Attention control

Attention control, or attentional control, refers to a person's ability to consciously or unconsciously choose to focus on one thought or action over another. The concept includes the ability to filter out factors that are less relevant to an object of attention and to concentrate only on factors relevant to it. A number of factors contribute to an individual's ability to concentrate in this way, including age, mental and physical health, and interest. Attention control is an important part of learning, mastering physical skills, and memory.

Background

A person's ability to concentrate is largely controlled by the area of the brain known as the prefrontal cortex, which is near the front of the brain. The prefrontal cortex determines how much of the brain's attention should be given to a thought or an action and how much attention should be given to other stimuli—such as sights, sounds, and smells—when the brain is focused on that particular thought or action. For instance, when a person is reading, the prefrontal cortex determines whether the street noise from outside, the television playing nearby, and the smell of dinner in the oven should or should not be noticed.

The prefrontal cortex is sometimes referred to as the executive center of the brain because it controls many high-level brain functions. Researchers have determined, however, that an area called the parietal cortex can sometimes take over with competing information and gain control. For instance, the parietal cortex is in control when someone is concentrating on reading and is suddenly distracted by a sound, such as a dog barking outside. Researchers also have determined that the parietal cortex is responsible for alerting the brain to danger when it is concentrating on something else. For instance, when a person is engrossed in a television show and suddenly smells smoke, the parietal cortex is overruling the prefrontal cortex's control of outside stimuli.

Attention control depends on the number of tasks a person is doing at one time. Sometimes the tasks are complementary and easy to handle simultaneously. A musician who sings while playing a guitar is performing tasks similar enough that the brain can easily process all the stimuli related to both actions. On the other hand, driving a car and talking on the phone both require a significant amount of attention. As a result, the prefrontal cortex needs to constantly adjust the amount of attention a person pays to each task. Researchers have determined that a person's ability to carry out each of these tasks is reduced when they are performed simultaneously.

Researchers believe that the prefrontal cortex uses the thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN), a region deep in the human brain, to determine which stimuli should receive attention and which should not. The TRN has the ability to allow one type of stimulus to receive attention while filtering out others, even from the same sense. This is the reason why a person watching television might not hear someone speaking to him or her from another room or why someone might remember the face of an attacker but not what the attacker was wearing. This ability is very important in everyday life. It allows a person to concentrate on things that are more essential and prevents him or her from becoming overwhelmed by various stimuli.

Overview

The ability to control attention develops throughout childhood, reaches a peak in adulthood, and may decline as people age. Various factors influence an individual's ability to maintain concentration. Physical health and well-being, including amount of rest, nutrition, and security, can be a factor in allowing healthy brain function and minimizing distractions, such as fatigue, hunger, and fear. A person's level of interest and the importance of the thought or action also can be factors.

These influences on attention control are of interest to researchers in a number of specialized fields of psychological and neurological study. Researchers continue to try to understand the way brain function affects attention, especially in children, people with post-traumatic stress disorders, and the elderly. Studies on these factors and ways to treat them could have significant effects on the lives of people in these groups.

Some research has indicated that human concentration can be improved with training. Elite athletes can learn to focus despite the noise of large crowds and the pressure to perform. They can accomplish this focus through conditioning. Athletes deliberately attempt to perform an athletic task while exposed to distracting stimuli to train their brains to develop and maintain attention control.

On the other hand, some researchers believe that it is possible for people to be conditioned to have a lower level of concentration. Some studies have indicated that continuous exposure to short bursts of stimuli—for example, short segments of a television show between commercials, short reports on televised news that are heavy on video and light on explanation, and brief bits of text and video on the internet and social media—are conditioning people to have shorter spans of attention control.

Researchers believe that people can improve their attention control in a number of ways. Ensuring that the body is properly fed and rested can help provide the mental energy and alertness that are essential for concentration. Minimizing distractions that the brain needs to filter, such as by sitting in a quite room, also helps. Drawing connections improves recall and increases focus. For instance, noticing how a new computer program is similar to one that a person already has mastered can help free his or her brain to concentrate on learning the parts that are different. Creating a format or structure for information also minimizes the information the brain needs to filter. For example, structure is why it is easier to remember telephone numbers when they are written in the format (XXX) XXX-XXXX than when they are written as a line of ten numbers without breaks.

Bibliography

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