Psychologist and philosopher William James best defined attention over 100 years ago Everyone knows what attention is. It is taking possession of the mind, in clear and vivid form, of one out of what seems several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought. Focalization, concentration of consciousness are of its essence. It implies a withdrawal from some things in order to deal effectively with others.” Types of Attention Involuntary Attention Involuntary attention isn’t consciously controlled by us, but rather by compelling stimuli in our environment. We experience involuntary attention when we hear a loud noise, see what we think is a snake slithering in the grass, or simply notice something new and novel. For our ancestors, involuntary attention helped them avoid danger and find rewards — it allowed them to react quickly to predators or discover new resources. Stimuli that’s possibly dangerous typically grabs our involuntary attention more than stimuli that could lead to a reward; in primitive times, simply surviving was more important than getting ahead. This explains why eyewitness testimony during a violent crime is often unreliable. A victim or bystander will automatically focus in on the weapon being used, while everything else, including the perpetrator’s face or what he was wearing, becomes a blur. From an evolutionary standpoint, there’s a benefit to reacting automatically to potentially dangerous or rewarding stimuli. However, in the modern age, our involuntary attention has been hijacked by the constant stream of stuff going on around us — urban noise, TV, smartphone pings, background music, etc. “Look, I see a bear!” has become, “Look a funny video on YouTube! An interesting article on this news site! A photo of my friend on Facebook….” Basically, the sensitivity of our involuntary attention to the new and unusual is the reason why the internet is so damn distracting. While our involuntary attention can be overwhelmed by an onslaught of distractions, mild stimulation of it actually puts us in a “soft fascination” state that quiets the mind and gives our voluntary attention (see below) a break. Getting out into nature puts us in this soft fascination state – there are different things to see whilst out walking in the woods, but the stream of incoming stimuli is so slow and mellow our mind feels simultaneously engaged and at rest. For this reason, spending time in nature not only feels great, but has been shown to relieve stress, anxiety, and depression. Voluntary Attention Voluntary attention is a focusing process over which we have conscious control. Instead of our attention being at the whim of whatever stimuli grabs for it, we deliberately decide what our mind attends to. Voluntary attention requires effort, willpower, and intentional concentration. When your elementary school teacher told you to “pay attention!” she was telling you to use your voluntary attention. You exercise your voluntary attention when you decide which of the stimuli bombarding your involuntary attention you’ll attend to, and which you’ll ignore, as in when you choose not to answer your cell phone in order to get out of the way of a honking taxi. We also call upon our voluntary attention when we try to shut out all competing stimuli in order to concentrate on a single task, like writing a memo, reading a book, meditating, or even playing a video game. The more stimuli there are competing for our involuntary attention, the harder our voluntary attention has to work to stay engaged with the task at hand. For example, our voluntary attention goes into overdrive when we try to have a conversation in a loud restaurant and really stay present with the other person. Despite the fact that there’s so much going on around us — waiters taking orders, other people yakking, toddlers crying — we’re able to ignore all that stuff and just pay attention to the conversation (most of the time, of course). It’s a pretty amazing cognitive feat if you stop and think about it. This may be why adding one more distraction to the mix – a smartphone on the table – can end up pulling you away from the conversation; your voluntary attention is already working so hard that it becomes the straw that breaks your concentration’s back! If involuntary attention allowed our species to survive, voluntary attention is what has really helped us thrive. It’s through voluntary attention that cities were built, wars were won, and masterpieces written. On an individual level, voluntary attention is what allows you to progress with your personal goals. When you plan your week, write in your journal, listen to a loved one, or work on a new habit, you use your voluntary attention. The thing with voluntary attention is that just like willpower, we have a finite amount of it. Part of the reason people complain so much about feeling distracted or having a short attention span is that our modern world taxes our voluntary attention so stinking much. Every day we have to consciously decide to ignore an ocean of stimuli, from the simple noises of a city, to electronic billboards, to smartphone pings, to text messages. On top of that, constantly switching where our attention lies also saps our supply. However, voluntary attention is also similar to willpower in that research has shown that it can be strengthened with certain exercises and practices. (We’ll be talking about those in our next post.) Default Mode: Mind Wandering When an outside stimulus isn’t engaging our involuntary attention or we’re not using our voluntary attention to attend to a specific task or thought, our mind shifts into a default mode called “mind wandering” – what we often refer to as daydreaming. Lots of research has been done about mind wandering, yet cognitive and neuroscientists still disagree about what exactly is going on with our attention whenever we engage in it. On the one hand, mind wandering takes our voluntary attention away from whatever task we might be working on at the moment. It often happens while we’re engaged in low cognition activities like showering, walking, exercising, or even reading. For example, you might be reading this post, but thinking about what you’re going to eat for dinner tonight. So you’re not fully paying attention to the oh-so-masterful prose right in front of you… On the other hand, research has shown that when we engage in mind wandering, our brains actually use the same regions that are utilized when we’re trying to exercise voluntary attention; even though we’re not paying attention to the task at hand, we are paying some attention to our distracting thoughts (like tonight’s dinner). Hmmm…what’s going on here? The answer is that mind wandering is a true cognitive paradox. When our mind wanders, we use our voluntary attention, just not necessarily on the thing we wanted to pay attention to originally. Mind wandering is an important facet in our attention system because we spend so much of our time in this default mode — about 50% of our wakeful thoughts are aimless daydreams. Spending time in this state has both benefits and drawbacks, and it’s important to understand what those are so you can intentionally manage how often you do it and what your mind drifts to while on these cognitive rambles. quarterback: this entire process averages just about 2.75 seconds.) Broad (or open) focus attention is great for getting your bearings, understanding the “big picture,” and comprehending complex systems and relationships. It gives us a quick and dirty conception of a situation. However, broad focus attention isn’t so useful for managing important details like your checkbook or calendar or editing, say, a blog post. Narrow (or sharp) focus attention allows us to be efficient, productive, and meticulous. However, too narrow a focus can lead to tunnel vision, causing us to lose sight of other important facts or details. The drawback of narrow focus attention is best illustrated in the famous invisible gorilla test. Neither broad nor narrow attention is “better” than the other — they each have their strengths and weaknesses. Again, the trick is learning how to manage the two and knowing when to switch to one type of focus or the other. Something that makes this idea easier to grasp is understanding how emotion interacts with narrow and broad focus. Research shows that when we’re engaged in narrow focus attention, our negativity bias increases and we’re more likely to home in on negative emotions and/or miss positive stimuli. Conversely, when we shift to a broad focus attention, we feel happier and more optimistic.