How to develop attention: the best methods for improving concentration and memory

In our fast-paced times, it is difficult to focus on anything specific. Our attention is blurred, we do not have time to remember the most basic things. Everything around is seething, “cooking”, there is bustle, noise, and din everywhere. Of course, it is not surprising that we are having a hard time. It’s impossible to remember important things and focus on something specific. We are taught how to develop attention on various platforms, offered tests, games, puzzles, etc. But let's try to use a new method and find out how to develop attention and what it depends on.

What is attention

In childhood, we believe that everything we feel can be grasped with our hands. The same was believed with thoughts, memory, and attention. For us it was something specific, like a muscle, and if it is not fully developed, then the attention is poor. But, unfortunately, this is not the case. Otherwise, we could replace it with another muscle and live happily ever after. In fact, all our mental abilities are the result of the activity of brain cells, neurons, and neurotransmitters.

In scientific terms, attention is the direction of our consciousness, focusing on certain things, objects, stimuli. Simply put, our brain receives various signals from the world around us, leaves some of them, and filters others. Their condition depends on various factors.

The problem with mental abilities may be congenital. It’s difficult to fix anything here at all; dementia is often the cause of poor attention. These are two related things. But if this is not a genetic, congenital defect, then you can perfectly develop the ability to concentrate on important things. And put aside the non-essential ones. And it won’t be a problem to focus on the main thing even in those moments when you are very nervous and worried. After all, that same muscle of attention will be trained thanks to our own actions.

Concentration: what is this quality?

The ability to concentrate thoughts, manage a situation, perform actions at a given moment in time and not be distracted by extraneous matters is called mindfulness.

This quality is flexible: attention can be directed simultaneously to several objects, it can decrease or switch to other actions. It is like a ray that narrows and expands, emitting bright or weak light, illuminating one or more objects.

Consider the actions of a bus driver. His actions at one moment are aimed at controlling the vehicle, monitoring the road and road signs, markings, surrounding cars and pedestrians. At the same time, he has to follow traffic rules, monitor instruments, and pay attention to the visibility of objects. And some drivers, due to circumstances, have to accept payment for travel. And this is so much that just one person needs to take into account!

But an adult learns all this and gradually develops his abilities. The main thing is to train regularly and purposefully.

Developing attention will require memory, self-discipline, stability and concentration, which directly depend on the character traits of a particular person. The more developed the powers of observation, the better the concentration. It is easy for such people to bring the work they have started to completion, switch to different types of activities, and concentrate on one type of work for a long time.

Why do we need to develop attention?

We have various mental phenomena, but attention is a special type. This property cannot be separated from others; everything is interconnected. By highlighting different impressions from the variety thanks to attention, we improve our memory and ability to think. If we are not careful, we can very successfully destroy any task, even a simple one. This is easy to note in the case of a child. When his memory and attention are occupied, he immediately shows better results.

As for adults, problems with memory and attention make it difficult to get a job or graduate from college. For example, one of my friends wanted to get a highly paid position, but the conditions for admission were modern and demanding. She had to pass an IQ test, which she failed. And the reason for this is poor memory and attention. When she complained to me, we decided to go through the test ourselves again. And what’s surprising is that she answered all the questions without any problems.

It turns out that something was preventing her from concentrating her attention. When she went to work, she was nervous, worried and could not, as they say, pull herself together. And this, unfortunately, is the norm. When we are stressed, we are unable to perform basic tasks. But if you knew in time that there is an opportunity to improve your attention, then the majority would get a good job and salary. To get started, you need to study the issue deeper.

conclusions

In order for a child to absorb information well and be able to study successfully at school, it is necessary to devote enough time to developing his attention. When choosing games and exercises for your child, focus on his age, interests and individual characteristics. If the child does not want to complete a task or is very tired, you need to try to understand what is causing this: uninteresting material, difficulty of the task, bad mood or well-being. With the right approach, all cognitive processes of preschoolers, including attention, develop very quickly.

Types of attention

Attention can be different: voluntary, involuntary and post-voluntary.

The voluntary depends on the will of each of us. For example, we can force ourselves to do our homework, despite external interference.
The involuntary arises regardless of our desire for new factors, the power of which overshadows other moments.
Post-voluntary is made up of two components: initially there is no attention, but then, when interest arises, attention moves to the voluntary stage.

In our lives, all three types of attention are necessarily present in each of us. For example, school lessons cause boredom in children and voluntary attention, which becomes a cause of irritation. To activate the child, teachers have to use various methods to arouse interest in learning. And he develops involuntary attention, and his performance in subjects improves.

To get the maximum effect from your activities in any area, you should combine all three types of attention. For example, in order for a child to do his homework, he should be interested. He has involuntary attention, and when checked, voluntary. And for him to rest, parents should give him a break, allow him to rest.

Properties of our attention

These include a sense of stability in which we can maintain and maintain our attention. This moment depends on various factors: our age, motivation, general condition of the body. For example, if a student is constantly distracted while doing homework, putting it off, his attention is unstable. And when concentrating his attention, a person focuses on specific things.

We are also able to switch our attention - that is, from one object, phenomenon to another. Thanks to this, we can combine various tasks. For example, many of us easily cope with washing dishes and then talk on the phone. Milk may escape, and we switch to this process.

This is how attention is distributed, which depends on how a person manages to switch from one to another. Each of us has our own attention span, in which we contain a certain amount of information. According to scientific research, at a certain moment we can be attentive to 7 objects at the same time. This can be easily checked. After communicating with a person, try to remember what his facial features are. You will remember about 7 signs.

Under what conditions does attention develop?

In history lessons we were told about the amazing attention abilities of such rulers as Caesar and Marcus Aurelius. They could do different things at the same time: speak, read, answer, give instructions to their servants, etc. The famous psychologist Polan read poems and immediately created new ones, which shocked the audience.

The same is true for psychologist Gorny, who performed 10 actions simultaneously. But it cannot be said that these people were born with colossal abilities. Yes, they really had innate talent, but they developed it to such a state, worked on their attention and memory. Can we do the same, are there proven ways to develop attention? Yes, and we suggest you study them carefully.

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Development of attention in adults

A wide variety of techniques and methods have been developed that give results in training concentration and mind control. Exercises aimed at developing attention concern all its types and properties.

For concentration skills, you need to choose an object and try to hold psychic energy on it for some time. Having placed the book in front of us, we try to imagine the characters and content. The following exercise is done with two objects, which ensures the development of voluntary attention and the ability to switch.
To increase the level of your abilities, you need to learn how to manage them. This skill will help you overcome emerging difficulties. Some people constantly experience the same problem: difficulty perceiving details or an entire object. In this case, it is recommended to change training objects daily.
The development of visual attention should expand the ability to concentrate. It is necessary to highlight the maximum number of details in the subject under consideration. At the very beginning of five minutes of concentration, a general idea of color, shape, and size will arise. And then little things and details will appear that you should definitely look out for.
Exercises to develop auditory attention improve this type of attention. For example, they concentrate on a voice for 10 minutes. It could be a speech, birdsong, a song or a melody for relaxation. It is important to distinguish the speaker’s speed, emotionality, and identify the benefits of the information. Exercises to develop auditory attention also include listening to texts or songs and playing them.

Ways to concentrate

Don't give up on thoughts

If something happens in your thoughts, don't throw it away, let it digest. Imagine the morning of your day. You got up, drank some coffee, took a shower, and then decided to read. It goes easily, you literally absorb what is written.

Or the second option: first, after the morning activities, we sat at the computer, wrote an article, read a lot of news, and then sat down to read a book. In this situation, the book will be much more difficult to read, and the information presented in it will be poorly absorbed. It’s simple, it goes better in a “clean” head than in a busy one.

It is for this reason that people study and work in the morning, and not in the afternoon. They visit school in the morning, college, and work too. There is a place for information, and people learn new things more easily. Also, after sleep, a person gains strength and is able to concentrate. But if we interrupt the flow of information with other things, it does not have time to be delayed. And those that remain unprocessed continually do not leave us alone.

Important: you should not perform complex processes that require concentration one after another. Give your body and brain a break, at least 20-30 minutes.

Why do you need to develop attention? Is it really impossible to live without this? This question is often asked by those who do not take their poor memory and concentration seriously. If you do not address this issue, then failure awaits you. He will not be able to normally fulfill his obligations, remember tasks, drive a car, or cook food. In short, the process of mindfulness accompanies us in all areas of life.

Develop your attention

Turn on willpower - each of us has it. To develop, use all proven methods - solve riddles, puzzles, answer crosswords, take various IQ tests. But the most important way is to do the work with full concentration of your attention on it.

And if external irritants arise during the process, get rid of them and focus on the task at hand. Test the method on a simple task - washing dishes. Carefully examine the patterns on the plate, watch the flow of water and the movements of your hands. Act as if you are in the operating room performing surgery on a person. In this process, attention must be colossal.

In order not to lose attentiveness, you need to follow simple rules.

Learn to relax

To keep your attention on something specific, you need to be able to relax, not strain your body and mind. You should also eliminate strong emotions that interfere with concentration. But if you think it's easy, you're wrong. Just at the moment when you want to concentrate, a person tenses up, fearing that he will not succeed. So let's learn together.

I recommend reading: How to focus on work.

If you feel that tension is preventing you from getting down to work, stop the work process. Move away from your desk, lean your head back in your chair, and take up to 10 deep breaths. At the same time, you also need to focus on your breathing, which will lead to complete calm and relaxation.

Take your time

If you rush and in moments of tension still try to work, nothing will work. Don't be afraid and take a break, then catch up. Your 10 minutes of relaxation and rest will be beneficial, but if you refuse to relieve stress, your work will still not work out.

Keep your body toned

It is impossible to talk about concentration without a normal routine and lifestyle. Bad habits, alcohol, smoking, and especially drug use will never allow you to concentrate on something specific and conscientiously perform your tasks. Improve your health, drink more clean water, walk in the fresh air.

Healthy eating

There is no need to brush aside this moment. Junk foods: fatty, smoked, sweet, salty, fast foods, energy drinks, sweet sodas disrupt digestion. Hence the general deterioration in health, metabolism, metabolic processes. Of course, all this affects the brain, more precisely, the work of cells and neurons. The severance of their connection is the source of loss of memory and attention.

Eliminate irritants

We cannot fully concentrate on something important if there is extraneous noise. If they bother you, remove it. You can hear the roar of a neighbor's motorcycle from the window - close the window, the TV is playing loudly in the next room - close the doors, ask them to turn it down.

Advice - how to learn not to be distracted? Everything is very simple. Think about how important the process is to you, to which you need to pay maximum attention. Once you realize the significance, you will eventually learn not to hear, see or feel extraneous stimuli. And if you get distracted, return to the interrupted point or start over. By the way, the latter will make a person forget about external factors. For example, you were writing an article and distracting thoughts began to arise. Sometimes it's easier to get up and do what's keeping you from working. Then, with peace of mind, you can continue writing your article.

When our attention is disrupted

If you periodically have problems with attention, don’t worry, this is common to all normal people. We want to embrace everything that happens in us and around us, and it is quite natural that this does not always work out. In addition, factors such as insomnia, fatigue, and prolonged overexertion can interfere with the concentration of our thoughts. But they do not last long, they take a short time. If they last longer, then a certain type of disorder is present:

Absent-mindedness. With weak concentration, an involuntary, easy switching of human attention occurs. This is more common among preschoolers and elementary school students. There is everything in their head, but not the main thing.
Absent-mindedness of scientists. Pundits, as a rule, concentrate their attention on something specific, their teaching, science. They are not able to quickly switch to other things.
Absent-mindedness is age-related. Old people suffer from this disease; they forget everything and are unable to concentrate on specific positions. The cause is age-related diseases, problems with memory, and brain activity.
The attention span is reduced due to other significant factors and events. People in moments of grief or great happiness can be absent-minded and inattentive.
Attention fatigue – occurs due to depletion of concentration when working on a specific task for a long time.

If brain diseases are present, a person may develop serious problems with concentration and other, more complex diseases.

Content

What are the types of attention?
Why does a child have reduced attention?
How to develop attention skills in a child
Schulte tables
Stroop test
Camera
Exercises with objects
Labyrinths
Fly
Find the differences
Snowball
Reverse Day

Attention is a focus on objects and phenomena that are most important at a particular moment.

The cognitive process is impossible without the ability to focus and concentrate attention. It is especially important for children to fully engage in the learning process, the content of the lesson and the teacher’s speech, so that the work is effective and brings excellent results both in school and outside the classroom. Many parents say that their child has a bad memory, but they don’t even suspect that it’s actually attention that’s lacking. These basic mental functions are inextricably linked. There can be no good memory without trained attention.

Exercises to Improve Mindfulness

Many experts offer excellent exercises that can help you develop your mindfulness. We offer the best of them. Let's start with Wujek Tom's gymnastics, for which you need to set aside a lot of time.

Place a watch in front of you and track the movement of the hand for two minutes. Concentration should be on the second hand. Something got in the way and you were distracted, return to the starting position and repeat the exercise again.
The second step is the same, but with the TV on. Choose a gear that interests you and fully concentrate on the second hand. If you get distracted by a show or a movie, start over.
The third, more difficult option is to watch the second hand and mentally count the even numbers. If you get lost, start over and continue for two minutes.

These simple at first glance, but complex exercises must be repeated every day in brief minutes and in complete solitude.

There are also a number of exercises in which you need to concentrate your attention on new objects. This is the second option - remember the situation. If there is someone in the room, they are making noise, making noise, nothing will work, the process requires complete silence. Then, you need to fully describe their characteristics. Usually, as we already know, people remember up to 7 moments. Psychology experts ask to describe not only large, but also small details.

For example, enter a new room or room and carefully examine it for one minute. Try to remember as much as possible. Then, get out of it and write down on a blank piece of paper everything you remember.

The next step is to turn the process into a game. Ask a friend to rearrange something when you leave the room. Go back and think about what is out of place. This could be either a piece of furniture or something from his own clothing. That is, you will have to switch your attention and rummage through the annals of your memory. This is an excellent exercise to help you concentrate and develop your attention.

The most accessible way to develop memory and attention is handicrafts. Knit, embroider. Painstaking work that requires concentration of our attention also has a great effect on brain activity, because fine motor skills are involved. Pay attention to which old women think better: those who sit with their hands folded or those who knit or embroider something every now and then.

Exercises for developing children's attention are reflected in puzzles like: “Find 5 differences.” First, the kids are given simple problems, then the number of differences in the pictures increases. Then you need to distinguish colors and small details.

The next way to help your child is after visiting a certain place, for example, a circus, a zoo, ask him to draw what he saw.

Place several items in front of your child, for example, place an apple, pear, plum, peach, grape in a row. Let him look carefully at these objects, close his eyes, and you remove something from them. Opening his eyes, he should show what is missing in the fruit row.

Developing a child’s memory and attentiveness will be the key to his success in school. This means that an excellent platform for a promising future will be formed.

How to maintain developed attention

It is not enough to develop your attentiveness; if you do not maintain it, then very soon your ability to concentrate will dry up. It is necessary to create a favorable atmosphere so that problems do not arise.

Don't overload yourself with information. Memory is not limitless, and having received a new dose of news, it pushes important points aside. Rest, don't jump from one to another. Study everything carefully, in detail, do not miss small points.
Concentrate your attention on what you are doing. Don’t get distracted, and if something becomes a hindrance, return to the main process again. Spraying on all sorts of little things is our main mistake, which interferes with the quality of life of every person.

For example, we cannot get rid of bad habits because we do not concentrate our attention on them. If you want to quit smoking, think about it and while smoking, think about how smoke enters your lungs and destroys all living things. This will help you hold on to your goal and take the plunge. And don’t even try to switch to thoughts like: “others also smoke, and that’s okay!”, “I’ll quit smoking after the weekend!” etc. That is, concentration of thoughts and attention does not allow us to be distracted by “excuses” and to reach our goal to the end.

Qualities such as self-control and willpower play a big role in this. You understand that there is a close connection between them. If there is no willpower and self-discipline, then we will not be able to focus on the specific, we will be slack and absent-minded. It is necessary to concentrate, which will allow you to realize your goals and desires, and achieve results. This means that attentiveness must be cultivated from childhood, develop it and the child’s future will be more than successful.

Trainers for developing attention online

There are many resources on the Internet that help you develop your abilities. A trainer for concentration and speed of thought - “Anagrams”. Rounds are held in a game form, during which you need to complete tasks under time constraints. The number of points depends on this. Another simulator for effective development of attention is the Schulte table. The brain and the ability to visual search will be activated. Speed reading capabilities are improved. The tables are made up of letters and numbers randomly placed in them, in relation to which tasks are given to find symbols and count. The process also stimulates the development of visual attention.

There are many games. For example, “Tag” gives a good workout to the brain and develops logic. Simulators that develop lateral vision and speed reading are useful.