Question

someone pulls out a gun or knife in front of you. what is the term specifically called when you pay more attention to the gun or knife than anything else surrounding it?

Answer 1

The term for paying more attention to a weapon than anything else in a threatening situation is called the 'weapon focus effect'. It is a cognitive bias that impairs the ability of a witness to remember other details, likely due to the stress and threat of the weapon.

Step-by-step explanation:

Weapon Focus Effect

The phenomenon where your attention is disproportionately focused on a weapon, such as a gun or knife, to the exclusion of other environmental details is commonly referred to as weapon focus effect. Weapon focus effect refers to the tendency for the presence of a weapon in a violent situation to draw the witness's attention away from other important details, such as the perpetrator's appearance.

Research suggests that the heightened focus on a weapon occurs because it represents a significant and immediate threat, triggering a stress response in the observer. This response narrows the observer's attention onto the weapon at the expense of peripheral details. The stress and novelty associated with the situation are thought to contribute to this heightened attentional focus.