Medical Dictionary
Main Entry:
at·ten·tion Pronunciation:
&-'ten-ch&n Function:
noun 1 : the act or state of attending
: the applicationof the mind to any object of sense or thought
2 a : an organismic condition of selective awareness or perceptual receptivity;
specifically : the complex ofneuromuscular adjustments that permit maximum excitability or responsiveness to a given class of stimuli
b : the process of focusing consciousness to produce greater vividness andclarity of certain of its contents relative to others —
at·ten·tion·al /-'tench-n&l, -'ten-ch&n-&l/ adjective