If you mean selecting and changing position/rotation/size in the left pane, the object will change in the preview, but if you mean selecting to manouvre it by hand, the only way is to use the preview object handles. Click on object directly (or in case of editing population instances, on an instance) or hover mouse/pen over preview and rightclick; popup window appears and choose object from list.
If you mean selecting an object in the left pane (or node area), and hoping it will be selected in the preview, no, that doesn't work (yet). It has been requested to be added as a feature, though.