Dr.

Bouchefra Miloud
Cognitive Psychlogylevel: 3rd year
Academic Year: 2017-2018

Attention

Definition

According to psychologist and philosopher William James, attention "is the taking possession of the mind, in
clear and vivid form, of one out of what may seem several simultaneously possible objects or trains of
thoughts…It implies withdrawal from some things in order to deal effectively with others."

Attention is a cognitive process of selecting certain information from among many and focusing mental resources
on those selected. Our sensory systems are continually bombarded by sights, sounds, smells and other signals
from outside world. At the same time we remember events that just occurred seconds ago, and events from distant
past. Along withe these there are mental pictures of events imagined to occur in the present or future. From
moment to moment only one stream of thought is kept in the focus of consciousness, and others are barely noticed
or not noticed at all. This process of selection of information at mental level is called attention.

Attention is the behavioral and cognitive process of selectively concentrating on a discrete aspect of information,
whether deemed subjective or objective, while ignoring other perceivable information. It is the taking possession
by the mind in clear and vivid form of one out of what seem several simultaneous objects or trains of
thought. Focalization, concentration of consciousness are of its essence. Attention has also been referred to as
the allocation of limited processing resources.

As you read through a section of text in a book, the highlighted section stands out, causing you to focus your
interest on that area. But attention is not just about centering your focus on one particular thing; it also involves
ignoring a great deal of competing information and stimuli. Attention allows you to "tune out" information,
sensations, and perceptions that are not relevant at the moment and instead focus your energy on the information
that is important.

Not only does our attentional system allow us to focus on something specific in our environment while tuning out
irrelevant details, but it also affects our perception of the stimuli surrounding us. In some cases, our attention
might be focused on a particular thing, causing us to ignore other things. In some instances, focusing our attention
on a primary target might result in not perceiving the second target at all.

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In other words, by focusing our attention on something in the environment, we sometimes miss other things that
are right in front of us. You can probably immediately think of a situation where you were so focused on a task
that you neglected to notice someone walking in the room or talking to you. Since your attentional resources were
so focused on one thing, you neglected something else.

Attention networks

1. Focused attention

Focused attention is the brain's ability to concentrate its attention on a target stimulus for any period of
time. Focused attention is a type of attention that makes it possible to quickly detect relevant stimuli. We use
focused attention, or mental focus, to attend to both internal stimuli (feeling thirsty) and external stimuli (sounds)
and is an important skill that allows us to carefully and efficiently carry out tasks in our daily lives.

Focused attention is the state of concentrating on one stimulus to the exclusion of all others. The purpose of
focused attention is to actively focus on one thing without being distracted by other stimuli. This state can be
physically and mentally tiring. Most behaviors are a combination of focused attention and divided attention.

Daily life is full of distractions and people are bombarded with all kinds of stimuli throughout a typical day. If a
person noticed all of these stimuli, she would soon be overloaded and quite probably, completely ineffective at
completing any task. Because of this, people exercise their focused, or selective, attention and filter out most of
the information while retaining only that small fraction which they wish to concentrate on.

Eg: Anytime you drive a car, you have to pay attention to the road, to other cars, to speed and traffic signs, and
to the lights and warning signs of your own car. Distractions while driving can have fatal consequences, and well-
developed focused attention can help prevent unnecessary accidents.

2. Sustained Attention

Sustained attention is the ability to focus on one specific task for a continuous amount of time without being
distracted. Sustained attention is probably what you think of when you hear the words “attention”, “focus”,
“concentration”, or “vigilance.” You use sustained attention when you continuously maintain focus on one task
or concentrate on an activity for a prolonged period of time without getting distracted. Examples of sustained
attention may include listening to lecture, reading a book, playing a video, or fixing a car.

It can be challenging to maintain this type of attention for a significant amount of time without becoming
distracted. Therefore, your level of sustained attention will often vary. You may be intensely focused one minute

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and then your attention may begin to lapse. However, a key aspect of sustained attention is the ability to re-focus
on the task after a distraction arises.

There are three general stages to sustained attention. The first involves attracting notice to direct a person’s focus
onto a particular stimulus. Someone sifting through the newspaper in the morning, for example, might notice an
article that looks interesting. This initiates the task of reading the article, which requires holding the attention on
the text as the person reads through it. Finally, release allows someone to move on to another task.

3. Alternating Attention

Alternating attention is the ability of mental flexibility that allows you to shift your focus of attention and move
between tasks having different cognitive requirements. It is alternating your attention back and forth between two
different tasks that require the use of different areas your brain.

You probably use alternating attention almost all the time. You constantly need to make sudden changes on your
activities or actions which requires your attention to shift. You may use alternating attention when reading a recipe
(learning) and then performing the tasks of recipe (doing). It could also be alternating between unrelated tasks
such as cooking while helping your child with her homework.

4. Selective Attention

Selective attention is the ability to select from the various factors or stimuli that are present and to focus on only
the one that you want. Every day, you are constantly exposed to a number of environmental factors or stimuli,
but your brain naturally responds by selecting a particular aspect or factor to focus on. Selective attention basically
allows you to be able to “select” what you want to pay attention to. You may need to use selective attention when
attending a loud party and you are focusing on one person’s voice, or if you are trying to study in a noisy room.

When employing selective attention you are able to avoid distractions from both external (e.g. noise) and internal
(e.g. thoughts) influences. If you are good at selective attention, you are good at ignoring distractions. You are
able to maintain a specified level of performance in the presence of distracting stimuli.

5. Divided Attention

Divided attention is the ability to process two or more responses or react to two or more different demands
simultaneously. It is often referred to as multi-tasking. Basically, dividing your attention between two or more
tasks.
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Examples of divided attention include checking email while listening in a meeting, talking with friends while
making dinner, or talking on the phone while getting dressed.

Unlike alternating attention, when you are using divided attention, you do not change from one task to another
completely different task. Instead, you attempt to perform them at the same time. So you are really splitting your
attention, instead of alternating it. Therefore, you are only really focusing part of attention on each task.

6. Executive attention

Executive attention is a term used to describe one of the main components of a person’s working memory. It is
characterized by the ability to effectively block outside distractions while focusing on a single object or task.
In psychology, executive attention is often studied in the realm of working memory and it is but one of several
theories of attention. In everyday life, executive attention is what many people focus on when trying to improve
memory and productivity.

In order to suppress the automatic process a special process of attention is required. This special effort is called
executive attention. Imagine leaving a parking lot to drive home in the evening. If your usual routine is to drive
straight home, then executive attention is needed to intervene and activate the thought of going first to, say, a
grocery store. The automatic process of driving home must be inhibited or else it will control behaviour. Executive
attention is always needed when (i) planning or making decisions, (ii) correcting errors, (iii) the required response
is novel or not well-learned, (iv) conditions that are dangerous.

Factors That Influence Our Ability to Pay Attention

The existing theoretical models of attention may be too simplistic and mechanistic to explain the complexities of
attention. There are many other variables that have an impact on our ability to concentrate and pay attention. Here
are some of them:

 Anxiety: Being anxious, either by nature (trait-based anxiety) or by situation (state-based anxiety), places
constraints on attention.

 Arousal: Your overall state of arousal affects attention as well. You may be tired, drowsy, or drugged,
which may limit attention. Being excited sometimes enhances attention.

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 Task difficulty: If you are working on a task that is very difficult or novel for you, you’ll need more
attentional resources than when you work on an easy or highly familiar task. Task difficulty particularly
influences performance during divided attention.

 Skills: The more practiced and skilled you are in performing a task, the more your attention is enhanced.