Attention is the act of directing the mind to listen, see, or understand; notice: In order to learn anything, you have to pay attention. Let me finish this, then I’ll give you my undivided attention.

Perception (from Latin perceptio 'gathering, receiving') is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment

They could occur simultaneously but it seems like attention could come first.

Dear S. Béatrice Marianne Ewalds-Kvist

The key difference between the traditional "definition", in the historical non-science literature, ETC., and WHAT THE REAL CASE IS : in contrast to your view, a truly, fully useful definition OF ATTENTION requires realizing that ASPECTS OF CURRENT ATTENTION ARE NOT INTENTIONAL (i.e. not conscious (notice that I am NOT saying "consciousness')), realizing that for MAJOR aspects of attention intentionality is not always necessary : Attention, as you see it, involves clear aware consciousness , BUT , in reality, major aspects (parts) OF IT NEED NOT BE. The perspectives (CONTEXTS) given by the Memories (as procedural knowledge) do NOT require all current intentionality-FOR-attention * to be there for everything. An easy example is: do neurotics have clear intentionality when they develop phobias?

No fully true and useful AND NEEDED definition of attention requires that ALL aspects of attention be currently ** conscious (in the usual, more limited sense of the word). (I still see asttention and BASIC actual perception as separate).

SO, your notion that "Attention is the act of directing the mind ..." and "... you have to pay attention" IS FALSE.

* FOOTNOTE : I do agree that SOME current intentionality for attention IS NECESSARY.

** FOOTNOTE : I do think at some time(s) during child development all useful cognitive components DO HAVE TO BE RELATED TO DIRECTLY OBSERVABLE OVERT BEHAVIOR __ PATTERNS __ (this is one of the core crucial always-present aspects of my view and approach (in general)).

P.S. The overall problem is Western man's INSISTENCE that she/he be able to know and be in command of anything she/he wants to be, will ,in time, be considered ridiculous. THAT is the key to the illness I see and is a major failure of the field of psychology today , in MAJOR parts. Psychology in major , almost always-applied KEY aspects IS NOT SCIENCE. Psychology : Get well soon (science has been waiting for 130 years).

P.P.S. Your statement that "Perception (from Latin perception 'gathering, receiving') is the organization, identification, and interpretation ..." is contradictory to other statements you make (or phrases you use).

1. I am only capable to formulate an answer in regard to the execution of motoric actions.

2. My research reveals the complete perception-action coupling theory. If you consider attention as the conscious awareness of the perception processes at t(0) then the actual moment is so brief that you need the adjacent perceptual images of the time frames t(-x) and (t+x) to actually gain any information.

I do not see "attention as [ just ] the conscious awareness of the perception processes" because there is much that operates indistinguishably (from perception), i.e. operates like perception in perception. (Only in early infancy could one come close to any kind of unchanging nature, "pure" perception -- which may last AS AN ASPECT into later life (BUT as a relatively small part or aspect, if it does last)). THAT, after infancy : _THAT_ does not stay by itself in functioning,THUSLY, so not being much constant IN the perception (

I am only capable to formulate an answer in regard to the execution of motoric actions c.q. in appointing the exact behavioural perception processes.

In German we differenciate Wahrnehmen and Erkennen. Wahrnehmen is the phenmenolocical exposition, Erkennen is the perception in the sense of understanding. So Wahrnehmen conducts (attracts) your Attention which is divided in pre-attentional and attentional processes (Treisman). In the preattentional state it is not percepted yet in the sense of Erkennen (understanding).

A further Example is possibly the hot wire from the eyes, ears and nose to the emotional memory of the amygdala. We jump first if we see the snake and think or understand later what happened.

This modell turns it around. There is Wahrnehmen (exposition), pre-attentional and attentional focusing and last but not least perception. But there is data that shows that unconscius exposition (extinction, neglect) have an inluence on our Perception.