What is attention? Seems like a simply question doesn’t it? However, no one can seem to give us a definitive answer. It is an arbitrary concept that our brain has seemed to master in order to take in information from our world. Most people think that they can attend to the whole environment around them and that they have a very vivid understanding of the world. Unfortunately for us, this is not true. Our attention is limited to only things that fall in the range of the fovea. Everything else is based on assumptions made by the brain. The reason we believe we can attend to everything is based on our ability to switch our attention from one thing to the next. We had several in class examples to show this. There were the videos where entire buildings were changed slowly but no one noticed until we looked at the original image. There were the gifs of pictures where one element changed. Even after watching the change right in front of us for 5 mins, it still had to be announced before everyone let out an audible “ooohhh!” It is both amazing and a little scary to think that we can miss things that are blatantly taking place right in front of us. It can make one wonder what else are we missing in our everyday life?
3 thoughts on “Attention to Detail”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
I can relate to this post because i suffer from ADD, which makes it very difficult to pay attention to one thing for even a moderate period of time. I would try to pay attention in class or even listen to someone talk to me, but my focus would always wander off to a nearby stimulus for no apparent reason. Until i started taking medicine for my ADD, i could not have a simple conversation with someone unless we were in a room alone with no other noise around me. The brain’s ability to cancel out ‘noise’ that disrupts our attention is fascinating, because there is so much going on in the world around us at all times. I did not have the ability for years, and thought i was just a little absent minded. Now that i treat my ADD, i have no problem switching focus from one stimulus to another, and i can remain attentive to one thing without getting distracted. I can listen to someone talk to me in a crowded place, and pay attention in class, and i’m even more attentive to the little things that most people may miss. Attention is so difficult to define, which makes it even more difficult when one tries treating a deficit of attention. I enjoyed reading your post. Good luck on your finals!
How does attention work with attention deficit disorder? Is it that the brain is sometimes incapable of focusing on a certain activity. There must be a neurological deficiency that does not allow them to stay focused on certain items or activities where the unaffected person is able to.
Additionally, I have trouble paying attention even when people are speaking directly to me. I suppose that is just a case of certain things they are saying that I am not interested in, so my mind focuses on something completely different. This plays on the attentional blink situation where if your mind is occupied by other things it completely forgets about the other situations occurring around you.
Adding to what John said above there must be a familiarity associated with attention. How do we know not to get run over by vehicles when we are fixated on our cellphones or are talking to other people? I know from experience that even when I am on my phone while walking the sidewalks, I still know where the intersections are and do not walk into the middle of the street. It is really cool that the mind can remember where things are and can send attention to other necessary areas.
I couldn’t agree more with you in regards to the amount of things we miss in life. Especially these days with technology and vast growing world we live in today. In fact, the other day it occurred to me that I was senselessly looking through my phone while walking on campus. I had walked from college ave past old main, all the way to the business building without looking up more than 2 times; to make sure I wasn’t going to get hit by a car to say the least. I became very disappointed in myself that day. This idea of fake emotions of connectiveness between myself and those on Instagram or Facebook. They are my friends, but in the end, that post was not directly geared towards me. I was using the “fake motion” of scrolling through my phone to gain a sense of connection with those other people. When in reality, the connection was all around me. It was the people, the grass, the animals; the entire environment surrounding me, in which I completely ignored that day. To realize that our attention is so easily grasped by technology and these social media aspects of our lives is quite scary. I for one, will no longer be ignoring those magnificent facets in my life and will be certain to devote as much of my attention span that I can towards the environment I live in. Great post Adam!