Cognitive psychology is the study of the mental processes of the brain. To put it simply, we have our brain which has its biological processes happening- secretion of neurotransmitters, secretion of hormones and many more, but we also have our brains doing mental processes like thinking, attention, perception, visual processing, problem-solving, abstract reasoning and creative thinking. Cognitive psychology is the study of these mental processes. Hence, one of the most interesting processes we’ll understand about is attention.
Attention is a vital component in our everyday life. We are mostly mindful every day but how does that happen? A simple way of understanding it is that it’s a mental process where we concentrate our senses into a certain stimulus. As we all know about our five senses, when we are paying attention to a specific stimuli, we do it by concentrating either our vision, ears, nose or touch to understand it. Now that we understand the crux of attention, here is more information about the process.
What is the process of attention?
We understand that attention is a process involving the stimuli. Here is a simple cognitive process of it in the brain:
Stimulus detection
Sensory receptors like eyes, ears or skin detect stimuli in the environment that leads us to understand that this is the environment around us. For example, we see a striking poster on the way back home. Here, the sensory receptors of our eyes are activated.
Sensory input
The brain receives the sensory information from the receptors and filters it. The striking features of the poster like the red colour are being concentrated on the most and all the other colours of the poster like the dull grey is not being concentrated on as much.
Attentional selection
As a result of filtering out the sensory information, you might understand that the poster is mostly in red colour since your receptors enhance the attention towards the colour red. The brain has hence decided to focus on the colour red based on the relevance, novelty and its emotional significance. You then understand that your favourite colour is red which is also the explanation to your bias towards the red in the poster.
Cognitive processes
The brain is a complex system involving several mental processes among which attention is one. But as the attention is placed, it is also connected to other functions of the brain like perception, memory and decision making.
Types of attention
While we understand how the process works, it is also essential to know the different types as well. These types of attention are often used based on the extent to which the stimuli are being recepted accordingly. The types of attention include
Selective attention
This involved focusing on specific stimuli while ignoring others. For example, when you are reading a book, you selectively attend to the words on the page while tuning out background noise. One interesting concept of selective attention is the cocktail party effect.
This phenomenon demonstrates the ability to focus on a single conversation amidst a noisy environment, like a cocktail party. You end up tuning out the other conversations and concentrate on the one you’re interested in the most.
Divided attention
This is the ability to simultaneously attend to multiple tasks or stimuli. This is a phenomena that’s often seen to be true to many people. Considering the hustle culture we live in, divided attention is inevitably more prevalent. An example of this could be working and also listening to music. While it is a good way to perform tasks and finish them as soon as possible, divided attention may lead to decreased interest in the tasks and high levels of errors. The constant focus on different task or stimuli may lead to fatigue, stress and reduced productivity.
Sustained attention
This is the ability to focus on one particular stimulus or task for an extended period of time. This is crucial for several activities like studying, making a complex project and many more. The ability to sustain attention allows individuals to process information more deeply, improve memory retention, enhance problem solving skills. However, maintaining sustained attention can be challenging, especially in environments filled with distractions or when the task at hand is monotonous or mentally taxing. Developing and practising this skill on a daily basis allows for an effective performance in the long run in various situations in life.
Tips to improve focused attention
Though focused attention may not be a type of attention, it is an essential cognitive ability. It is the ability to filter out distractions in the environment you stay in and concentrate on a single task or stimuli to enhance the performance of the task. Here are some of the tips to improve focused attention and mindfulness.
Mindfulness
One of the most viable tools that helps in focused attention is the practice of mindfulness. Mindfulness activities like meditation, being present in the moment helps in understanding the importance of focused attention and leads to the ability of conscious awareness of the environment leading it upto the presence of both, mind and body.
Regular breaks
Taking regular breaks becomes essential to understand as the use of the body or brain is exhausted. Therefore, taking regular breaks can enhance your productivity to focus attention as well and enhance mindfulness. Use techniques like the Pomodoro effect where you have a set period of time to work, say like 30 minutes, and then take a short break. This helps to refresh your mind and helps you focus and maintain attention
Attention-enhancing tools
These tools are designed to help you maintain and improve your attention towards the task at hand. Tools like a to-do list, timers, productivity apps can help you keep track of your tasks and make sure you perform them accordingly. Therefore, enhancing focused attention through these tools is an effective way for productivity.
In conclusion, attention is a fundamental cognitive process that influences how we interact with and interpret the world around us. Whether it’s selective, sustained or divided, our ability to focus and maintain, it directly impacts our effectiveness of our tasks. To improve the focused attention, mindfulness, regular breaks from tasks and also attention-enhancing tools help to increase productivity and increase effectiveness of being attentive.