Different kinds of attention
Created: 2022-04-17 16:53
It is know to psychologists and neuroscientists now that there isn’t a single kind of attention.
- Flow. An state in which being highly focused becomes effortless (Csikszentmihalyi 1975)
- Focused attention. High levels of attention, sustained only for a few seconds. More of an ability of the human brain, which hasn’t changed over time.
- Sustained attention. Spans longer periods of time, required for getting things done, learning and developing understanding of a topic. It requires effort and will power to maintain it. Due to the increase in distractions it has decreased considerably over time.
We are able to increase our ability to maintain sustained attention by developing a system for attention.
- Removing distractions
- Working on tasks that require the same type of attention
- Avoiding multitasking
- Taking breaks to let the brain refuel