Final answer:
The ability to discern a son's voice in a noisy environment is an example of selective attention, allowing a parent to focus on specific auditory input amidst a variety of distractions. b) Selective attention
Step-by-step explanation:
The ability of a parent to pick out his son's voice on a crowded playground is an example of selective attention. Selective attention refers to the process of focusing on a particular object in the environment for a certain period of time while simultaneously ignoring irrelevant information that is also occurring.
This is like being at a party and focusing on a conversation despite the noise, a concept that is closely related to signal detection theory, which describes our ability to identify a stimulus amid distracting background noise.