Switching attention: definition of the concept, description of the technique

Involuntary attention is a variation of attention that occurs due to the influence of a stimulus on the analyzers and consists in reproducing an image, phenomenon, object without the application of volitional effort. This variation of attention is considered its most elementary type, also characteristic of animals. Involuntary attention is observed even in infants, but at first it is unstable and relatively limited in volume. It arises suddenly, autonomously from consciousness, regardless of the type of activity performed at that moment under the influence of various stimuli affecting the body’s analyzer.

Causes of involuntary attention

The considered variation of attention is often called passive or forced, since it arises and is maintained autonomously from human consciousness. Typically, spontaneous attention occurs due to a complex of reasons, including a variety of factors of a physical and psychophysiological nature, as well as mental roots. All reasons are interdependent. At the same time, they can be divided into the following categories.

The first is due to the nature of the stimulus from the outside. Here, first of all, the strength or intensity of the stimulus is taken into account. Any sufficiently powerful irritation provoked, for example, by loud sounds, intense light, a pungent odor, a strong shock, involuntarily attracts attention. However, what is most important is not the absolute intensity of the stimulus, but the relative strength of the stimulus.

For example, when an individual is overly carried away by something, he does not notice weak “impulses”. Because their intensity is not too great in comparison with the intensity of the stimuli that make up the subject or conditions of an individual’s activity. At the same time, in other circumstances, for example, when wandering in the Morphean kingdom, a person’s reactions to all kinds of rustles, creaks, and voices become quite sensitive.

It is believed that the emergence of involuntary attention is associated with the coincidence of external stimuli with the mental state of individuals, in particular with their needs. For example, a person who is hungry will react differently to the mention of food in a conversation than a person who is well-fed. A hungry subject will involuntarily pay attention to chatter that talks about food. This feature represents the second category of factors causing the considered variant of attention.

The third category is determined by the general aspiration of the individual. The sphere of interests of people includes the subjects and areas of most interest to them (in particular, professional interests). Therefore, a sudden “collision” with an object of interest gives rise to the phenomenon in question. Therefore, an architect, walking through the narrow streets of an unfamiliar town, involuntarily pays attention to the elegance of ancient buildings.

Consequently, the general aspiration of the individual and the presence of previous experience have a direct impact on the formation of spontaneous attention.

Therefore, the phenomenon under consideration occurs in the presence of one of the following conditions: unexpectedness of the impulse, intensity of the stimulus and novelty, contrast of phenomena or objects. Also, the appearance of this variation in attention is influenced by a person’s internal mood.

T. Ribot, a French psychologist, hypothesized that unconscious attention is caused by the deep recesses of the human being. The direction of the described type of attention of a particular individual demonstrates his character or his aspirations.

Based on this characteristic, we can draw a conclusion regarding this individual, for example, that he is characterized by frivolity, simplicity, limitedness, or, conversely, depth, sincerity. A beautiful view attracts the artist’s attention, influencing his innate aesthetic sense of beauty, while a person who follows this route every day sees only everyday life in such a landscape.

Kinds

There are two types of attention switching:

1. Deliberate. In this case, a person, by force of will, forces himself to shift attention from one task to another. Case in point: switching between multiple projects can often be seen in any office. And at home, people often multitask. For example, a girl can wash dishes and talk on the phone at this time. Such constant switching of attention will reduce the effectiveness of each individual task if the person performing them does not have this quick skill.
2. Unintentional. Distractions accompany a person throughout the day. He can be intensely busy with work, but a phone call will knock a person out of deep thinking. Social media notifications prevent you from concentrating on an activity for more than 30 minutes. A radio or TV playing in the background absorbs attention without him realizing it.

Features of involuntary attention

The phenomenon under consideration is characterized by a lack of purposefulness in the process of fixing consciousness on a specific stimulus. This type of attention is considered its primary type, developed in the process of ontogenesis at the preschool stage. The peculiarity of the described variation in attention is the absence of volitional regulation.

Thus, spontaneous attention is its primary form, conditioned by reflexive attitudes. It occurs due to the influence of external impulses. Maintained without the individual's conscious desire or intention. The properties of the influencing stimuli, their emotional coloring, strength or novelty, connection with needs determine the capture and riveting of attention to individual phenomena, objects, and persons.

The physiological basis of spontaneous attention is unconditional reflex guiding activity. Its neurophysiological adaptation is the excitations coming from the subcortical zones of the cerebral hemispheres to its cortex.

The main condition for the emergence of involuntary attention is the absence of confrontation of motives, struggle of interests inherent in its arbitrary type, where the individual can be “torn” by competing impulses that have different directions, but which can attract and retain the consciousness of the individual.

Thus, the peculiarity of the phenomenon under consideration lies in its origin when the strength of external stimuli predominates over the strength of voluntarily acting impulses, when subdominant stimuli, under certain conditions and circumstances, become more intense in comparison with the leading ones at the moment.

The catalysts for the variation in attention under consideration are not always only external objects and conditions, but also needs, desires, emotional states, that is, everything that excites or interests a person.

It often occurs when the individual is tired due to unfavorable conditions (hot or cold, stuffy, musty air) or when the work in which the individual is engaged does not occupy him and does not require active mental activity.

Passive attention is characterized by a short-term course, however, under a number of conditions, in accordance with the strength of external stimuli affecting the individual, it can appear quite often, interfering with leading activity.

The variation of attention under consideration differs from its voluntary counterpart in the presence of a mandatory component – ​​will. Nonpassive attention is characterized by the conscious concentration of the individual on certain phenomena or objects of the surrounding world.

Meditation

The distribution, switching and volume of attention changes depending on how interested a person is in what is happening around him. Perhaps you met a friend on the street who walked past without even saying hello. When you called out to your friend, he said that he was thinking. A person’s attention can be focused either inside him, it is in this position that a person thinks, or outside, then the person feels what is happening next to him. Concentrating on both is difficult. For this reason, simple meditation can help to switch consciousness. You don't need to sit in the lotus position to clear your mind. Just focus on your breathing. Extra thoughts will leave your head, and a kind of vacuum will remain in it. In this state, a person can sit down to work and achieve the highest concentration of attention.

Neuropsychology

Neuropsychology of attention is a separate field of knowledge that studies issues of concentration, linking them with neural processes. Initially, such studies were carried out exclusively on animals, by connecting electrodes to certain areas of the brain. In order to study the stability of human attention, electroencephalogram technology is used. To do this, the body must be awake. In this way, it is possible to record the excitation or inhibition of nerve impulses during the performance of a certain type of activity. In this context, psychologist E. N. Sokolov plays a huge role. Through a large number of studies, he proved that when performing the same action repeatedly, attention becomes automatic. Thus, the brain stops actively responding to the stimulus, which affects the results of the electroencephalogram. The brain decides that in this case there is no need for excitement, because the body has a certain mechanical memory.

Content

• 1 Objects of attention
• 2 Functions of attention
• 3 Types of attention 3.1 Involuntary attention (passive)
• 3.2 Voluntary attention
• 3.3 Post-voluntary attention

Children's attentiveness

Spontaneous responses arise and persist regardless of our goals. Due to their fascination or surprise, stimuli capture and distract the individual from his activity.

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Babies are unable to concentrate on one specific object. They are fascinated by a variety of things - a cell phone, mom's cosmetics, dad's tools. At this age, babies are very curious. When a child grows up, he receives a lot of information and learns that on our planet there are a large number of animals of various species, insects, and plants. They begin to understand people better, distinguish hair color, eye color, skin color.

At the very beginning of life, parents help babies comprehend the world; they instill their own attitudes in the child, explain the line between good and evil, and teach them to talk. Then the baby himself begins to explore everything around him, reacting to what seems bright, unusual and unknown to him.

Children cannot regulate their own attentiveness, since they have passive concentration. Therefore, kids are attracted to various strange objects that come into their field of vision. A child may carefully look at a toy that was given to him, enjoy it, but after a minute switch to another thing. Therefore, it is easy to calm a baby down when falling or crying - you just need to distract him from the painful sensation or an unwanted object.

The ability to concentrate on one object appears in a child in the sixth year of life. I recommend praising him for any manifestation of perseverance and willpower before this age - since this is not easy for a baby. Praise will let him know that his efforts are appreciated, so he will begin to try harder to please his parents with his small victories.

If all attempts at attentive concentration are in vain, do not scold your child, ask him to try again. By reacting negatively, you will discourage your child from all the desire for knowledge, learning and perseverance.

Literature

• Attention // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg, 1890-1907.
• S. L. Rubinstein “Fundamentals of General Psychology”, ISBN 5-314-00016-8
• D. N. Uznadze “General Psychology”, ISBN 5-89357-121-5
• Psychology of attention. Edited by Yu. B. Gippenreiter, ISBN 978-5-17-053015-1
• A. I. Shatskikh “Popular Encyclopedia of Attention”, ISBN 978-5-00086-533-0
• “The process of age-related development of attention”, Publications, notes, lectures

Distribution

Distribution of attention is a person’s ability to concentrate on several objects at the same time.

In other words, it is the ability to simultaneously perform several different tasks.

A striking example of a person with an outstanding ability to distribute attention is Julius Caesar . It is alleged that he could simultaneously dictate the contents of a letter to several clerks, while he himself read a completely different text.

The ability to distribute attention can be slightly increased using the following methods:

1. When performing work that requires increased attention, it is advisable to be distracted every 15-20 minutes and deliberately reduce the level of concentration and give yourself a short rest.
2. At different times of the day a person has a different ability to concentrate.
   It is usually higher in the hours after waking up, but it also depends on the individual characteristics of the person.
3. Combining actions that are close in meaning leads to increased concentration. For example, a child who learns a poem and gestures accordingly will remember it faster, since both physical and mental activity will be involved in the process of controlling attention.
4. Automaticity of actions. An experienced driver does not think about the process of changing gears while driving a car, which helps him concentrate more on the situation on the road, while a beginner will be more likely to be distracted by this action.

Notes

1. Komarova T.K.
   Psychology of attention: Educational method. allowance. - Grodno: GrSU, 2002. - 124 p.
2. Psychological Dictionary, meanings of psychological terms “The World of Your Self”: “External Attention”, psychologist.ru (Retrieved January 11, 2010)
3. Psychological Dictionary, meanings of psychological terms “The World of Your Self”: “Inner Attention”, psychologist.ru (Retrieved January 11, 2010)
4. Psychology of attention / Edited by Yu. B. Gippenreiter and V. Ya. Romanova. - M.: CheRo, 2001. - 858 p. — (Series: Reader of Psychology). 18YOU 5-88711-149-6
5. Spelke, E., Hirst, W., & Neisser, U. (1976). Skills of divided attention. Cognition, 4, 215–230.
6. Bundesen. C. (1996). Formal models of visual attention: A tutorial review. In A. F. Kramer, M. G. H. Coles, & G. D. Logan (Eds.), Converging operations in the study of visual selective attention (pp. 1-43). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Elaborates on much of the material in the present article.
7. Chelazzi, L. (1999) Serial attention mechanisms in visual search: A critical look at the evidence. Psychological Research, 62, 195–219.
8. Wolfe, J., Reijnen, E., Horowitz, T., Pedersini, R., Pinto, Y., & Hulleman, J. (2011). How does our search engine “see” the world? The case of amodal completion. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 73(4), 1054–1064.
9. Eriksen, C. W., & Hoffhan, J. E. (1972). Temporal and spatial characteristics of selective attention. Perception and Psychophysics, 12, 201–204
10. Townsend. J. T. & Ashby, F. G. (1983). The stochastic modeling of elementary psychological processes. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
11. Duncan, J., & Humphreys, G. W. (1989). Visual search and stimulus similarity. Psychological Review, 96, 433-458.
12. Posner, M. I., & Dehaene, S. (1994). Attentional networks. Trends in Neurosciences, 17(2), 75-79.
13. Psychological Dictionary, meanings of psychological terms “The World of Your Self”: “Attention”, psychologist.ru (Retrieved January 11, 2010)

14. When attention is captured by a single target, when it is held in memory, in internal focus, then a theta rhythm appears in the cortex, which the hippocampus imposed on it.
    — Magazine “Science and Life”, No. 5, 2013, article “Where do smart children come from” (Tatyana Stroganova, Doctor of Biological Sciences)

15. How attention helps you remember
16. Memory formation linked to auxiliary brain cells
17. Lou, H. C., Henriksen, L., & Bruhn, P. (1984). Focal cerebral hypoperfusion in children with dyphasia and/or attention deficit disorder. Archives of Neurology, 41(8), 825–829.

Volume

The volume of attention characterizes the number of objects on which attention is concentrated.

The attention span adult is 3-7 objects; in a child it is slightly lower - 2-5 objects.

A person who has a large amount of attention will notice more phenomena and any factors, therefore, he will better assess this or that situation. This characteristic also strongly depends on the awareness of the connection between the observed objects and knowledge about them .

An example would be a doctor diagnosing a disease when suspicions of a particular disease arise during an external examination, while a person without medical education may not notice these symptoms.

Attention span is taken into account in many areas of human activity .

For example, ideally, an advertising sign should not contain more than 5 words, since the average person will not be able to assess at one glance all the advantages of a particular product with a larger number of information objects on it.