At attention

As a student I have many opportunities to observe attention. Whether I am observing myself slowly lose my ability to focus on my instructors or observing a fellow student staring blankly into space while the instruction continues to give their lecture. While it would be nice to be able to give 100% of my attention to my instructors’ lectures, it is impossible to do so because attention is limited in both time and capacity. There is also an observable difference in students that engage in selective attention and divided attention. Student that are looking at the instructor and not having their attention distracted are using selective attention to focus on the message from the instructor and not on everything else. Other students can be seen glancing at the instructor, then looking at their cell phone, then looking around the room, and then back to the instructor.…

Paying attention for the past three days has changed my opinion on how I should live and view my life. Although technology in society is beneficial for many, new studies are showing that technology may be affecting us negatively too. Often times we lose essential part of our days because we become so immersed in our phones and gadgets. Paying attention has showed me that I am forgetting to slow down and take a breath in my busy days at Cal Poly. Often times I need the listen to my surroundings…

Within cognitive psychology, the impact of attention on memory and understanding has been widely researched. In the study reviewed, researchers explored how different parts of the attentional network function in response to trickery such as magical illusions. The experiment looked at how people interpreted and explained a magic trick in which a pen disappears. Researchers wanted to know if the alerting and orienting modules of attention are both required to be active for people to understand a…

Distracted and confused: Selective attention under load According to this article, Distracted and confused?: Selective attention under load, it is important to focus on goal-relevant stimuli when interfering distractors can make cognitive functions difficult (Lavie, 2005). Many individuals experience disruptions in their daily tasks, but it is not sufficient to simply ignore any stimuli that is irrelevant. This author stated that there was a longstanding debate as to whether focusing on…

ending consumer battles between big companies like Apple and Microsoft. Because this is our reality we need to be informed about the physiological effects technology has on us. That being said, we can’t entirely change ourselves, but we can be more conscious about how our thinking has developed and understand how we can improve as individuals with technology. I recently read a research paper by Katherine N. Hayles proclaiming that our generation has experienced a shift in our cognitive…

Attention is a limited resource. Most of the time, people are interested in figuring out how best to use attention to our advantage: how to make sure we are registering the important things, while paying less care to other, less salient stimuli. Being able to effectively control attention contributes to our ability to study well and react quickly to new stimuli in the environment. However, there are also circumstances in which people would want to use the limited resource of attention to…

As I’m working with ‘Under 2s’, I have noticed a discrepancy in their attention span. Children of ages 15-30 months attend to activities for 10-15 minutes when highly motivated. The complexity of the task also matters, as a demanding task requires so much concentration that their attention does not continue for more than 5-7 minutes. When exploring in a familiar place with a new toy, a child attends for 15 minutes or more. In a distracting place or when others stressors are interfering (sleep,…

The constant movement of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may be distracting -- but the fidgeting also may improve their cognitive performance, a study by researchers with the UC Davis MIND Institute has found. The study of pre-teens and teenagers with ADHD examined how movement -- its intensity and frequency -- correlated with accuracy on cognitively demanding tasks requiring good attention. It found that participants who moved more intensely exhibited…

Attention-Deficit Disorder Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) /Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) (American Psychiatric Association, 1994), affects 3 to 5% of school age children. However, some studies suggest the percentage of students who are affected by ADD/ADHD is upwards of 8% of all school-aged children. The problems these students face affects their ability to learn, ability to focus and for some students who are challenged with hyperactivity and impulsivity feel the need to…

How does a person characterize an attention span? People may reckon that someone having a decent attention span is attentive and a person who is inattentive has a short attention span. In “The Attention Span Myth,” the author Virginia Heffernan debates on whether attention spans are real or not. “Heffernan is a national correspondent for Yahoo News [and a] former editor at Harper’s magazine” (Heffernan 113). She uses certain strategies to inform the reader on her information and certain types of…