# focus (attention)

the part of a thing that is at its center

- Computed level: L4 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: review  ·  Domain: everyday  ·  Arena: cognition

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [part](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-part.relation), [center](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-center.location)

**Through:** the part that is at the center of a thing becomes the point that draws attention

**Novel properties:**
- central point of interest
- point of attention

## Examples
- The Hubble Space Telescope kept its mirror aligned to within nanometers despite temperature swings in low Earth orbit. *(engineering)*
- Neurons in the visual cortex fire most intensely when a person looks directly at the center of a scene. *(biology)*
- During the 2020 U.S. election, media coverage concentrated on Pennsylvania, ignoring shifts in New Mexico. *(institutions)*

## Used by
- [missing the forest for the trees](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-missing-the-forest-for-the-trees.abstraction) (L18)

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*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-focus.attention*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-focus.attention.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*