Limited attention is a cognitive constraint that affects decision-making by restricting the amount of information individuals can process at a given time. In financial markets, this limitation leads investors to focus selectively on salient and easily interpretable information while overlooking complex or less obvious signals. As a result, stock prices may not adjust immediately to new information, leading to market inefficiencies.

Investors often rely on heuristics to filter vast financial data, prioritizing earnings reports, headline news, and analyst recommendations. However, less prominent indicators, such as subtle changes in financial statements or industry-wide trends, may be disregarded. This selective attention can delay price adjustments, allowing mispricings to persist until the ignored information becomes too significant to overlook. For instance, an investor who tracks quarterly earnings but neglects signals like declining customer retention rates may fail to anticipate a company’s financial downturn.

Limited attention interacts with investor psychology, particularly overconfidence, to generate price momentum and subsequent reversals. Overconfident investors may overreact to salient news, bidding up stock prices in response to positive announcements or selling excessively on negative reports. These price movements, driven by selective attention rather than fundamental value changes, often lead to corrections as overlooked information is eventually incorporated into stock valuations.

Beyond individual investors, corporate managers strategically consider investor attention when disclosing information. Positive news is often released when market attention is high, maximizing its impact, while negative news is strategically timed for periods of low attention to minimize adverse price reactions. This timing strategy exploits investor cognitive limitations, reinforcing the role of attention constraints in financial markets.

Recognizing the effects of limited attention enables investors and firms to mitigate inefficiencies, improving decision-making processes and market efficiency. Market participants can enhance their financial outcomes by actively seeking out less obvious signals and avoiding overreliance on salient data.