 November 2026
Psychologists study attentional capture as the involuntary pull of some stimuli on attention, even when they are irrelevant to what we are trying to do. Steven Yantis and John Jonides showed in visual search experiments in 1984 that an object appearing suddenly draws attention more than one that was already there, and Jan Theeuwes showed in 1992 that a single item of a different colour can capture attention even when people know to ignore it. Researchers still argue about how far capture is automatic and how far it depends on what we are looking for, but sudden onsets, movement, loud noises and the sounds of distress are among the strongest pulls.
Attentional capture. Some things grab our attention whether we like it or not: a crying baby, a siren, a flashing light, a squirrel. Yantis and Jonides showed it in experiments in 1984, and designers use it on purpose. It is also why we can stare into a fire for hours.
Peter's examples on the show are the classics: something sparkly, a squirrel, a crying baby that is almost impossible to ignore for good evolutionary reasons, and emergency sirens that change pitch on purpose because a changing sound is harder to tune out. Saying scandalous things works the same way, which is how the conversation reached Donald Trump. And it is why we can sit by a bonfire with a cup of tea or a pint and stare at the flames for hours: fire has everything that grabs our attention, including the chance that it gets out of control.
Hear it in context
Attentional capture, Trump's cheating and why we stare at fire
Why can't you ignore a crying baby, a siren or a squirrel? The Concept of the Week is attentional capture, and it runs through Donald Trump's cheating, why we stare into fire on Bonfire Night and the psychology of fancy dress.
A baby crying on a plane, a siren, a flashing light or a squirrel running across your path. Each one pulls your attention away from what you were doing without you choosing it.
Steven Yantis and John Jonides showed in 1984 that sudden visual onsets capture attention, and Jan Theeuwes extended the work in 1992 with colour singletons.
Peter's Psych Hack: practise shifting your attention on purpose, to the warmth of a cup of tea or the line you are reading, from near to far and from inside to outside. The things built to grab your attention then have less of a hold.
The primary literature behind the idea, for anyone who wants to check it. Also on Wikipedia.
Kinderman, P. (2026). Attentional capture. Concept of the Week, Experience: Analysing Newsmakers, episode 16, with Hilary Jeffs. https://www.experiencepodco.com/concepts/attentional-capture.html
Mirror neurons · Authenticity · Confirmation bias · Attribution theory · INUS conditions · Variable ratio reinforcement · The illusory truth effect · Role exit · Motivated reasoning · The bystander effect · The halo effect · The spotlight effect · Attentional blindness · Conspicuous consumption · Social comparison theory
Concept of the Week is a regular feature of Experience: Analysing Newsmakers, the weekly podcast in which clinical psychologist Professor Peter Kinderman and communications expert Hilary Jeffs take the news apart to see what is driving it. Peter picks a psychological idea most of us have half-remembered wrong and explains what it actually shows. New episodes every Tuesday. Where to listen.