But to the extent that new perceptual stimulus endures, it fades in intensity as our attention adapts, the way our pupils constrict to adjust to bright light. We shift back into a posture of volition—is this something we want to consciously attend to or not? This is the challenge of voluntary attention, and it’s a good degree more difficult. It’s easy to get someone to read the headline; hard to get them to read the article.
