Attention Management - Types of Attention
Attention isn’t a constant phenomenon. A person can change his attention span and intensity of attention depending on different situations. There are three types of attention depending on the working type of an individual −
Focused Attention
Focused attention means “paying attention”. Under certain situations, people can channel their complete attention on a single task and everything else is considered as less important. This can be seen while studying for an exam or working on a project.
It is very difficult to sustain this type of attention for a very long time in normal cases, as it needs an engagement on a physiological level. Humans are bound to get tired from their work after certain period of time. For example, the same way a person is less likely to concentrate on studies, after studying vigorously for more than a couple of hours at a stretch.
Sustained Attention
Sustained Attention means concentrating on a certain time-consuming task. People employ such attention when they are watching a magic trick or watching an interesting movie. There are three stages of sustained attention −
Paying Attention − Where you start focusing.
Keeping Attention − Where you sustain your attention.
Ending attention − When you finally stop paying attention.
This entire cycle is called one “Attention Span”. Once your attention ends, you will again need some time to focus again and remove the distractions. People get distracted from work which leaves the task incomplete, so one needs time to refocus and start after sometime.
Selective Attention
Selective Attention means focusing on a single stimulus in a complex setting. It’s like having a conversation in a crowded station, where it’s impossible to focus on everything going around. In this case, one has to really focus on the conversation and ignore everything else happening to get the message across.
One must have the ability to focus on a particular message or object by filtering all background noise. The negative part is that people tend to neglect what is going around (even if it’s important). In all this, the message they receive can easily be manipulated or misunderstood due to communication issues.
Alternating Attention
People exhibiting “alternating attention” have the ability of switching their attention to more than one task at the same time. Many of us have exhibited this attention by taking notes, while simultaneously listening and understanding a lecture. Here, the mind should be flexible and quick to understand and translate every information gathered.
Attentional Blink
According to a theory that was first proposed in the 90s, attention is just like vision. When we try to visualize two targets at the same time, one of them appears sharp while the other one gets blurred. Similarly, when people focus on two targets at the same time, they tend to miss the second one. When these targets are linked with strong emotions, it becomes easier to reduce attention blink.
