We are regularly bombarded with information about a strong fall in the stretches of attention. Based on your own data in 2015, Microsoft reported that the average care capacity had fallen from approximately 12 seconds during millennials to eight seconds for generation Z.
And as the new Premier League season began, UEFA introduced A new “eight -second rule” To affirm a goalkeeper cannot hold the ball for more than eight seconds or the opposite team wins a corner kick. Coincidence? The rule was introduced to avoid the waste of time. It may be that the average attention necessary to kick the ball is an average of eight seconds. And perhaps this is also how long they can pay attention when nothing happens.
But how does attention really work? How can we improve it?
The attention is crucial. Who has not experienced distracted in the midst of a conversation and suddenly forgot what they were saying. However, what is sometimes lost is that there are many forms of attention, and not all are necessarily decreasing.
The football rule is more closely related to a type of attention called visual scan. For a goalkeeper, this can be to scan the field to solve who to pass the ball. There are many studies on visual scanning in football, although not so much in the goalkeepers.
An article studied scanning and performance in football players of the English Premier League. They found using A ten second scanning time He gave the players a small but positive performance advantage. Other studies have shown that within elite soccer players, the best players, scanning more time than others, unless there is an opponent player very close.
The scan is a form of attention that allows the player to take advantage of a limited time opportunity, where the decisions of whom to pass or where to run in the field have to do very quickly.
This is a type of “hot cognition”: a way of social and emotional thinking, a bit like an instinct. It is very different from the “cold” or “rational” cognition involved in the decision making that the players make with their managers and coaches outside the field, where the videos of plays are analyzed.
In such situations, we are more likely to use “sustained attention”, which is paying attention to something for a sustained period of time. This finally requires mental concentration.
Similarly, there are other forms of attention, for example, “divided attention” or “alternative attention” that imply changing attention between different things for a sustained period of time. These are generally used for colder decisions.
Different parts of the brain are working when we use different types of attention. Hot decisions Involve a brain network That includes the prefrontal or ventromedial orbitofrontal cortex, which support emotional regulation and decision making. Cold decisions, on the other hand, involve a different neuronal network that includes dorsolateral prefrontal cortexSupport for executive functions, such as control or inhibitions or short -term memory.
Again that we make hot and fast decisions it is with the first impressions. Again, the attention used is an immediate type of instinct. As expected, therefore, the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex It is an important brain region associated with the first impressions.
When we see or know someone for the first time, we implicitly form an impression of their appeal and possibly other features as well. We can adjust that initial immediate impression later, using more sustained or divided types of attention, as we learn more about the person.
A great example of this is given by Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet in the pride and prejudice of Jane Austen, where the first negative impressions are formed immediately. Only later they are corrected to positive impressions as more knowledge is obtained on the two protagonists.
First positive impressions They tend to stay with people. In addition, if the first very positive impressions are precise, it has been shown to lead long -term relationships, which in some cases It may be the “love at first glance” effect.
Motivation improves attention
All this means that there is not a single region of the brain involved in “attention” in general. It is possible to improve in a form of attention and worse in another.
For example, generation Z has the highest daily screen time, with many expenses 2.5 hours per day on social networks, which requires sustained attention. Therefore, it is more likely that the eight seconds be visual scans or surf for something interesting. Young people also spend long periods of time listening to podcasts and are getting more and more consume audiobooksWhich suggests that they can concentrate for long periods of time, but may prefer exits that allow them to perform multiple tasks. So, if the content is interesting, motivation can improve sustained attention.
Mothers of children and adolescents have told me several times with a hyperactivity care deficit disorder (ADHD) who do not understand why their children cannot concentrate on their school work when they can spend hours playing computer games. The answer is motivation. By enjoying, time passes quickly and it is easy to keep your attention for a long period of time.
This also suggests a solution to improve attention sections. We have to do tasks that require more motivating or fun attention.
Sustained attention
That said, it is not just scanning attention that seems to be reducing. There has been a series of studies on how sustained attention is also decreasing. Therefore, some psychologists argue that the conferences to the students It should be shorter.
However, a study of medical students found that the information presented between 15 and 30 minutes He was remembered betterwhile the material presented during the first 15 minutes had the worst retention. So, is it possible to get the attention and design of people in a way that makes them better remember the content?
Interestingly, where the student sat in the conference room also had an impact on retention. The tests were immediately given after the conference to the students sitting in the front, the medium and the back of the conference room. They remembered 80%, 71.6%and 68.1%, respectively. However, where he chose to sit could also reflect his natural motivation for the topic of the conference.
Biophysics researcher Neil Bradbury makes a convincing case The motivation and enthusiasm and passion of teachers, combined with good quality content and illustrations, are key factors to determine how long a teacher can maintain the audience’s attention. Perhaps allowing students to change their attention between listening, seeing and writing could also be useful.
Selecting the content should not have to do with cold decision making, you must also consider hot cognition to put into the minds of the audience and consider what you might most interest them.
Barbara Jacquelyn SahakianClinical Neuropsychology Professor, Cambridge University
This article was republished from The conversation Under a Creative Commons license. Read the Original article.
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