Tag: psychology

Selective Attention While Studying

Ever since senior year in high school while taking AP courses, and even more so as a freshman in college, I believe that I need to study in small amounts throughout the week to manage and prosper in my classes. Although I know I need to study to succeed and that I only need to in short periods, I continue to struggle every single time. I’ve learned that for me to successfully study the room has to be completely silent, my phone must be turned off, the TV must be off, and for the best results, I should be alone. I find it very hard to focus on just one thing at a time and any little distraction such as music lyrics, my roommate talking, the TV being on, or my phone getting notifications will completely shift my brain to begin thinking about something else causing me to procrastinate studying.

It wasn’t until earlier this week in Tuesday’s lecture where I figured out why this happens in the human brain. The process called selective attention is the ability of the human mind to only pay attention to and focus on one or a few sensory inputs, things such as sound and language or a particular object or idea. I learned that the ways I was making my study sessions more efficient with the techniques listed above it made sense with an understanding of selective attention. Basically, with less sensory inputs going on around someone such as song lyrics, another person’s conversation, a video playing, or a phone dinging for me, the better they can focus and direct their attention to one thing.

In contrary, the brain possesses the ability to tune out individual senses which is explained in the cocktail party effect. This effect can be exemplified in the simple scenario of talking with someone at a party. To detail, in noisy settings like parties, the brain can focus on one conversation with an individual while many discussions are going on around a person. While this ability to pinpoint attention to one thing in the brain works most of the time, it can easily be compromised with certain distractions that your brain might prioritize as “higher priority.”

This concept is expressed in Treisman’s Attenuation Theory. The theory infers that when a human brain detects a sense, it then registers the priority of the sense before going through perceptual processes to understand the meaning and think about the sense. To explain, while the brain can effectively tune out sensory inputs like other people talking at a party, the undivided attention to their own conversation can be undermined by someone else in the room saying your name. Although the brain is neglecting auditory senses of other discussions, they are still processed through something Treisman described as an attenuator. This so-called attenuator decides the priority of a sense before it is even thought of. Which explains why if someone hears their name spoken elsewhere while talking to someone their attention will be refocused on where the sound came from to perceive who said your name, ultimately because your name being mentioned is of high priority in your brain.

All in all the attenuator process in the Treisman theory can be helpful to humans in situations at parties where another person’s conversation is not of priority, so it is easy to tune out that specific auditory sense of a different person talking and focus on your own communication of higher priority. At the same time, the attenuator process can easily plague a student studying like how it affected me. In my case when the music would be played or football put on the TV as I studied, my attention would be drawn to the lyrics of the artist playing or the game on the TV much more than my goal of studying. As explained earlier, this can be contributed to my brain prioritizing listening to my favorite music and watching football over reviewing notes because I am more interested in those activities; therefore, my attention is directed towards those higher priority sensory inputs.

 

Sources

Mcleod, Saul. “Theories of Selective Attention.” Theories of Selective Attention | Simply Psychology, www.simplypsychology.org/attention-models.html.

“The Cocktail Party Effect.” PsyBlog, 4 Sept. 2018, www.spring.org.uk/2009/03/the-cocktail-party-effect.php.

“Theories of Selective Attention.” Khan Academy, Khan Academy, www.khanacademy.org/science/health-and-medicine/executive-systems-of-the-brain/attention-language-lesson/v/selective-attention.

Wu, Victoria. “Selective Attention.” Introductory Psychology Blog S14C, sites.psu.edu/intropsychsp14n3/2014/03/06/selective-attention/.

 

Sensory adaptation

Sensory adaptation is when there is diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation. What comes with sensory adaptation is attention and attention span. Attention is partially a mental effort  some of it is effortless. We can not focus on too many things as an individual because we will miss key parts if we try to on more than one.  I have first hand experience with this because when I study, I will be reading my notes or writing something down when someone in the room tries to talk to me. I try to continue to write as I listen to what they have to say and it just doesn’t work. I either have to stop writing or ask them to “give me a second”. This ties back with the idea that we can not really do more than 1 thing at a time effectively. If i tried to do both, I would subconsciously not really listen to the person, or I would forget completely what I was supposed to be writing down and have to restart.

How the Nervous System Operates

The nervous system is a complex structure within our bodies that allows us to sense and perceive the world around us. At its most basic level, the nervous system consists of a large array of neurons spread throughout the body which work to send messages to our ultimate control center, the brain. Neurons (known commonly as nerves, nerve cells) relay signals from a part of the body experiencing an internal or external sensation or stimuli to the brain for processing and response. So, imagine you do not know if a stove is hot or not, so you place your palm on it to test the temperature. Pain signals from the nerves in your hands travel toward the brain to register this pain and you reflexively pull your hand away. This is the work of the nervous system.

There are two major subdivisions of the nervous system: the central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral nervous system (PNS). The peripheral nervous system consists of neurons known as sensory neurons and motor neurons that connect the body to the central nervous system. Motor neurons send signals from the brain to the muscles and typically help with general movement. Sensory neurons pick up stimuli from sensory receptors throughout the body to the central nervous system. The central nervous system consists of the brain and the spinal cord, two of the vital components of signal transfer in the nervous system. This is where our reflexes are controlled. The spinal cord receives a signal from a sensory neuron and the signal splits, one signal being sent back to the original sensed area and the other being sent to the brain. I can demonstrate this with a personal example. During my first semester of college, I had a chemistry lab where we had to use dry ice (which is incredibly cold). I wore gloves to pick up the clump of dry ice, but I felt it burning into my palm, so I instinctively dropped it. So, the sensory neurons in my palm felt the burning stimuli, which sent a signal to my spinal cord. My spinal cord split that signal, sending one message back to my palm, prompting me to drop the dry ice, and another message to my brain, telling me that what I just touched was way too cold to lay flat in my palm.

From the peripheral nervous system, there are two more divisions. One is the autonomic nervous system and the other is the somatic nervous system. The somatic nervous system is the division that controls voluntary movements of skeletal muscles. This is what allows us to move when we sense that we must move, like if we are in danger. The autonomic nervous system is responsible for the movement of the body’s internal organs, such as the heart. Some examples of the autonomic nervous system in action is heart rate and the dilation of our pupils when exposed to bright light. Further dividing the autonomic nervous system is the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. The sympathetic nervous system has the task of arousing the body, inciting what we know as our “fight-or-flight” response. When we are threatened by something, our heart rate rises, and this is from the sympathetic nervous system. The parasympathetic nervous system does the exact opposite and calms our body. This will lower our heart rate or blood pressure after an incident in which the sympathetic nervous system has risen these attributes.

To illustrate these concepts, I will use another personal example. When I studied abroad in the Netherlands, I was walking with a friend when I could feel we were being followed. As I sensed him approaching us, my heart began to beat faster and I started sweating. This was the work of my peripheral nervous system; my autonomic and sympathetic nervous system activating my fight-or-flight response. Because of this, my legs started to move faster, due to a signal from my brain to my motor neurons to pick up the pace. This was my somatic system kicking in. Once my friend and I made it to our destination safely, I was able to calm down; I stopped sweating and my heart rate slowed. This was my parasympathetic nervous system at work, reversing the actions of the sympathetic nervous system. The nervous system controls just about every aspect of our body’s movements and actions in some way or another.