What is attention and why is it important?

Attention can be defined as the cognitive process of concentrating or focusing on one aspect of the environment while ignoring other distractions. When your friend speaks to you in a crowded restaurant and you ignore all the other conversations, your attention is on your friend’s voice. When a child plays an intense video game as his mother asks him to wash up for supper, the computer likely has his attention.

Attention to the environment is basic for survival.

Failure to pay attention or having impaired attention can result in poor school performance, poor work performance, strain on marriage, family and social relationships, and ultimately death through “accidents” due to inattention. Research reveals that talking on a mobile phone (even hands-free) while driving a car impairs the driver’s attention to the same degree as if the driver were under the influence of alcohol.

For many, focusing attention comes naturally and easily.

They can focus on the important matters and shift attention as needed as new factors arise. For some, however, focusing and maintaining attention is a struggle that results in distraction and sometimes severe problems in living effectively. Published research reveals that persons who suffer from attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are 3 times more likely to repeat a grade in school, 8 times more likely to have a teen pregnancy, 6 times more accident prone, and 10 times more likely to be incarcerated than those without this condition.

Paying attention to interesting things is easy.

Everyone pays better attention to the things they’re most interested in than to something they find boring. When faced with a boring task, however, most people can force themselves to concentrate on the task. If someone is unable to effectively focus their attention on a necessary but boring task, they may be suffering an attention-deficit, or an ADD syndrome.

Clinicians can evaluate or measure attention using both subjective and objective methods. Subjective methods, like rating scales and questionnaires, enable patients or parents to rate their impression of the quality or capacity of one’s attention.

Objective methods, like computerized performance tests, are usually structured and timed tests that measure the person’s performance and compare it to others of similar age and gender. Because of their precision, objective methods can assess different types of attention, such as focused, sustained, selective, alternating and divided attention.

Medications are not the only answer!

Diet and supplement changes, reduced television use, outdoor exercise, brain-healthy video games and neurofeedback have all been shown to improve attention.