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The two general categories of factors that influence perceptual selection are external environmental factors and internal personal factors.
External factors are characteristics of the environment outside of the person, which influence whether the stimuli will be noticed. They include:
- size,
- intensity,
- contrast,
- motion,
- repetition,
- novelty, and
- familiarity.
Internal factors are aspects of the perceiver that influence perceptual selection.
These consist of
- personality,
- learning, and
- motivation.
It is the internal factors, (the characteristics of the person), which are more likely to be influenced by individual differences than external ones. The term individual differences refer to the fact that people vary in many ways.
The internal influences on perceptual selection (personality, learning, and motivation), are thus characteristics that are unique to individuals and more likely to vary based upon personal factors than upon characteristics of the environment outside of the person.
