Voluntary attention, its features, types, formation. The child's voluntary attention

Each of us literally every minute and even every second uses a huge number of abilities and uses our psychic potential. Thanks to this, we get the opportunity to fully and effectively interact with the world around us. And memory and attention play one of the most important roles in our lives. We have a whole course on the topic of memory (supplemented by a course in cognitive science and many other areas), so today we want to talk specifically about attention.

In this article we will talk about what attention is and consider its types and properties, and also try to understand how attention works.

What is voluntary attention

The short term voluntariness of attention describes the phenomenon when an individual makes an effort to focus on something specific.

Concept and definition in psychology

Involuntary attention in psychology is a phenomenon that draws the entire being of an individual towards itself without his efforts. This definition is also called unintentional attention.

In psychology, post-voluntary attention is a “continuation” of passive voluntary attention. This is trained attention, when efforts are made, but small, i.e. the individual is able to focus on the desired object or phenomenon for a long time. This type is advantageous and effective in quickly solving everyday or unexpected problems and situations. In addition, post-voluntariness can be characterized as the most active achievement of results.

Turn off notifications on all gadgets

Daniel Goleman in his book Focus. About attention, distraction and success in life” argues that attention is not only a product of the brain. It is also influenced by culture and, in particular, by technology, the active use of which has led to “impoverishment of attention.” Our gadgets allow us to connect to an endless stream of information, and constant notifications make it difficult to maintain focus. Not all messages require urgent notification. The resulting “neural buzz” can overwhelm our ability to concentrate.

If it is not possible to remove notifications completely, leave only the most important ones, and enter other chats only when necessary or after completing a task. You can check your mail at a designated time and add this item to your schedule: for example, the “Check inbox” task should be completed at the beginning of the working day, in the middle and at the end.

Causes of voluntary attention

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Arbitrariness of attention is usually accompanied by a large or small effort of will in order to concentrate on a certain object or phenomenon. Most often, a person “spurs” himself on his own, or someone intentionally draws his attention to himself. For example, teachers in educational institutions often call out students who have apparently lost interest in what is happening. They note the behavior of young drivers who closely monitor the road, traffic, sign signals, etc., in order to prevent violations of the rules. Even visitors to shops, museums, etc. are forced to use voluntary attention so as not to miss something important, being distracted by conversations or their own thoughts while the excursion may last.

What is the reason

Arbitrariness of attention is a factor that can be determined by several parameters. Among them are the following:

1. Volume. This is a person’s ability to focus on several objects or phenomena at the same time. The point is how much an individual can cover. It depends both on genetic predisposition and on physical training, life experience, etc. For statistics, it can be noted that an adult is able to simultaneously grasp 4-6 objects, and a small child - 2-3 objects.

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1. Concentration is the degree of concentration on an object. It is believed that concentration increases if there are few stimuli around, which will ensure high-quality assimilation of information.
2. Distribution – the ability to simultaneously perform several tasks. When driving a car, a person can look at a map, talk on the phone, while keeping an eye on the road, or women, especially mothers, freely perform several functions, albeit unconsciously.
3. Stability, i.e. focus of attention in the process of some activity. This is not deep concentration, but temperament, motivation in relation to the task at hand.
4. Distractibility is the antonym of stability, i.e. external inhibition due to one or more stimuli.
5. The fluctuation observed even at high concentrations is initially unnoticeable. This is a change in inhibition and excitability of the cerebral cortex. However, after half an hour of hard work, such fluctuations become obvious.
6. Switching is the ability to move from one thing to another. A distinction is made between voluntary and involuntary switching, i.e. a person forces himself to take on another task or smoothly changes one activity to another.

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.

Types and characteristics of voluntary attention

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Attention can be represented by the following types:

1. Natural – associated with a person from the moment of birth, the so-called orientation reflexes, reflecting external and internal stimuli.
2. Socially conditioned - develops with the course of upbringing, training, and gaining life experience. This is attention associated with selective response to objects and phenomena.
3. Direct – develops on the basis of the interests and basic needs of the individual.
4. Indirect - occurs thanks to special means: gestures, words, signs, etc.

Note! If a certain phenomenon or object does not arouse interest, it is difficult to focus on it. On the other hand, there are times when attention is attracted against the will of the person.

The more interesting the matter, the deeper the concentration

Types of involuntary concentration

This type of attentiveness is influenced not only by the degree of surprise and the strength of the factors, but also by their contrast. A very familiar situation is when a speaker suddenly changes his quiet and calm speech to loud. This gesture immediately attracts and alarms the audience.

Spontaneous concentration can be divided into several types:

• Familiar. It is characterized by constant interests of the individual (in a bookstore, an artist always goes to the rack with books about fine arts).
• Involuntary. It focuses on biological needs (a hungry individual, when participating in a conversation, carefully listens to information about food).
• Forced. It manifests itself when a person is exposed to intense stimuli and repeated signals (a pedestrian turns around when he sees an ambulance or police car with a loud siren on the road).

However, not all objects can be of interest. They must first of all stand out against the background of other factors that influence the individual. Also, such an item must have distinctive features. The stronger the stimulus, the more clearly it will attract the attention of others.

Features of voluntary attention

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Only human beings operate with voluntary attention; its origin originates from conscious labor activity. It is noteworthy that it is formed not only from considerations of what is interesting, but also what is necessary. The main motivation for its development is a certain goal that needs to be achieved. An example is a teenager’s dream of becoming a game developer, but he will have to take many courses in programming, computerization, learn and practice mathematical formulas, which may become an uninteresting test for him.

Arbitrariness of attention has physical and psychological mechanisms, where:

• physical – occurs in the cerebral cortex in response to a signal from the outside, for example, a parent’s demand for a child to heed something;
• psychological - characterizes effort, tension of will in order to focus on an object or phenomenon, which sometimes results in fatigue, which can be more severe and longer than physical fatigue.

Note! What interferes with concentration can help it.

It is not for nothing that many people are accustomed to doing work armed with headphones playing music, or listening to the radio or news on TV, and many purposefully go to a cafe or park to work on a project or book. The point is that a person can abstract from these stimuli, turning them into so-called “white noise”. The concentration of attention increases significantly, the individual does his work, completes the task more successfully than if he were in silence. It is noteworthy that many people are literally prevented from working by their own ordinary thoughts, so they are interrupted by the notorious white noise.

Conditions

This mechanism of instant reaction was formed in the process of evolution; it helped weak animals to escape from predators in time, and it also allowed predatory representatives of the fauna to track down prey. Of course, people are not afraid of animals, and to get food, they visit stores. However, when an unexpected stimulus occurs, we respond to it. Now I will list what is the condition for the emergence of involuntary attention:

• movement - an object that is at rest does not pose any danger, and therefore does not act as an irritating factor;
• impact - a strong sound signal or a quiet rustle in an empty room, our consciousness perceives a bright unexpected light as a threat;
• the unknown – it can lead to trouble, so we react to this event.

Formation of voluntary attention

The process of training voluntary attention must begin at a young age, and this task falls on pedagogy. However, it should be noted that certain conditions contribute to good concentration:

• stable mental and physical health of the individual;
• recreating a favorable atmosphere;
• setting a specific goal;
• combination of physical and mental actions (testing theory in practice);
• alternating activities (the “pomodoro” method, when a person concentrates on work for about half an hour, then rests for 5 minutes and repeats the cycle until the work is done).

To get everything done, you need to properly distribute time and effort.

There are a number of techniques that will teach focusing, and at the same time show the current level of its development:

1. You need to look at a certain picture for 5 seconds, then list the details you remember. If an individual remembers less than 5 objects, attention needs to be trained; if he named up to 9 details, the concentration is good, and more than 9 - voluntary attention is at its best.
2. In front of a working TV or computer broadcasting your favorite program, movie or TV series, you need to set an alarm clock with a dial. For 2 minutes, you must closely observe the second hand, without being distracted by the TV or monitor.
3. One famous way to test and train attention works on both adults and children. Take a book, newspaper or magazine. In the text (article) you need to look for something specific, for example, highlight all the letters “m” (or any other) or underline the names of people, names of cities, animals, etc.

Voluntary attention is a necessary tool in modern society, when there are so many irritants around. Statistics show that people have become more absent-minded due to the fact that they are easily distracted. This can be fixed, the main thing is to have a goal.

Return to a calm state through breathing

Your ability to concentrate depends on your mental state: the more anxious your mind, the more difficult it is to maintain focus. Before starting work or training, you need to return to a calm state. Amishi Jha, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Miami and a neuroscientist at the UMindfulness Initiative, recommended regular breathing exercises in her TED Talk, “How to Tame Your Wandering Mind.”

Jha advises sitting in a comfortable vertical position in silence and paying attention to the sensation of breathing, feeling cold or warm air. “Focus on what is connected to your sensory experience. When your mind wanders away from this sensation toward internal mental content or external distraction, gently bring it back to the object of breathing, says the neuroscientist. - Don’t be surprised if a lot of distracting thoughts come to you during a 15-minute session. Think of your brain as a puppy you are training to walk on a leash. Gently redirect him every time he leaves.”

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.

Write down distracting thoughts and actions

Make a “not to do” list. Every time you want to check social media, news resources, or can't get rid of an idea, write it down. By transferring these thoughts onto paper, you will thus get rid of them. However, if some of them appear again, this signal should not be ignored - think about why this or that issue is bothering you and how it needs to be resolved.

Take regular breaks

It is impossible to maintain attention for a long time, this leads to fatigue and loss of concentration. According to several studies, you should spend 52 minutes on one task and then take a break for 17 minutes. Also, the well-known Pomodoro technique suggests taking 5-minute breaks every 25 minutes.

During the break, you can do small physical exercises that improve concentration and memory. This is how a special protein is formed in the hippocampus - brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which promotes the formation of new neurons.

Patterns

Attention is subject to the following laws:

1. Law of apperception. According to this law, attention is not a constant value, it changes over time, the level of its concentration is unstable.
   It depends on the physical well-being and psychological state of a person, on the emotional background, on knowledge of the object and its relationship with the environment.

   When a person feels unwell, for example, feels a headache, he will be much less attentive to the external environment, concentrating more on internal sensations, than when he is feeling well.

2. Law of installation . Characterizes a person’s adaptability to the best response or perception of any situation. Attitude is readiness for some action. For example, a person crossing a tense section of a highway with many moving cars strives to control his position as much as possible, his vision and hearing are strained, and he himself is ready to suddenly react to an unusual situation. However, this law stipulates not only sudden reactions, it can also be a strong-willed concentration of attention when carrying out any professional activity. For example, a mathematician with work experience can maintain concentration much longer when solving a complex problem than, for example, a schoolchild.
3. Law of properties of attention . It is determined by the basic properties of attention listed above, distribution, selectivity, volume and stability. An example would be a change of activity, a person needs to wait some time to achieve a certain concentration of attention when moving from physical activity to mental activity.