Suppose twin teenagers are vying for their mother's attention. the mother is trying to pay attention to one of her daughters, though both girls are talking (one about her boyfriend, one about a school project). according to the operating characteristics of treisman's attenuator, it is most likely the attenuator is analyzing the incoming messages in terms of

meaning

Explanation:

Treisman's attenuator filter theory is a theory that states that there is a filter in our perception of messages. This filter is partially selective as it completely blocks some messages we hear but does not block others. According to this theory, messages are selected according to their importance, all messages heard are absorbed, but the attenuating filter will only prioritize those considered important. There are several factors that determine the importance of these messages to the filter, among these factors we can mention the "meaning" as one of the most important.

It is the "meaning" being used by the attenuator to analyze the messages received by the mother of the twins, shown in the question above.