It is obvious from our discussion thus far that we do not accept the common division of attention into spontaneous and voluntary, which means for us no more than spontaneous and voluntary—more properly volitional—cognition. So-called spontaneous attention is the displacing of one consciousness element by another without any will effort; there is no displacing or placing as will activity, but cognitions appear, persist and disappear by an inherent force. When in deep study the noise of a whistle may spontaneously “attract my attention,” as the phrase is, but this denotes no more than forcible change of state. There is nought in the new act but the sensing the noise of whistle; there is no real attending activity, no will effort at either promotion or inhibition. However, we must grant that most cognition contains a volition element. Absolute zero or negative value as to volition is but a momentary and comparatively rare phenomenon in normal consciousness, where self-possession and self-direction in some measure is almost constant. In the case of noise of steam-whistle suddenly breaking in upon a student, there is quickly attention—either positively, as listening to quality, or to detect direction of sound; or negatively—true _in_attention—as inhibiting and disturbing element. When one is made “wild,” or distracted, by noise, then his mind is occupied unwillingly, indeed, yet there being no real promotion or inhibition, we must term the state _unattention_. Another form is where we give up in despair, and passively suffer the annoying noise. In both cases we neither stimulate nor repress, and so both are emotional unattentions. On account of the pain-pleasure nature of all experience, there is even here, however, some will attitude and tendency, some favouring or retarding act, though it be wholly impotent in effect.