Types of attention Voluntary and involuntary attention

What happens around a person constantly influences his sensory system, but it does not reflect all stimuli equally accurately. A person who is engrossed in a conversation with a friend, playing or working, or another activity that is important to him, may not notice what is happening around him. Only what is happening in the field of vision is clearly perceived and realized; everything else recedes into the background. Attention is

precisely what provides awareness of the process on which a person is focused.

What is attention

Attention is a perception that is selectively directed to a specific object that causes increased interest. This is a prerequisite for mastering new knowledge, skills, and performing any task. Attention, as a mental structure, gives a conscious nature to human activity, stimulates and regulates it.

To act means to be attentive to the objects of activity. Tension during any activity is always associated with tension of attention. It serves as an internal condition of mental activity, thanks to which stimuli perceived by the senses are reflected in the consciousness of the subject, and each act of purposeful activity becomes conscious.

If you answer the question about what attention is

, in simpler words, this is what determines the completeness, clarity, clarity of perception and ideas when solving daily problems.

Attention is a psychological phenomenon closely related to the body’s natural adaptation to survival in the external environment and orientation reflexes. They manifest themselves in clearer attitudes towards the clearest possible perception of phenomena that are significant to a person.

The physiology of attention is more complex. The reticular formation plays a great role in the emergence of concentration. This mesh-like formation in the brain amplifies significant external signals, passes them into the cerebral cortex and pollutes less significant ones. This helps to filter out stimuli that reach the zone of awareness.

Different human activities actualize different types of attention - involuntary, voluntary, post-voluntary.

Voluntary attention is associated with the concentration of a person’s consciousness on a stimulus object. This type of attention is actualized precisely because the object itself or its features attract, and often force, complete concentration on them. Stimuli are distinguished by suddenness, expressiveness, high intensity, novelty, contrast, highlighting against a certain background, and mobility in space. For example, an irritant may be the roar of a passing train, which makes everyone who is nearby and hears it turn their heads towards the railway, or the sound of a low-flying airplane.

Such concentration is a manifestation of the first, evolutionarily and ontogenetically the earliest form of attention.

Voluntary attention is the next, more advanced form of the mental process inherent in humans. It is consciously directed and regulated by the individual, allows you to be active, define goals, and maintain focus on achieving them.

A person needs to make an effort to stay focused. Especially when it comes to new, previously unfamiliar objects or uninteresting, unattractive objects. Voluntary attention is closely related to will, the ability to overcome external and internal obstacles.

Voluntary attention arises and develops in interaction with work and speech. Possessing it allows the individual to realize the goal, form his own intention to be attentive, and ensures continuous control over actions.

Both types of attention are closely related and can stimulate the emergence of each other. For example, when starting to perform a new, complex task, a person has to make maximum volitional efforts to concentrate on the work. At first it is difficult, but gradually the person goes deeper into the process of completing the task. Involuntary attention is activated, as the work is exciting and begins to be interesting.

This type of attention is called secondary involuntary or post-voluntary. It includes both signs of voluntary (does not require much volitional effort) and voluntary (retains purposefulness and predictability). The transition of voluntary attention to post-productive attention makes work less stressful and more effective.

The table shows the main characteristics of different types of attention.

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The main feature of voluntary attention is its connection to conscious aspirations and controllability .

This type is subject to will and labor effort.

This type is also called active and intentional.

Physiological mechanism

Basic function of voluntary attention, regulation of mental processes . The physiological mechanism is based on selective activation of parts of the cerebral cortex and their functional unification under the influence of controlled local activation.

Psychological feature

When a person needs to achieve a certain result, he develops an action plan, which includes the task of concentrating on something in order to suppress the involuntary desire to “spray” attention on more pleasant and exciting things.

A person is guided by the category “must”, meeting the requirements of the activity.

Voluntary attention is not determined by the contrast of external influences. In the process of concentration, a person ignores intense stimuli and can concentrate even in the absence of interest .

After 20 minutes of deliberate concentration, the individual becomes tired and the ability to control attention weakens.

Young children are not subject to voluntary attention , since consciousness is not yet sufficiently developed.

Managed concentration on something is developed after two years.

How do achievement motivations and failure avoidance motivations work? You will find the answer on our website.

Examples

Examples:

1. The individual needs to prepare a report for the meeting. He consciously excludes the possibility of being influenced by irritants (TV, loud noises outside the window, messages in instant messengers), organizes his workplace and concentrates on the necessary documents, forcing himself by force of will to ignore pleasant thoughts about the upcoming weekend and meeting with friends.
2. The girl crosses the road. At this moment, she is occupied by a beautiful showcase on the other side of the street.
   But she deliberately concentrates on traffic rules and passing cars in order to avoid getting into an emergency situation.
3. Being in a noisy office, the employee deliberately does not listen and diverts attention from the interesting conversation of colleagues , paying attention only to the current business correspondence with the client, since it is necessary to close the deal before lunch.
4. The guy set himself the task of reading two chapters from a physics textbook, after which he could go into the yard and play football with his friends. By an effort of will, he is distracted by an interesting TV show and immerses himself in reading in order to quickly cope with the task.

Functions of attention

Many scientists compare attention to a lens that, in clear weather, focuses the sun's rays and sets a tree on fire. Attention focuses a person’s mental powers, directs them to solving the most pressing tasks at a certain moment. It is the concentration on objects that makes it possible to see deeply, clearly, and in detail, and to successfully solve problem tasks.

In addition, attention performs other functions:

• ensures selectivity of cognitive processes, allowing a person to interact only with the most pressing and most valuable information for him at the moment;
• activates focus - helps to focus and maintain attention on a specific object, switch from one object to another;
• activates focus - allows you to select and maintain the optimal level of activity necessary to complete the task.

If a person is scattered, using his own cognitive and productive resources and not solving many problems at the same time, he has little strength left, and his work performance decreases. At the same time, consistently focusing attention first on one, then on another object allows you to achieve success.

A tool for developing attention|An example from personal experience

For me personally, freewriting or freewriting classes, which is the process of writing text on a piece of paper or typing on a computer, for a certain period of time, became a tool for developing attention and training my mental skills while maintaining physical activity.

Of course, the benefits for the physical body are very small, but still, even the simple process of pressing buttons on the keyboard and sitting on a chair in front of a computer monitor requires spending a certain amount of physical energy.

The main benefit for developing my attention is in the area of ​​mental skills that are developed during each freewriting session. It turns out that you need to simultaneously keep in your field of vision both the process of searching for the necessary letters on the keyboard, and the process of thoughts arising in your head and reproducing them in the form of text.

During training, my attention becomes both the manager and regulator of all ongoing processes. In addition, it plays the role of a driving force that provides these processes with the necessary energy resources.

Unfortunately, I don’t know how to touch type, so I have to type with my eyes buried in the buttons on the keyboard. Therefore, when after a while my attention concentrates only on this moment and loses sight of what is happening on the monitor screen, the idea of ​​the story is gradually lost.

When I try to concentrate on my thoughts, which need to be expressed in readable and understandable text, my typing speed immediately drops. So I have to learn the skill of simultaneously concentrating attention and distributing it between objects of observation, which gradually leads to a slight increase in the volume of my attention.

This practice, which I really like, is given by me only in order to more clearly show the process of interaction between the observer and the object of his interest through the power of his own attention. There are a huge number of such tools, a detailed examination of which will take quite a lot of time.

Basic properties of attention

In different types of activity, a person has to use different properties of attention. Sometimes lightning-fast accuracy in the perception of movements is necessary, in other cases - long-term concentration on one object or several. Human attention

has different properties. Let's look at them in detail.

Sustainability

This property is manifested in the ability to maintain concentration on an object for a long time. Stability is characterized by the time during which a person maintains focus, and therefore is a prerequisite for bringing any task to completion. The following factors stimulate sustainability:

interest and connection of the object with the interests of the subject, his needs;

object selectivity;

personal characteristics of the subject.

The ability to maintain sustained attention also depends on the strength of nervous processes, the nature of the activity, a person’s inherent habits and ability to work.

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Abstraction

The ability to switch attention to objects that are not related to the task at hand is the opposite of persistence. The smaller it is, the more often and easily a person is distracted from the main task, the more the productivity of his activities decreases. Distractions can be sharp and strong, sudden and dynamic stimuli that cause a range of emotional reactions.

You can overcome the tendency to get distracted by practicing completing tasks in an environment that is not entirely favorable for this.

Hesitation

Another property closely related to persistence of attention. Its manifestation is noticeable in how, in the process of performing any task, a person’s attention periodically becomes more or less intense.

Under natural conditions, vibrations are almost imperceptible, but when you need to focus on small objects, vibrations occur frequently - every 2-5 seconds and cause a person to be involuntarily distracted. In conditions where a person has to keep his attention on the edge of his capabilities, fluctuations occur even more often and quickly deplete the energy potential of the nervous system.

The main reason for fluctuations is the need to restore the performance of cortical structures and reduce their tension. Oscillations are influenced by the strength of the nervous system, conditions, content, duration and intensity of the task being performed.

Knowing about fluctuations, it is necessary to plan changes in activities, breaks in work, avoid duplication and automation of processes in order to avoid negative consequences.

Concentration

Concentration is the intensity of concentration on a specific object. The stronger the concentration, the more actively the effect of side stimuli is inhibited, the more focused and productive the activity becomes. Concentration is manifested by the fact that attention is absorbed by one object.

An indicator of the intensity of concentration is resistance to obstacles, the inability to distract attention from the subject of activity to extraneous stimuli.

Switchability

The conscious transfer of attention from one object to another is called switching. It is difficult with high concentration and is facilitated if there are connections between the content of the previous and next activities, and interest in the next activity. It makes it easier to switch attention by getting used to it, as well as understanding the importance of the next task.

The ability to switch attention makes it possible to quickly respond to changing conditions and move on to a new type of activity.

Distribution

The distribution of attention is updated when it is necessary to perform several actions simultaneously or maintain concentration on several objects. For distribution to be effective, it is necessary that the algorithm for performing at least one action be perfected to the point of automation.

Volume

The volume of attention is characterized by the number of objects that a person is able to perceive and be aware of at the same time. Normally, in 0.1 second a person can perceive from 4 to 6 objects that are not related to each other.

Description

This is a complex mental process that affects our behavior and the degree of adaptation to the environment. Involuntary concentration is a type of ordinary attention; it appears automatically under the influence of certain factors; it is impossible to keep it under control.

Very often there are moments in our lives when we are involuntarily distracted and closely monitor unusual situations, too loud sounds and strange people. This is how our consciousness brings us into a state of involuntary attention, which is characterized as the simplest form of mindfulness. This concentration is characteristic not only of humans, but also of many animals.

The main feature of such concentration is the absence of conscious choice during the period of its manifestation. When faced with a frightening loud sound, we involuntarily turn our heads in the direction from which it is coming - we cannot control this.

The very first signs of such attention appear in children when they quickly lose interest in some things when other, more interesting ones appear. It is difficult for a child to concentrate on several objects at once, so he is forced to return to the one he likes most.

Also, such concentration can be called passive due to the fact that it appears spontaneously and does not depend on our state. The emergence of this type of mindfulness is influenced by the following factors:

• Objective is a person’s reaction to something new, which surprises with its functions or has an unusual shape.
• Subjective - a manifestation of interest, a tendency towards something. If a person purchased a phone from a certain company, he will involuntarily be attracted to the same thing that he sees from someone else. This is also noticed in the professional sphere - an architect always involuntarily looks at architectural landmarks or facades of beautiful buildings while walking down the street.

With involuntary concentration, we produce a sincere reaction to the situation, an action. The main disadvantage of such attention is that it distracts us from really important matters and solving problems that require full concentration. Also, this type has a bad effect on our productivity.

Theories of attention

Many prominent scientists have studied the phenomenon of attention and developed their own theories.

One of the first and most popular was the reflex theory of attention, developed by Sechenov, Pavlov and Ukhtomsky. It connects the factors that cause the development of attention with the influence of the external environment. Stimuli act on receptors, impulses are transmitted to the human brain, cause orientation reflexes and activate adaptive reactions. They change the course of processes in the cerebral cortex and form a focus of optimal excitation (Pavlov’s formulation) or a dominant (according to Ukhtomsky). In parallel, inhibition occurs in other areas of the cortex.

Théodule Ribot associated attention with emotions and believed that they are the factor against which concentration is formed. In this state, certain physiological changes occur - blood circulation is activated, vascular and motor reactions occur. Concentration is accompanied by movement of all parts of the body, this helps maintain attention.

According to Halperin's theory, attention is a psychological act aimed at the content of an image or thought. Attention controls the content and is an integral element of orientation and research activities. At the same time, attention is not a separate process; it is always aimed at what appears as a result of other processes and contributes to the formation and improvement of mental activity.

Broadbent's theory interprets attention as a process of filtering stimuli coming from the external environment. The amount of data a person is able to focus on depends on the bandwidth of the channel through which perception occurs.

The theory of Ribot and Lange assigns an important role to movements. Scientists consider them an external manifestation and a factor in the formation of attention.

Anthony and Diana Deutsch believe that information is initially processed by working memory, and only then is it selected. Since the memory capacity is not unlimited, only part of the information remains in it. It is already assigned the status of important or unimportant.

Gonobolin, Strakhov, Dobrynin, Milerian believe that attention is directly related to activity, attention exists in it and is supported by it. According to scientists, to be attentive means to be active in relation to specific objects.

Other scientists have also studied attention. The theories of Lev Vygotsky, William James, Dmitry Uznadze and other researchers are worthy of study.

Reasons for appearance

Such concentration does not depend on the individual; it cannot be controlled. I will list several reasons why a person is distracted by external factors.

• The nature of the stimulus. Any loud sound, strong knock, or blinding light provokes the individual to respond. If he is very interested in something, he may not notice these factors, for example, during an interesting computer game or sports competition. However, during sleep or while reading, we react to sounds that are unusual for us.
• The stimulus corresponds to the internal state. The average person and a football fan will not have the same reaction to a conversation related to football. The first will calmly react to the stimulus, the second will expressively prove his point of view.
• Matching interests. If you have certain hobbies, they will always attract your attention. A designer can be distracted by looking at an interior that delights him, and a photographer can be distracted by a beautiful photo that interests him.
• The influence of stimuli on feelings. A person who experiences a strong interest is filled with a certain range of sensations and emotions. Emotional reaction is the main reason for the appearance of involuntary concentration.

The positive side of an involuntary reaction is that at the right moment the person will be able to find the cause, identify the irritant and figure out how to get rid of it. Also, such attention makes it easier to return to your usual activities.

Psychologist Daria Milai

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The negative side appears when, due to reaction to street noise or any conversation, the productivity and quality of the work performed suffers.

Also, such attentiveness allows you to see the traits that are inherent in a particular individual - frivolity, irresponsibility, simplicity or depth of feelings, kindness. A beautiful landscape and a building of amazing architecture attract artists, since these objects influence their aesthetic perception of beauty. However, an ordinary person will pass by these species, simply not noticing them.

Features of attention

In everyday life and at work, a person can be in a state of attention, inattention and absent-mindedness. The degree of attentiveness is an innate property that can be improved throughout life depending on needs, circumstances and experience.

An attentive person has voluntary and post-voluntary attention, he has a goal, a well-developed will, he understands what he is striving for. An inattentive person cannot concentrate on a subject or understand the essence of events or things. In an absent-minded person, the degree of attention is in the middle of the continuum between attention and inattention. The actions of the absent-minded are characterized by a superficial focus and inability to concentrate on a specific object.

Attention and inattention are reflected in all areas of human activity. Attentiveness is necessary for a sensual and rational reflection of reality, arranging thoughts in a logical series. Inattention in each case is associated with the inability to focus and maintain concentration. This leads to difficulties in the cognitive sphere - the consistency, logic and evidence of judgments are disrupted, thoughts are distracted by emotional reactions.

Irina Sherbul

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.