polyattentiveness
n. The ability to watch or listen carefully to more than one thing at a time.
Etymology
poly- ("many-sided") + attentiveness
Examples
2001
Though she claims to disdain the academic life, she seems to fall back on jargon such as 'polyattentiveness' and 'plebianized' when she doesn't have anything of significance to say.
—Margaret Quamme, “Syrup Ruins Mix of Sontag's Ideas,” The Columbus Dispatch, November 11, 2001
1983 (earliest)
Or we may cultivate a skill John Cage calls "polyattentiveness" — the simultaneous apprehension of two or more unrelated phenomena.
—Marshall Cohen, “What is dance?,” Oxford University Press, April 07, 1983
Filed Under
psychology
Posted: November 19, 2001