Final answer:
Trying to identify mistakes on clothes on a production line is an example of focused attention, which is essential for tasks that require detailed observation and exclusion of other stimuli.
Step-by-step explanation:
Trying to identify mistakes on clothes on a production line is an example of focused attention. Focused attention is the type of attention that occurs when we concentrate on a single task, to the exclusion of other stimuli. This is necessary on a production line to ensure quality control and to quickly identify any defects or errors in the clothing items as they pass by.
The famous study by Simons and Chabris (1999) regarding inattentional blindness illustrates how focused the human mind can be when tasked with a specific job, such as counting basketball passes, to the extent that it can ignore even a conspicuous event like a person in a gorilla suit passing through the players. In a production line scenario, a worker would similarly tune out irrelevant visual information that is not related to the quality of the clothes.
Understanding how attention works, and particularly the phenomena of focused and selective attention, is essential in industrial settings to maximize efficiency and accuracy during repetitive tasks that require continuous monitoring.