Attention as a mental property. Pathology of attention

What is attention?

Let's look at the essence of the concept. Attention is not just a glance at something with your eyes, not just a thought flashing through your head, and not a tactile sensation, not a taste sensation, not a reaction of nerve endings. By ATTENTION, I mean something more than feedback from the system of perception of the world around us.

Attention is the directed vector of your being, which includes many factors. Essentially, these are thoughts, feelings, interest, and involvement, coupled with external manifestations of the body’s organs.

For example, you came to the cinema and were so hooked that all your attention went completely into the film. You see, hear, experience feelings, draw your own conclusions, laugh or cry, and nothing exists for you except the film. Or you read a book, or do a manicure, or play some kind of game - you are completely absorbed in the process, concentrated. You are completely there.

Shifting attention improves business efficiency

Sometimes a shift in attention is required to solve problems more successfully .

This implies a meaningful, conscious transfer of attention from one type of activity (subject) to another.

Switching attention can be called a kind of restructuring in connection with a change in the task of cognitive activity. But the conscious nature of switching your attention should not be confused with distractibility.

The success of switching directly depends on the characteristics of the new and previous activities, as well as on the personal qualities of the person. For example, if the subsequent job is interesting, but the previous one is not, then switching will be difficult, and vice versa.

Remember that switching attention

always accompanied by some tension, expressed in volitional effort. Attention switches more easily and quickly to something more significant from a less important subject for the individual.

In such a process, a person’s personal characteristics are significantly revealed: some can quickly move on to a new activity, while others, on the contrary, can move slowly and with difficulty. The ability to switch attention is also affected by some diseases, including atherosclerosis.

By the way, men are significantly inferior to women in their ability to switch attention. About 45% of women can quickly switch their attention from one activity to another.

And only 15% of them do it slowly.

And for men, these figures are 18 and 38%, respectively.

At the same time, different types of activities require different forms of attention. For example, the work of a proofreader requires a high concentration of attention, but when working as an educator, a teacher, a greater ability to distribute attention is required.

Switchability of attention, flexibility of attention is expressed in the ability to quickly switch off from one setting and switch to a new one that corresponds to changing conditions. A high degree of switchability means the ability to consciously and meaningfully quickly switch from one subject or object to another.

You need to know that switching attention allows you to quickly navigate an unfamiliar new situation, easily move from one subject, object to another, from one activity to another, and get back to work after rest.

The opposite qualities of switchability are viscosity, rigidity, “stuck” attention, and an excessive tendency to detail. They can manifest themselves as an individual feature of the psyche, which is based on the degree of mobility of nervous processes.

These qualities can also be the result of pathological changes in the psyche, for example, with epilepsy. Low degree of attention switching

is defined as absent-mindedness in everyday understanding.

In certain cases, absent-mindedness is caused by a person’s high level of concentration on some problem. For example, a person puzzled by a professional problem, upon arriving home, is unable to switch his attention to household chores.

And therefore, he mentally constantly returns to such a problem, constantly loses, rethinks it. The professional activities of many specialists place high demands on such a category as switching attention.

In business, this method can be used to improve the efficiency of using your capabilities. Productivity in this case increases significantly.

Because an employee, an entrepreneur can quickly switch from one thing to another. Without losing the main idea and increasing the effectiveness of all activities.

This ability benefits not only the individual, but also the common cause.

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How to strengthen your attention skill

I'm sure you understand that the power of your attention is enormous. All these accidents, when you suddenly remember about a person and he appears, when you are afraid of catching a cold and feel unwell the next day, when you are afraid that there will not be enough money and there is not enough of it, are not accidental. The internal force that is called upon to build your world is scattered in hundreds of directions, as if through a sieve, and only sometimes, gathering into a powerful directed flow, it creates a real miracle.

You have the skill to manage attention (read: creative power) and you use it every day. But, unfortunately, not quite as we would like. You want one thing, but it turns out, alas, something else. To strengthen this skill, to accurately and profitably use the power of your energy, you need a plan.

Working with the body.

Negative thoughts lead to negative states that directly affect our body. Any “tightness” and tension is one of the signs that we missed something somewhere... Working “from the opposite direction” gives an excellent result. That is, relaxing the body helps to get away from negative thoughts. Until we learn to relax the body as much as possible, it is very difficult to master various meditations.

You can relax both in the most comfortable positions (sitting, lying, etc.) and while moving (walking, running, exercises).

As a specific option for how to relax in a resting pose, we can offer the following description:

We sit upright and comfortably. It is advisable to keep your back straight, your neck on the same axis with your back, without deviations to the left/right/forward/backward. We close our eyes. Letting go of all thoughts. Checking the relaxation of the body. If there are pressures or tensions somewhere, you can mentally “breathe through these places”: we inhale and exhale through the tense place, and as we exhale we feel how the tension goes away and subsides.

We take 5-7 deep breaths and exhalations. Inhalation begins in the lower abdomen, gradually rises up the abdomen, along the chest, the ribs expand, and the shoulders rise. As you exhale, in the reverse order, lower your shoulders, chest and stomach. The exhalation ends in the lower abdomen. After each exhalation, take a short pause without tension for 2-5 seconds. With each exhalation, the body relaxes more and more.

All this time the attention is on the Source. We do not concentrate our attention on the breaths and stages of relaxation, we do not remove it from the Source. Breathing and relaxation go on as if in the background.

Then we imagine that we consist of something that can easily melt/dissolve/disintegrate, etc. And in accordance with this, we begin to slowly and smoothly relax the body, starting from the tips of the toes, moving up the feet, ankles, calves , knees, hips, pelvis, lower abdomen, belly and back, chest, shoulders, going down the arms, then up the neck, relax the lower jaw, lips, tongue, cheeks, back of the head, nose, eyeballs, eyebrows and brow ridges, forehead , crown, brain and skull.

We do this smoothly and softly.

In the process, you can also resort to sensations of heaviness and warmth: feel how the dissolving parts of the body are first filled with heaviness, then warmth, and then disappear.

When relaxing dynamically, in the process of movement, we simply monitor our physical state and “do not interfere” with the body moving correctly and most efficiently, with the least expenditure of resources. After all, many have already heard that this world is as rational as possible. This rule also applies to the work of the body. It (as practice shows) does its job much more effectively when you are completely relaxed and there are no mental blockages.

Basic attention disorders and their causes

1. Narrowing of consciousness: low attention span, low distribution of attention. Occurs with organic brain lesions.
2. Pathological distractibility: impaired concentration and stability of attention. It occurs not only in organic, but also in mental illnesses (for example, manic-depressive psychosis in the manic stage).
3. Viscosity of attention: excessive inertia. A person cannot switch, he gets stuck in the problem. Pathological inertia is a consequence of pathological diseases (for example, epilepsy).

Properties of attention

1. The volume of attention is the number of objects that a person can perceive and understand under conditions of a one-time and short-term presentation. Norm – 7± Studied using the tachistoscopic method (objects flash on the screen, appearing for 0.1 seconds).
2. Distribution of attention - manifests itself when performing two or more types of activities simultaneously. Ease depends on the content of the combined activities and, most importantly, on the degree of automation of one of the activities. It is easier to combine different types of activities – mental and physical.
3. Concentration of attention - this is the strength of focusing attention on an object or activity, this is a strength characteristic of attention, inversely proportional to distractibility. Concentration is determined by the following factors:
   External conditions: the environment in which the activity is performed - distractions reduce the level of concentration.
4. Content of the work performed: the more interesting the activity performed, the higher the level of concentration.
5. Degree of complexity of the activity performed: the greatest concentration of attention is achieved with an average degree of complexity of the activity performed; When an activity is too easy or too difficult, concentration decreases.
6. Personality characteristics: volitional qualities and temperament - the higher the level of development of the will, the strength and balance of nervous processes, the higher the level of concentration.
7. Sustainability of attention – duration of concentration (temporary characteristic of attention). Depends on the same factors as concentration, but is not a constant characteristic. The change manifests itself in fluctuations in attention:
   • Micro-oscillations – from 2 to 12 seconds;

   Macro fluctuations – 15-20 min.

Fluctuations in attention affect the quality of work. The reasons for hesitation are fatigue.

8. Switchability of attention - manifests itself when switching from one activity to another. The ease of switching depends on the content of the activity to which one switches, on the degree of difficulty (individually) and on personality characteristics, primarily on the mobility of the nervous system (the more mobile the nervous system, the higher the level of attention switching).

Factors that affect concentration

Attention itself is the direction and concentration of a person’s consciousness on certain objects while simultaneously distracting from others. What attention is drawn to becomes a “figure” for us, and everything else becomes a “background”.

Types of attention.

1. Involuntary - spontaneously occurring attention caused by the action of a strong, contrasting or new, unexpected stimulus, as well as a significant phenomenon that evokes an emotional response: loud noise, a flashy person, a child crying on the street.
2. Voluntary attention - conscious concentration on certain information; it requires volitional efforts and, if there is no interest, becomes tiring after 20 minutes. For example, reading educational material. If you don’t force yourself, you can get a bad grade tomorrow.
3. Post-voluntary attention - is caused through entry into an activity and the interest that arises in connection with this, as a result, focus is maintained for a long time, tension is relieved; can last for hours. For example, a book at first seemed boring, and then the person began to read it.

Concentrating attention is the process of forming voluntary attention.

What affects concentration?

Installation.

When performing a task, there must be a goal - achieving a certain result. The more specific and clear the goal, the better you concentrate on achieving it.

Motivation.

You concentrate better if the task at hand is important to you personally, whether it is to satisfy a personal interest, a desire to make money, or an attempt to show off your capabilities to your superiors.

Emotional condition.

The most important factor, since others often depend on it. It is impossible to concentrate if you experience negative emotions: anxiety, fear, anger. This also applies to a storm of positive emotions . It is impossible to be at the peak of concentration while having fun and bursting into laughter. Another thing is that positive emotions can help you take a break and get distracted.

Stimulus intensity.

An incentive is an external urge, as opposed to motivation. It creates a sense of responsibility. Moreover, the intensity of the stimulus should not be excessive: the “load” of responsibility can spoil the emotional state, which completely kills any concentration.

Features of the situation.

Urgency, urgency, excitement, time constraints - these features influence all of the above factors. The situation cannot always be predicted and controlled, and here concentration depends on how much you are able to adjust your emotions.

External "helpers".

We are talking about substances that act on your physiology, increasing concentration: pharmaceuticals, food, drinks.