Attention Types and How to Boost Your Child Attention

Throughout human history, the ability to focus on what is important and ignore other things has been an important survival skill. Attention helps us focus our awareness on a particular aspect of our environment, an important decision, or a thought in our minds. Maintaining attention is a long-term challenge for people of all ages, and people have long sought strategies, techniques, and medications to help them stay on track.

What is Attention?

The concept of “attention” is an area of study under cognitive psychology. Attention was originally defined by the psychologist, William James, over a hundred years ago, as processing “one out of what seem several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought … It implies withdrawal from some things in order to deal effectively with others.” This suggests that one selectively “attend” to a single mental thought and it is this thought that goes forward in the mind. In other words, It’s how we actively process information in our environment and tune out information, Perceptions and sensations that aren’t relevant at the moment.

Why Attention Matters?

Attention is a basic component of our biology, present even at birth. Our orienting reflexes help us determine which events in our environment need to be attended to, a process that aids in our ability to survive.

Attention helps us learn in school, excel in the workplace, and build successful relationships. Some people seem to be born with more control over their attention, but most people’s ability to pay attention varies depending on the situation, the number of distractions they face, and whether they are using stimulants like caffeine to help.

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Types of Attention

Sustained attention is the ability to focus on one specific task for a continuous amount of time without being distracted.

Selective attention is the ability to switch your focus back and forth between tasks that require different cognitive demands. (For more details, we will include them in next week’s article.)

Alternating attention is the ability to switch your focus back and forth between tasks that require different cognitive demands.

Divided attention is the ability to process two or more responses or react to two or more different demands simultaneously. Divided attention is often referred to as multitasking.

Differences Among the Types of Attention

Focusing on Tasks	Sustained Attention Consciously creating a mental focus on a single task or idea at once while completely disregarding others	Selective Attention Unconsciously creating a mental focus on a single task or idea at once while ignoring others	Alternating Attention Rapidly shifting mental focus from one task or idea to another	Divided Attention Placing mental focus on multiple tasks or ideas at once by giving some attention to each
Amount of Attention	Maximizes the amount of attention being placed on a task or idea because there is a single focus occurring at once	Increases the amount of attention being directed to a task or idea because of a single focus taking place	Decreases the amount of attention being placed on any task or idea if there are shifted focuses going on	Minimizes the amount of attention being placed on any task or idea if there are multiple focuses going on at once
Condition on Distractions & Switching Tasks	Excellent at tuning out distractions, and does not switch between tasks	Successful tuning out of distractions and switching tasks.	Good at shifting between distractions and switching tasks	Unsuccessful tuning out of distractions and switching tasks
Cognitive Ability	Strengthens cognitive ability the most	Strengthens cognitive ability	Weakens cognitive ability	Weakens cognitive ability the most
Amount of Possible Mistakes	Prevents from making mistakes	Reduces the rate of making mistakes	Increase the rate of making mistakes	Drives to make mistakes
Receiving Side Information	Allows to miss important side information	Allows to miss important side information	Prevents missing important side information	Prevents missing important side information