Attention- orientation of the psyche to certain objects, focus on them. Attention- a psychophysiological process, a state that characterizes the dynamic features of cognitive activity, which are expressed in its concentration on a relatively narrow section of external or internal reality, which at a given moment in time become conscious and concentrate on themselves the mental and physical forces of a person for a certain period of time.

Attention- this is the process of conscious or unconscious (semi-conscious) selection of one information coming through the senses, and ignoring the other.

Five basic properties of attention:

1. stability,

2. concentration,

3. switchability,

4. distribution,

Sustainability of attention- the ability for a long time to maintain a state of attention on any object, subject of activity, without being distracted and without weakening attention.

attention span(opposite quality - absent-mindedness) - manifests itself in differences, in the degree of concentration of attention on some objects and its distraction from others.

Switching attention- transfer of attention from one object to another, from one type of activity to another. It manifests itself in the speed with which he can transfer his attention from one object to another, and such a transfer can be both involuntary and arbitrary.

Distribution of attention- the ability to disperse attention over a large space, simultaneously perform several types of activities or perform several different actions.

attention span- the amount of information that can simultaneously be stored in the sphere of increased attention (consciousness) of a person.

The numerical characteristic of the average amount of attention of people is 5-7 units of information.

Attention functions:

• activates the necessary and inhibits currently unnecessary psychological and physiological processes,
• promotes an organized and purposeful selection of information entering the body in accordance with its actual needs,
• provides selective and long-term concentration of mental activity on the same object or type of activity.
• determines the accuracy and detail of perception,
• determines the strength and selectivity of memory,
• determines the direction and productivity of mental activity.
• is a kind of amplifier for perceptual processes, allowing you to distinguish the details of images.
• acts for human memory as a factor capable of retaining the necessary information in short-term and short-term memory, as a prerequisite for transferring memorized material into long-term memory storage.
• for thinking acts as a mandatory factor in the correct understanding and solution of the problem.
• in the system of interpersonal relations contributes to better mutual understanding, adaptation of people to each other, prevention and timely resolution of interpersonal conflicts.
• an attentive person is spoken of as a pleasant conversationalist, a tactful and delicate communication partner.
• An attentive person learns better and more successfully, achieves more in life than an insufficiently attentive one.

Main types of attention:

• natural and socially conditioned attention,
• direct and indirect attention
• involuntary and voluntary attention,
• sensual and intellectual attention.

natural attention- given to a person from his very birth in the form of an innate ability to selectively respond to certain external or internal stimuli that carry elements of informational novelty (orienting reflex).

socially conditioned attention- develops in vivo as a result of training and education, is associated with volitional regulation of behavior, with a selective conscious response to objects.

immediate attention- is not controlled by anything other than the object to which it is directed and which corresponds to the actual interests and needs of a person.

mediated attention- regulated by special means, such as gestures, words, signs, objects.

involuntary attention- not connected with the participation of the will, does not require efforts in order to hold and focus attention on something for a certain time.

Arbitrary attention- necessarily includes volitional regulation, requires efforts in order to keep and focus attention on something for a certain time, usually associated with a struggle of motives or motives, the presence of strong, oppositely directed and competing interests,

sensual attention - associated with emotions and the selective work of the senses, in the center of consciousness is any sensory impression.

intellectual attention- mainly associated with the concentration and direction of thought, the object of interest is the thought.

Forms of attention disorders:

1. Increased distractibility- excessive mobility of attention, constant transition from one object and type of activity to another;

2. Decreased attention span;

3. Inertia (small mobility) of attention- the impossibility of timely quick switching or pathological fixation of attention;

4. Hypo- and aproseccia – impossibility within the required period of time focus on something and complete loss of attention.

In the 19th century, especially at the end of it, and at the beginning of the 20th century, attention was at the center of psychological research. However, as is known, at the beginning of the 20th century, the anti-mentalist tendency intensified in world psychological science.

In the 1970s, attention was actually rediscovered in psychology: symposiums, conferences, and special monographs were devoted to it. However, the definition of its essence remains an unresolved problem in psychology to this day. Throughout the entire period of studying attention in psychology, there has been a steady tendency to reduce it to some kind of process and actually deny it as an independent process. The logical conclusion of this line of interpretation of attention is in Gestal psychology, which simply denied the existence of attention. It cannot be said that all this is only in the past. In modern domestic psychology, the opinion still prevails that attention is not an independent mental process, but only a characteristic of other mental processes. All of them are directed to their object and to a certain extent focused on it. It is impossible to perceive without attention to what is being perceived, to memorize without attention to what is being remembered, and so on. Attention merges with other mental processes; it is their characteristic. It cannot be regarded as a separate, isolated form of the psyche; it has no specific content of its own. It can be stated that until today in Russian psychology, most psychologists share the idea of ​​attention as a certain side or characteristic of any activity of the subject (internal mental and external practical), which actually reflects the denial of attention as an independent form of the psyche.

At the same time, the opposite point of view was also expressed in domestic psychology. It belongs to P.Ya. Galperin, who suggested that attention, like other mental processes, has its own specific content. It is an internal (mental) act of control. But, unlike other activities that produce a product, the control activity does not have a separate product. It is always directed at what, at least in part, already exists or is happening, created by other processes; to control, you need to have something to control. In the 70s, under his leadership, an experimental study was carried out, in which, by the method of a formative experiment, an attempt was made to systematically, step by step form attention as an ideal, reduced, automated form of control.

In modern domestic psychology, most researchers attention is defined as the focus of the psyche (consciousness) on certain objects that have a value for the individual (situational or stable); this is the concentration of the psyche (consciousness), suggesting an increased level of mental activity (sensory-perceptual, intellectual, motor). Thus, thanks to attention, mental processes become a) electoral, i.e. aimed at certain objects are significant, i.e. corresponding to the needs of the subject of attention; b) more active which increases their efficiency.

Attention functions:

activates the necessary and inhibits currently unnecessary psychological and physiological processes,

promotes an organized and purposeful selection of information entering the body in accordance with its actual needs,

Provides selective and long-term concentration of mental activity on the same object or type of activity.

determines the accuracy and detail of perception,

determines the strength and selectivity of memory,

determines the direction and productivity of mental activity.

· is a kind of amplifier for perceptual processes, allowing to distinguish the details of images.

acts for human memory as a factor capable of retaining the necessary information in short-term and short-term memory, as a prerequisite for transferring memorized material into long-term memory storage.

for thinking acts as a mandatory factor in the correct understanding and solution of the problem.

· in the system of interpersonal relations, it contributes to better mutual understanding, adaptation of people to each other, prevention and timely resolution of interpersonal conflicts.

An attentive person is spoken of as a pleasant conversationalist, a tactful and delicate communication partner.

An attentive person learns better and more successfully, achieves more in life than an insufficiently attentive person.

Attention and installation.

The theory of setting was proposed by D. N. Uznadze and at first concerned a special kind of state of preliminary tuning, which, under the influence of experience, arises in the body and determines its reactions to subsequent influences.

For example, if a person is given two objects of the same volume, but different in weight, then he will evaluate the weight of other, identical objects differently. The one that ends up in the hand where the lighter item was before will seem heavier this time, and vice versa, although the two new items will actually be the same in every way. It is said that a person who discovers such an illusion has formed a certain attitude towards the perception of the weight of objects.

Installation, according to D. N. Uznadze, is directly related to attention. Internally, it expresses the state of human attention. This explains, in particular, why, under conditions of impulsive behavior associated with a lack of attention, a person, nevertheless, may experience quite definite mental states, feelings, thoughts, and images.

The concept of objectification is also connected with the concept of attitude in Uznadze's theory. It is interpreted as the selection under the influence of the installation of a certain image or impression received during the perception of the surrounding reality. This image, or impression, becomes the object of attention (hence the name - "objectification").

Basic properties of attention.

The amount of attention. The amount of attention is characterized by the number of objects or their elements that can be simultaneously perceived with the same degree of clarity and distinctness at one moment.

In practice, our attention is rarely drawn to any one element. Even when it is directed at one but complex object, there are a number of elements in this object. With a single perception of such an object, one person can see more, and the other less elements.

The more objects or their elements are perceived at one moment, the greater the amount of attention; the fewer such objects we grasp in one act of perception, the smaller the amount of attention and the less effective the activity will be.

In this case, the “moment” is understood as such a short period of time during which a person can perceive the objects presented to him only once, without having time to shift his gaze from one object to another. The duration of such a period of time is approximately 0.07 seconds.

With the help of a special device - a tachistoscope, you can present to the subject for 0.07 seconds. a table with twelve different figures, letters, words, objects, etc. drawn on it. During this short period of time, the subject will have time to see clearly only some of them. The number of objects correctly perceived under these conditions (instantaneous perception) characterizes the amount of attention.

The scope of attention can be expanded by carefully studying the objects and the situation in which they have to be perceived. When the activity takes place in a familiar environment, the attention span increases and we notice more elements than when we have to operate in an unclear or poorly understood situation. The amount of attention of an experienced person who knows this business will be greater than the amount of attention of an inexperienced person who does not know this business.

An increase in the volume of attention can be achieved in the process of its upbringing by comprehending this activity and accumulating knowledge related to it. In this case, training in this type of activity is of great importance, during which the process of perception is improved and a person learns to perceive individual elements of complex objects and situations not in isolation, but grouping them according to significant connections.

Concentration of attention- this is the ability of a person to maintain focus on the object of attention in the presence of interference (noise, physiological discomfort (uncomfortable posture, heat or cold, thirst or hunger), other things that irritate and distract a person). The smaller the circle of objects on which a person's attention is focused, the more he is concentrated on them. It is difficult to keep track of many objects. The ability to concentrate and not be distracted by interference also depends on the properties of the nervous system. For people with a weak nervous system, irritants prevent them from concentrating, they are easily distracted by noise, voices, and can only concentrate in silence, in a familiar environment. Interference does not interfere with people with a strong nervous system, but even helps - they increase concentration. Such people sometimes simply cannot work in silence, they think better with music, with the sounds of the TV.

Another aspect of attention is switching. It is the ability to shift attention from one object to another or from one activity to another. This takes into account how quickly a person can “turn on”, delve into a new activity, stopping thinking about the previous one. And also how easy it is for him to do it. People with a mobile nervous system easily switch their attention from one subject to another, quickly focus on a new object. Some people find it difficult to change their course of action: having started doing another job, for some time they do everything the same as before.

attention intensity. The intensity of attention is characterized by a relatively greater expenditure of nervous energy to perform this type of activity, and therefore the mental processes involved in this activity proceed with greater clarity, clarity and speed.

Attention in the process of performing a particular activity can manifest itself with different strengths. During any work, a person has moments of very intense, intense attention and moments of weakened attention. So, in a state of great fatigue, a person is not capable of intense attention, cannot concentrate on the activity being performed, since his nervous system is very tired from the previous work, which is accompanied by an increase in inhibitory processes in the cortex and the appearance of drowsiness as a protective inhibition.

Physiologically, the intensity of attention is determined by an increased degree of excitatory processes in certain areas of the cortex, while others are inhibited.

The intensity of attention is expressed in a great focus on this type of work and allows you to achieve a better quality of the actions performed. On the contrary, a decrease in the intensity of attention is accompanied by a deterioration in the quality and a decrease in the amount of work.

Of great importance is the intensity of attention of students in the process of educational work. By achieving intense class attention, the teacher ensures clear and distinct perception and thinking in his students, resulting in a more effective learning process. Care must be taken to ensure that students come to class in a cheerful state that allows them to show the highest degree of attention.

Sustainability of attention. Sustainability of attention is the retention of the required intensity of attention for a long time.

Stability of attention is explained by the presence of dynamic stereotypes of nervous processes developed in the process of practice, thanks to which this activity can be performed easily and naturally. When such dynamic stereotypes are not developed, nervous processes radiate excessively, capture unnecessary areas of the cortex, intercentral connections are established with difficulty, there is no ease of switching from one element of activity to another, etc.

Stability of attention increases if: a) the optimal pace of work is observed: if the pace is too slow or too fast, attention stability is impaired; b) the optimal amount of work; with an excessive amount of a given work, attention often becomes unstable; c) variety of work; the monotonous, monotonous nature of work adversely affects the stability of attention; on the contrary, attention becomes stable when the work includes a variety of activities, when the subject being studied is considered and discussed from various angles.

Vibration of attention. The fluctuation of attention is expressed in the periodic change of objects to which it is drawn.

Fluctuations in attention should be distinguished from an increase or decrease in the intensity of attention, when in certain periods of time it is either more or less intense. Fluctuations in attention are observed even with the most concentrated and steady attention. They are expressed in the fact that, with all its stability and focus on a given activity, attention at some specific moments passes from one object to another in order to return to the first one after a certain period of time.

The periodicity of attention fluctuations can be well shown in experiments with double images. The drawing in Fig. (below) depicts two figures at the same time: a truncated pyramid facing the viewer with its top, and a long corridor with an exit at the end. If we look at this drawing with intense attention, we will consistently, at certain intervals, see either a truncated pyramid or a long corridor. This change of objects will occur without fail at certain, approximately equal intervals of time.

The fluctuation of attention is explained by the fatigue of the nerve centers in the process of activity performed with intense attention. The activity of certain nerve centers cannot continue without interruption at a high intensity. During hard work, the corresponding nerve cells are quickly depleted and need to be restored. Protective inhibition sets in, as a result of which the excitatory process in these cells that have just worked hard weakens, while excitation in those centers that were previously inhibited increases, and attention is diverted to extraneous stimuli associated with these centers. But since during work there is an attitude to a long-term retention of attention precisely on this, and not on another activity, we immediately overcome these distractions as soon as the main centers associated with the work being performed restore their energy reserves.

Distribution - it is the ability to perform several actions at the same time. It depends on the individual characteristics of the individual and on professional skills. No one can do two things at the same time without being able to do each separately.

It is possible and necessary to distribute attention, in life it is necessary all the time, and some professions require the distribution of attention (driver, pilot, teacher). The teacher monitors the class and gives explanations at the same time. The distribution of attention is also necessary for the student. For example, he listens to the teacher's explanations and follows what he shows (a map, a picture), or listens and makes notes at the same time.

The ability to distribute attention is produced in practical activities. Two jobs can only be successfully performed if one of them is so learned or easy, not requiring concentrated attention, a person performs it freely, only controls and regulates a little. It often happens that the focus of a person's attention is only one main Activity, and the second occupies a relatively small part of the attention, it is not in the center of attention, but on the periphery. Consequently, when distributing attention, it concentrates mainly on one activity, the basis of which is a certain focus of excitation in the cerebral cortex, and other activities are provided by areas of the cortex that are less excitable at that moment. Given this, it is impossible to distribute attention between such activities that require the participation of the same analyzers. For example, it is impossible to be equally attentive to two pieces of music at the same time. It is difficult to be attentive to two kinds of mental activity.

It is difficult to distribute attention if the objects of attention are very complex. The distribution of attention is more successful in the case of a combination of mental and motor activity. The main condition for the successful distribution of attention is a high level of assimilation of at least one type of adjacent distances.

The distribution of attention depends on the degree of its concentration. If one of the objects causes deeply concentrated attention, it is difficult to distribute it to other objects.

The ability to distribute attention can be developed by performing appropriate exercises methodically correctly. A person's ability to distribute attention depends on her age, the level of personality development and individual characteristics.

The properties of attention should be considered as a complex hierarchical system. So, all the properties of attention are considered manifestations of concentration of attention or are divided into three types: intensity, breadth (volume and distribution) and switch (the unity of stability and dynamics).

Attention is the focus of the psyche / consciousness on certain objects or phenomena that correspond to the needs of the subject, the goals and objectives of his activity. Another version of the definition: the concentration of consciousness on individual (personally or situationally significant) aspects of reality. Attention selects relevant, personally significant signals from the set of all available to perception and, by limiting the field of perception, ensures focus at a given time on some object (object, event, image, reasoning). Attention is the simplest kind of self-deepening, due to which a special state is achieved: the object or thought being contemplated begins to occupy the entire field of consciousness as a whole, displacing everything else from it. This ensures the stability of the process and creates optimal conditions for processing this object or thought “here and now”.

In modern psychological science, it is customary to distinguish several main types of attention. The direction and concentration of mental activity can be involuntary or arbitrary. .

Involuntary attention is also called passive or emotional. The following factors influence the emergence of this type of attention:

factors of the external world: physical characteristics of the signal (intensity, frequency), contrast between stimuli, novelty, etc.

factors of the inner world, that is, the person himself: the emotional and physical state of the person, the relevance of that information to him, his interests, etc.

Voluntary attention is distinguished from involuntary attention. The very term is odious. It is as if he was created in order to personify the worst sides of idealistic theories: indeterminism from the outside of acting spiritual forces. But the higher forms of human attention are just as arbitrary as the lower ones; they are, to the same extent as the latter, subject to the laws that determine them, but these laws are different. Arbitrary attention is closely connected with the will of a person and was developed as a result of labor efforts, therefore it is also called volitional, active, deliberate. It is consciously directed and regulated attention, in which the subject consciously chooses the object to which it is directed. This term serves to designate the fact, central in its meaning, that the cognition of a person, like his activity, rises to the level of conscious organization, and does not occur only by itself, spontaneously, under the control of forces acting from outside.

The so-called voluntary attention takes place where the object to which attention is directed does not in itself attract it. Arbitrary attention is therefore always mediated.

Voluntary and involuntary attention are closely related to each other, since voluntary attention arose from involuntary. It can be assumed that voluntary attention arose in a person in the process of conscious activity.

The reasons for voluntary attention are not biological in origin, but social: voluntary attention does not mature in the body, but is formed in the child during his communication with adults. As L.S. Vygotsky showed, in the early phases of development, the function of voluntary attention is divided between two people - an adult and a child. An adult selects an object from the environment by pointing it out and calling it a word, and the child responds to this signal by tracing a gesture, grasping an object, or repeating a word. Thus, this object stands out for the child from the external field. Subsequently, children begin to set goals on their own. It should also be noted the close connection of voluntary attention with speech. The development of voluntary attention in a child is manifested first in the subordination of his behavior to the speech instructions of adults, and then, as he masters speech, in the subordination of his behavior to his own speech instructions.

Despite its qualitative difference from involuntary attention, voluntary attention is also associated with feelings, interests, and previous human experience. However, the influence of these moments with voluntary attention is not direct, but indirect. It is mediated by consciously set goals, therefore, in this case, interests act as the interests of the goal, the interests of the result of the activity. “It arises when, by counteracting the attractive force of stronger stimuli, we force the thought to focus on an object that under natural conditions does not make an impression.”

There is another kind of attention. This type of attention, like voluntary, is purposeful and initially requires volitional efforts, but then a person “enters” the work: the content and process of the activity, and not just its result, become interesting and significant. Such attention was called post-voluntary by N.F. Dobrynin. Attention from arbitrary becomes, as it were, involuntary.

Unlike truly involuntary attention, postvoluntary attention remains tied to conscious goals and is supported by conscious interests. At the same time, unlike voluntary attention, there is no or almost no volitional effort here.

Attention is exactly the door through which everything that only passes into the soul of a person from the outside world passes.

K.D. Ushinsky

characteristic of attention. types of attention. Basic properties of attention. Development of attention

Attention is a psychological phenomenon with respect to which there is still no consensus among psychologists. Some authors believe that attention is a cognitive mental process. Others associate attention with the will and activity of a person, based on the fact that any activity, including cognitive, is impossible without attention, and attention itself requires the manifestation of certain volitional efforts.

What is attention? Let's turn to examples.

Imagine a student doing their math homework. He is completely immersed in the solution of the problem, focused on it, ponders its conditions, moves from one calculation to another. Characterizing each of these episodes, we can say that he is attentive to what he does, that he pays attention to those objects that he distinguishes from others. In all cases, one can say that his mental activity is directed at something or concentrated on something. This focus and focus on something specific is attention.

Attention - it is the focus and concentration of consciousness on a particular object. Without concentration, we can look and not see, listen and not hear, eat and not taste.

Scientists have calculated that the human eye moves 100,000 times a day. Imagine that these movements are in no way connected with each other, completely aimless and uncontrollable. Therefore, we need a "compass" that would indicate the direction of observation. The role of such a compass is performed by attention.

You can't be careful at all. Attention is always manifested in certain, specific mental processes: we peer, listen, sniff, ponder a task, or, forgetting about everything in the world, write an essay. Attention not only creates the best conditions for mental activity, but also helps a person respond in a timely manner to various changes in the environment and in his own body.

Distinguish between external and internal attention.

External attention directed at the surrounding objects and phenomena, internal - on their own thoughts, feelings and experiences. When a person carefully peers into something, he is all fed to the object of perception, his eyes open wide. All other movements are slowed down. When something amazes a person, this is again clearly expressed in the facial expressions of attention. Remember the famous expression "Listens with his mouth open in surprise." All these are signs of manifestation of external attention. The attention directed at one's own thoughts and experiences is expressed in a completely different way: the eyebrows are slightly shifted, the eyelids are lowered - a person, as it were, peers into himself, "immersed in himself" - all these are manifestations of internal attention.

Mindfulness of a person is manifested not only in the knowledge of the world and the implementation of activities, but also in relations with other people.

Attention to a person is an external manifestation of an internal culture, which is based on respect for another person.

“It seems to me,” recalled People's Artist of the USSR S. Giatsintova, “the standard of such qualities was the artist of the Art Theater Vasily Ivanovich Kachalov. He certainly remembered all the names and patronymics of the people he met. He organically respects people and is always interested in them. With him, every woman feels attractive, a gentle creature, worthy of care. The men felt smart and very much needed by Kachalov at the moment. Vasily Ivanovich, as it were, "absorbed other people's lives, faces, characters, and he was among people like a holiday, like human beauty and nobility."

Orientation and concentration of mental activity can be arbitrary or involuntary character. When activity captures us and we are engaged in it without any volitional efforts, then the direction of mental processes will be involuntary. When we know that we need to do a certain job and we undertake it by virtue of the decision made, then the direction of mental processes already has an arbitrary character. Therefore, according to the origin and methods of implementation, involuntary and voluntary attention are usually distinguished.

involuntary attention is the simplest kind of attention. It is often called passive or forced, i.e. it arises independently of human consciousness. Activity captures a person by itself, because of its fascination. But this is a simplified representation. When involuntary attention occurs, four groups of causes are usually distinguished.

The first group is associated with the nature of the external stimulus. Imagine that you are passionate about something, do not notice the noise on the street or in the next room. But then there is a knock from a fallen thing, and we will definitely react, pay attention.

The second group is associated with the correspondence of external stimuli to the internal state of a person and his needs. So, a well-fed and a hungry person will react differently to talk about poverty.

The third group is associated with the general orientation of the personality. What is connected with our interests, including professional ones, as a rule, attracts attention. That is why, walking down the street, a policeman pays attention to an incorrectly parked car, and an architect - to the beauty of an old building.

As the fourth group of reasons, we should name those feelings that an external stimulus causes in us. Such attention can rightly be called emotional.

Let's take an example of involuntary attention.

One day the lecturer was supposed to give a lecture on electricity. Entering the auditorium, he saw that the students did not react to his arrival, the noise continued in the auditorium. Instead of calming them down, calling them to order, pulling them up with a shout, he stood at the pulpit and, after waiting a little, began in a low voice: “In ancient times (raising his voice a little) in the VI century. (even louder) in Ancient Greece, in the city of Miletus (and quite loudly) a boy was born. The audience calms down. He listens, and he continues in a normal voice: “And he was so small that he could fit in a beer mug.” There was absolute silence in the auditorium. The lecturer continued: "And they called him Thales of Miletus..." The students listened attentively, and the lecturer calmly gave a lecture on the discovery of electricity by Thales of Miletus and on electricity itself. That's how he attracted the attention of students to his lecture. What "worked" here? Firstly, the unusual tone, secondly, the unusualness of the information (the beginning of the lecture), and thirdly, the redundancy of information: the lecturer did not immediately list the laws of electricity, but first spoke about the person who discovered it.

A person's attention is attracted by something that has permanent or temporary significance for the individual.

But sometimes, and quite often, you have to make an effort on yourself - to break away from an interesting book and do something else, to intentionally switch your attention to another object. Here we are dealing with voluntary (deliberate) attention when a person sets himself a certain goal and makes efforts to achieve it. In other words, a person has certain intentions, and he himself, but with his good will, tries to fulfill them. The formula here is simple: "I need to be attentive, and I will force myself to be attentive, no matter what."

Arbitrary attention arises on the basis of willpower. Since it requires effort from a person, it is tiring. It is difficult to get a person to be attentive for more than twenty minutes.

Sometimes the desire to get rid of distracting stimuli becomes painful. The French writer M. Proust ordered that the walls of his office be covered with cork, but even in such careful isolation he could not work during the day, fearing noises.

The researcher of the psychology of creativity, the Polish writer J. Paradovsky, in a very interesting book "Alchemy of the Word" talks about writers and poets who had the ability to abstract from any environment. Such people manage to write among the noise, din, bustle - in the barracks, offices, editorial offices, at the station. Among them was the Polish writer Heinrich Sienkiewicz, who at the table of a confectionery in Zakopane sketched on paper the adventures of Kmititz, the hero of the novel The Crusaders.

Involuntary and voluntary attention are closely related and sometimes pass into each other.

Attention has a number of properties that characterize it as an independent mental process (Fig. 7).

All of them can manifest themselves in involuntary and voluntary attention.

Sustainability - This is a long-term retention of attention on an object or some activity. Sustained attention is called, capable for a long time to remain continuously focused on one subject or on the same work.

Stability of attention can be determined by various reasons. People with a weak nervous system can get tired quite quickly, become impulsive. A person who is physically unwell is also characterized by

Rice. 7. The properties of attention are called unstable attention. In the presence of stimuli, attention fluctuates, becomes insufficiently stable. Attention cannot linger for a long time on a stationary object (for example, a dot on a sheet) if we cannot view it from different angles.

If you listen to the ticking of the clock and try to focus on it, then it will be either audible or inaudible. If we consider a complex figure, for example, a truncated pyramid (see Fig. 8), then it will alternately appear either convex or concave.

The richer an object is in its properties, the easier it is to focus attention on it for a long time.

Volume - this is the number of objects that are covered by attention at the same time. This value varies individually, but usually its indicator is 5 ± 2 in people. It usually varies in adults from four to six, in schoolchildren (depending on age) - from two to five objects.

It is important to consider it in many areas of life. For example, the creator of an advertisement strives to ensure that any passer-by, having cast a fleeting glance at a billboard, understands and remembers its content. To do this, advertising should not contain more than five words. If there are more of them, then it is useful to clearly highlight a few (four to six) of the most important words.

Distribution - it is the ability to perform more than two activities while keeping your attention on them.

Can attention be shared simultaneously between two or more different activities? Maybe because life constantly demands it.

Rice. 8.

For example, a student in a lecture distributes attention simultaneously between what he writes down and what he hears at the moment.

According to legend, Julius Caesar had phenomenal abilities, thanks to which he could simultaneously do seven unrelated things. It is known that Napoleon could simultaneously dictate seven important diplomatic documents to his secretaries. But as practice shows, a person is able to perform only one type of conscious activity. Even W. Wundt proved that a person cannot focus on two simultaneously presented stimuli.

In order to successfully perform two jobs at the same time, at least one of them must be known so well that it is performed automatically, by itself, and the person only controls and regulates it consciously from time to time. The ability to distribute your attention develops gradually.

Distractibility - it is the involuntary movement of attention from one object to another. It arises under the action of extraneous stimuli on a person engaged in some activity at that moment, and can be external and internal. External arises under the influence of external stimuli. The most distracting objects and phenomena that arise suddenly. Internal distractibility of attention arises under the influence of strong feelings, emotions, due to the lack of interest and a sense of responsibility for the business in which the person is currently engaged.

switchability - it is a conscious and meaningful movement of attention from one subject to another. If the previous job is interesting and the next job is not, then switching is difficult, and vice versa.

Switching attention is always accompanied by some tension, which is expressed in volitional effort. It clearly manifests the individual characteristics of a person: some people can quickly move on to a new activity, while others - slowly and with difficulty. Different activities require different forms of attention. For example, the work of a corrector requires a high concentration of attention, and the work of a teacher requires the ability to distribute attention. This property of attention can and should be trained.

Of great importance for studying the characteristics of attention is the question of distraction.

Usually attention is opposed to absent-mindedness. In our language, the latter is often understood as a synonym for inattention. Remember S. Marshak's poem "Scattered from Basseynaya Street", in which the main character "instead of a hat on the go ... put on a frying pan, instead of felt boots, he pulled gloves on his heels."

However, distraction and inattention do not always coincide. Distraction is usually referred to as two different phenomena. Absent-mindedness is often called excessive deepening into work, when a person does not notice anything around him - neither the surrounding people, nor objects and phenomena. This species is called imaginary distraction, since this phenomenon occurs as a result of great concentration on any activity.

But when a person is unable to concentrate on anything for a long time, when he moves from one object to another without dwelling on anything, this kind of absent-mindedness is called genuine distraction. The reasons for true absent-mindedness are varied. They can be a general disorder of the nervous system, blood diseases, lack of oxygen, physical or mental fatigue, severe emotional experiences.

Attention has its own stages of development. In the first months of life, the child has only involuntary attention. At five to seven months, the child is able to examine objects for a long time. The beginnings of voluntary attention usually appear at the end of the first year of life. At preschool age, voluntary attention is unstable. The school is of particular importance for the development of voluntary attention. Here the child learns to discipline, he develops perseverance, the ability to control his behavior. In the upper grades, voluntary attention reaches a higher level of development. In general, we can say that mindfulness can and should be trained, while it is imperative to remember that it is not given to a person by itself.

Course work

General psychology

The psychological essence of attention and its properties

Goroshkov Sergey Evgenievich

Introduction

The concept of attention

1 Attention and consciousness

2 Physiological mechanisms of attention

3 Orienting reflex

5 Development of attention

Main types

1 Types of attention

2 Main properties

3 Absence

4 Psychologist in KRO classes

Conclusion

Glossary

Application

Introduction

The theme of this course work is the essence of attention and its properties.

Attention is the focus and concentration of consciousness on any object, phenomenon or activity. Attention can be represented as a cognitive process that provides ordering of information coming from outside, depending on the primacy and importance of the tasks facing the person.

Already from this definition, attention follows that it is characterized by a focus on what the consciousness is occupied with, and the concentration of consciousness on something that requires special awareness.

In the life of any person, there may be cases when something is better done with dispersed attention, and sometimes a person is required to clearly concentrate on a particular subject.

Dispersed attention is also obligatory for a person in the case when he needs to perform several actions at the same time. More difficulty in performing complex tasks is reduced in the case of constant attention training, and the performance of these tasks becomes habitual. A person achieves automatism, that is, automatic processing of information takes place, therefore, fewer cognitive resources are required to complete these tasks.

In modern psychology, attention studies are included, along with general psychology, into engineering psychology and labor psychology, neuropsychology and medical psychology, developmental and educational psychology.

The purpose of the study is to reveal the essence of attention and consider its properties.

Research objectives:

find out what attention is;

consider the theory of attention;

identify the properties of attention;

determine the main types of attention;

consider the development and defects of attention.

The object of this course work is attention in psychology, and the subject is the psychological essence of attention and its properties.

When writing a term paper, the ideas of such authors as M.M. Ivanova, A.N. Leontiev, R.S. Nemov, V.S. Romanova and others were used.

Main part

attention distraction

1 The concept of attention

1.1 Attention and consciousness

If we single out the common thing that stands behind all examples of the connection between attention and memory, then we cannot do without consciousness. Attention is necessary in order to keep in the mind the momentary perceived, transient - otherwise it will not be able to become the property of memory. More attention is needed in order for the memory to again be in the mind, to rise from the depths of memory. Keeping the image and thought in the mind is behind the joint functioning of attention and perception, attention and thinking.

The problem of the connection between attention and consciousness began to be developed within the framework of tail philosophy. In Eastern philosophy, tradition has a special place for attention to both “concentration” and “correct vision”, “penetration” in achieving enlightenment, true divine wisdom. Without attention, "enlightened consciousness" is impossible. It is no coincidence that the practice and technique of meditation, based on the ultimate concentration of consciousness, is defined in the Eastern religious and philosophical tradition.

In the second half of the 19th century, a line of research began to actively develop in psychology, which notes the connection between attention and consciousness. The first direction is the classical psychology of consciousness, within which a systematic experimental study of attention began. Since then, psychology has developed a number of diverse ideas about the relationship between attention and consciousness, in which attention is assigned different roles.

The most common idea of ​​attention in modern psychology is its interpretation as a mechanism of access to consciousness, which determines what of the perceived and experienced by us at the moment reaches consciousness and will affect our behavior. This process can be represented in different ways. For example, as a kind of manhole, similar to the one through which Carroll's Alice tried to get into the magical garden in Wonderland, but did not fit completely. From the court follows the question: what and why remains outside of consciousness, occupies an important place in the modern psychology of attention.

In the classical psychology of consciousness, several more approaches to considering the relationship between attention and consciousness were identified. Consciousness ceases as a structure similar to the visual field with a focus and periphery, and attention as a part of consciousness, its focus, a zone that has the greatest clarity and reporting of the contents of consciousness. However, here the question arises: how exactly do the individual components of individual experience find themselves in this zone? To answer this question, attention must be represented as a special process of transferring a certain content of consciousness, or its element, to its central part.

Attention can also be considered as one of the properties of consciousness or its inherent features. This property is the degree of subjective clarity of the impressions that are in the mind, which, in the case of a lack of attention, turn out to be vague, and in the case of the utmost attention, they appear to us most clearly.

At the initial stage of the conversation about attention, the connection between attention and consciousness will allow us to approach the description of the subjective phenomena of attention and the fulfillment of the criteria for the presence of this elusive.

Consciousness is the ability to give an account of oneself, and therefore, it is through consciousness that we can know what it means to "be attentive" or "to be inattentive."

1.2 Physiological mechanisms of attention

The works of the outstanding Russian physiologists A.A. Ukhtomsky and I.P. Pavlov are of great importance for understanding the physiological foundations of attention. The idea put forward by IP Pavlov about the special reactions of an uneven system of orienting reflexes already contained a proposal about the reflex nature of involuntary attention. “We peer into the emerging image, listen to the emerging sounds; we strongly draw in the smell that has touched us ... ”- wrote I.P. Pavlov. Orientation reactions are very complex according to modern data. They are associated with the activity of a significant part of the body. The orienting complex includes both external movements (for example, the head towards the sound) and changes in the sensitivity of certain analyzers; the nature of metabolism changes; breathing changes; cardiovascular and galvanic skin reactions, that is, vegetative changes occur; there are simultaneous changes in the electrical activity of the brain. According to the ideas of I.P. Pavlov and A.A. Ukhtomsky, the phenomena of attention are associated with an increase in the excitability of certain brain structures as a result of the interaction of excitation and inhibition processes. I.P. Pavlov believed that at every moment in the cortex there is some area characterized by the most favorable, optimal conditions for excitation. It is this area that arises according to the law of induction of nervous processes, according to which the nervous processes that concentrate in one area of ​​the cerebral cortex cause inhibition in other areas and vice versa. In the focus of excitation, new conditioned reflexes are easily formed, differentiation is successfully developed, this is currently the “creative department of the cerebral hemispheres”. The focus of optimal excitability is dynamic. “If it were possible to see through the cranium and if the place of the cerebral hemispheres with optimal excitability shone, then we would be on a thinking conscious person, as a light spot constantly changing in shape and size of bizarrely irregular outlines moves along his cerebral hemispheres, surrounded by everything else more or less significant shadow in the space of the hemispheres,” wrote I.P. Pavlov. This corresponds to the center of optimal excitation, its “movement” is a physical condition for the dynamics of attention. The position of I.P. Pavlov about the movement of foci of excitation along the cerebral cortex is confirmed by modern experimental studies (data by N.M. Livanov). The dominant principle is important for understanding the physiological mechanisms of attention. In the brain, there is always a dominant, dominant focus of excitation according to A.A. Ukhtomsky. A.A. Ukhtomsky characterizes the dominant as a constellation of "centers with increased excitability." A feature of the dominant as a dominant focus is that it not only suppresses newly emerging foci of excitation, but is also capable of attracting weak excitations to itself, thereby amplifying at the expense of dominating them even more. The dominant is a stable focus of excitation. “The name “dominant” means a more or less stable focus of increased excitability…” wrote A.A. Ukhtomsky. AA Ukhtomsky's ideas about the dominant make it possible to understand the nervous mechanism of prolonged intensive attention. The high efficiency of all cognitive processes with directed concentration is determined by the most favorable conditions for brain activity that arise in centers with increased excitability. In recent years, new results have been obtained in studies by Soviet and foreign scientists that reveal the neurophysiological mechanisms of attention. Attention arises against the background of general wakefulness of the body associated with active brain activity. If active attention is possible in a state of optimal wakefulness, then concentration difficulties arise both against a background of relaxed, diffuse, and against a background of excessive wakefulness. The transition from passive to active attention provides a general activation of the brain. At a certain level of brain activity, attention is possible. At present, psychophysiology has anatomical, physiological, and clinical data that testify to the direct relation to the phenomena of attention of various structures of the nonspecific brain system (the reticular formation, the diffuse thalamic system, the hypothalamic structure, the hippocampus, and others). The main physiological function of the non-specific system is the regulation of various forms of non-specific activation of the brain (short-term and long-term, general, global and local, limited). It is assumed that involuntary attention is associated primarily with general, generalized forms of nonspecific brain activation. Voluntary attention is associated both with an increase in the general level of brain activation and with significant local shifts in the activity of certain brain structures.

In recent years, ideas about the leading role of the cerebral cortex in the system of neurophysiological mechanisms of attention have begun to play an important role. At the level of the cerebral cortex, attention processes are associated with the presence of a special type of neurons (attention neurons - novelty detectors and setting cells - expectation cells).

It was revealed that in healthy people under conditions of intense attention, there are changes in the bioelectrical activity in the frontal lobes of the brain. In patients with lesions, use verbal instructions to induce sustained voluntary attention. Simultaneously with the weakness of voluntary attention in case of damage to the frontal lobes of the brain, a pathological increase in involuntary forms of attention is noted. Thus, attention is associated with the activity of a number of brain structures, but their role in the regulation of various forms and types of attention is different.

1.3 Orienting reflex

The raticular formation is an accumulation of nerve cells located in the brain stem and is a trace of the nerve pathways connecting the receptors of the sense organs with areas of the cerebral cortex. It is thanks to the raticular formation that a person can be alert, react to the slightest changes in the environment. It also provides the appearance of an orienting reflex. With its ascending and descending fibers, it is a neurophysiological apparatus that provides one of the most important forms of reflex activity, known as the orienting reflex. For understanding the physiological foundations of attention, its importance is especially great.

Each unconditioned reflex, which is based on some biologically important effect for the animal, causes a selective system of responses to the stimulus with simultaneous inhibition of all reactions to side effects. Conditioned reflexes are of the same character. With them, one system of reactions, which is reinforced by an unconditioned stimulus, dominates, while all other side reactions are inhibited. Both unconditioned and conditioned reflexes formed on their basis create a well-known dominant focus of excitation, the flow of which is subject to the dominant.

The orienting reflex manifests itself in a series of distinct electrophysiological, motor and vascular reactions that appear every time something unusual or significant occurs in the environment surrounding the animal. These reactions include: turning the eyes and head towards a new object; alert and listening response.

In humans, the appearance of a galvanic skin reaction, vascular reactions, a change in breathing, and the occurrence of “desynchronization” phenomena in the bioelectrical reactions of the brain, expressed in depression of the “alpha rhythm”. We observe all these phenomena every time when the reaction of alertness, or the orienting reflex, is caused by the appearance of a new or usual stimulus for the subject.

Among scientists there is still no definite answer to the question whether the orienting reflex is an unconditioned or conditioned reaction. By its innate nature, the orienting reflex can be classified as an unconditioned reflex. The animal responds with a reaction of alertness to any new or usual stimuli without any training; according to this feature, the orienting reflex is one of the unconditioned, innate reactions of the body. The presence of certain neurons that respond with discharges to each change in the situation indicates that it is based on the action of special neural devices. On the other hand, the orienting reflex reveals a number of features that significantly distinguish it from ordinary unconditioned reflexes: with repeated use of the same stimulus, the phenomenon of the orienting reflex soon fades away, the body gets used to this stimulus, and its presentation ceases to cause the described reactions - this is the disappearance of the orienting reflex to repeated stimuli is called habituation.

4 Classification of attention theories

One of this direction was N.N. Lange. He proposed a motor theory of attention - a phenomenon in which the internal activity and selectivity of consciousness appear in a concentrated form.

Lange's motor theory of attention was the antipode of the interpretation of attention, which is captured in Wundt's concept of apperception. According to Lange, the initial fundamental is the involuntary behavior of the body, which has a biological meaning, which lies in the fact that through muscle movements the body takes the most advantageous position in relation to external objects in order to perceive them as clearly and distinctly as possible.

Lange made involuntary fluctuations in attention during auditory and visual perception the subject of a special experimental study.

This phenomenon and its explanation, proposed by Lange, caused a lively discussion in the psychological literature, in which the leaders of Western psychology were involved - W. Wundt, W. James, T. Ribot, J. Baldwin, G. Munsterberg and others.

Motor theory of attention T. Ribot. he believed that involuntary and voluntary attention are directly related to the duration and intensity of the emotional states associated with the object of attention.

In Ribot's rheory, important attention is paid to the study of the human family tree. With the help of the family tree, Ribot studied the properties of attention, character, memory, and so on for several generations of the same family. Thanks to the genogram, he found that cases of deep and sustained involuntary attention show all the signs of an indefatigable passion, constantly renewed and constantly thirsting for satisfaction.

T. Ribot defines attention as "mental monoideism" accompanied by natural or artificial adjustment of the individual.

Attention is a certain psycho-physiological combination, for which motor and subjective components are necessary elements. Attention is a psychological immobility that is contrary to the normal course of life processes.

Taking into account the importance of physiological correlates of mental processes and states for studying the mechanisms of attention, R.S. Nemov proposes to call the concentration of T. Ribot psychophysiological. As a purely physiological state, attention includes a complex of vascular, motor, respiratory and other voluntary and involuntary reactions.

Intellectual attention is also accompanied by an effort of blood circulation in the organs that provide the processes of thinking. According to T. Ribot, the motor effect of attention consists in the fact that some sensations, thoughts, memories receive special intensity and clarity due to the fact that motor activity is the concentration and delay of movements associated with their adjustment and control. The ability to control movements is precisely the secret of voluntary attention.

According to P. Ya. Galperin, when attention is denied along with other mental functions, this does not affect it in particular. And when attention is identified with other mental phenomena, then the real difficulties of the problem of attention, the impossibility of isolating it, already appear in this. An analysis of such difficulties leads to the conclusion that two cardinal facts underlie the most diverse views on the nature of attention.

The first one. Attention is nowhere as an independent process. It reveals itself both to oneself and to external observation as the direction, attunement and concentration of any mental activity, therefore, only as a side or property of this activity.

Second fact. Attention does not have its own separate product. Its result is the improvement of every activity to which it joins. Meanwhile, it is the presence of a characteristic product that is the main evidence of the presence of the corresponding function. Attention does not have such a product, and this is most of all against the evaluation of attention as a separate form of mental activity.

One cannot deny the significance of such facts and the legitimacy of the conclusion that follows from them and is so discouraging. We always have some kind of inner disagreement with him, and in favor of such a disagreement one could add a number of considerations about the strange and difficult position in which such an understanding of attention places us. But as long as facts are opposed to considerations, and psychology has no other sources of facts than observation, the above facts retain their absolute significance, and the denial of attention as a separate form of mental activity seems both inevitable and justified.

Let us note that this disappearance of the orienting reflex, as one gets used to it, may be a temporary phenomenon, and the slightest change in the stimulus is sufficient for the orienting reaction to arise again. This phenomenon, the occurrence of an orienting reflex with a slight change in irritation, is sometimes called the “awakening” reaction. It is characteristic that such an appearance of an orienting reflex can occur not only with an increase, but also with a weakening of the habitual stimulus and even with its disappearance. Thus, it is sufficient first to "extinguish" the orienting reflexes to rhythmically presented stimuli, and then, after the orienting reactions to each stimulus have died out as a result of habituation, to skip one of the rhythmically presented stimuli. In this case, the absence of the expected stimulus will cause the appearance of an orienting reflex.

5 Development of attention

Cultural development of attention is called that, with the help of an adult, a child learns a number of artificial stimuli-means (signs), with the help of which he further directs his own behavior and attention.

A.N. Leontiev presented the process of age-related development of attention according to the ideas of L.S. Vygotsky. with age, the child's attention improves, but the development of externally mediated attention goes much faster than its development as a whole, especially natural attention.

At school age, there is a turning point in development. It is characterized by the fact that initially externally mediated attention gradually turns into internally mediated attention, and with time this last form of attention probably occupies the main place among all kinds.

The difference in the characteristics of voluntary and involuntary attention increases, it starts from preschool age, and reaches a maximum at school age, and then again shows a tendency to equalize. This is due to the fact that in the process of its development, the system of actions that provide voluntary attention gradually turns from external into internal.

A baby from the cradle is surrounded by unknown objects that attract his attention with their brightness or unusual appearance, he also pays attention to his relatives, rejoicing at their appearance in sight or starting to cry so that they take him in their arms.

Close people pronounce words, the meaning of which the child gradually comprehends, they guide him, direct his involuntary attention. That is, his attention from an early age is directed with the help of special stimulus words.

Comprehending active speech, the child begins to control the primary process of his own attention, and first - in relation to other people, orienting their own attention to them in the right direction, and then - in relation to himself.

Initially, the processes of voluntary attention directed by the adult's speech are for the child processes of his external discipline rather than self-regulation. Gradually, using the same means of mastering attention in relation to himself, the child passes to self-control of behavior, that is, to voluntary attention.

The sequence of the main stages in the development of children's attention:

the first weeks - months of life. The appearance of an orienting reflex as an objective, innate sign of the child's involuntary attention;

end of the first year of life. The emergence of orienting-research activity as a means of the future development of voluntary attention;

the beginning of the second year of life. Detection of the rudiments of voluntary attention under the influence of the adult's speech instructions, the direction of the gaze on the object named by the adult;

second or third year of life. A fairly good development of the above initial form of voluntary attention;

four or five years. The emergence of the ability to direct attention under the influence of a complex instruction from an adult;

five or six years. The emergence of an elementary form of voluntary attention under the influence of self-instruction;

school age. Further development and improvement of voluntary attention, including volitional.

2 Main types

2.1 Types of attention

Involuntary attention, in the occurrence of which our intention does not take any part, and arbitrary, arising due to our intention, as a result of our efforts. Therefore, what is remembered is what involuntary attention is directed to, what, it is necessary to remember, is necessary in voluntary attention (see Appendix A).

Involuntary attention is a low form of attention that occurs as a result of the impact of a stimulus on any of the analyzers. It appears according to the law of the orienting reflex common to man and animals.

The emergence of involuntary attention can be caused by the peculiarity of the acting stimulus, and be determined by the correspondence of these stimuli to past experience or the psychological state of a person.

Involuntary attention can be useful at work, at home. It gives us the opportunity to timely identify the appearance of an irritant and take the necessary measures.

At the same time, involuntary attention can have a negative effect on the success of the activity performed, distracting us from the main thing in the task being solved, reducing the productivity of work in general.

The reasons for the occurrence of involuntary can be:

unexpected stimulus;

the relative strength of the stimulus;

novelty of the stimulus;

moving objects (T. Ribot singled out this factor, believing that as a result of purposeful activation of visions, concentration and increased attention on the subject occur);

contrast of objects or phenomena;

the inner state of a person.

The French psychologist T. Ribot believed that the nature of involuntary attention occurs in the deep recesses of our being. Directing the involuntary attention of a given person reveals his character, or at least his aspirations.

Based on this feature, one can conclude that a person is frivolous, banal, narrow-minded, or sincere and deep.

Arbitrary attention is possible only in a person, and it arose due to conscious labor activity. To achieve a specific goal, a person has to deal not only with what is interesting in itself, but with everything that is necessary.

Voluntary attention is more complex and is formed in the learning process: at home, at school, at work. It is characterized by the fact that it is directed to the object under the influence of our intention and goal.

The physiological mechanism of voluntary attention is the beginning of optimal excitation in the cerebral cortex, which is supported by signals that come from the second signaling system. From this one can see the role of the word of the parents or the teacher for the formation of voluntary attention in the child.

The emergence of voluntary attention in a person is historically associated with the labor process, since without controlling one's attention it is impossible to carry out conscious and planned activity.

The psychological feature of voluntary attention is its accompaniment by experiencing more and less volitional effort, stress, and prolonged maintenance of voluntary attention causes fatigue, often even more than physical stress.

It is helpful to change a strong concentration of attention with less strenuous work, by switching to easier or more interesting activities, or by creating a strong interest in a person in an activity that requires intense attention.

People make significant efforts of will, concentrate their attention, understand the content necessary for themselves, and then, without volitional tension, carefully follow the material being studied.

This attention now becomes secondarily involuntary, or post-voluntary. It will greatly facilitate the process of the condition of knowledge, and prevent the development of fatigue.

Post-voluntary attention is an active, purposeful concentration of consciousness, which does not require volitional efforts due to a high interest in activity. According to K.K. Platonov, post-voluntary attention is the highest form of voluntary attention. The work of a person absorbs him so much that interruptions in it begin to irritate him, since he has to be re-engaged in the process, to work in. Post-voluntary attention occurs in situations where the purpose of the activity is preserved, but there is no need for volitional effort.

N.F. Dobrynin argues that in this case, the direction of activity remains consistent with consciously accepted goals, but its implementation no longer requires conscious mental efforts and is limited in time only by the depletion of the body's resources.

But not all psychologists consider post-voluntary attention to be an independent type, since it resembles voluntary attention in the mechanism of occurrence, and involuntary attention in terms of the way it functions.

2 Main properties

The main properties of attention include: concentration, stability, intensity, volume, switching, distribution (see Appendix B).

Concentration of attention or concentration is the selection by consciousness of an object and directing attention to it. The role of concentrated attention is different. On the one hand, it is necessary for a more complete study of a particular object, and on the other hand, excessive concentration of attention leads to a sharp narrowing of the field of attention, which creates difficulties in the perception of other important objects.

Sustainability of attention is the length of time during which a person can maintain their attention on an object. It is needed in conditions of monotonous and monotonous work, when complex, but the same type of actions are performed for a long time.

Experiments have established that intensive forty-minute attention can be maintained arbitrarily without noticeable weakening and involuntary switching. In the future, the intensity of attention liquefies the faster, the less trained a person is and the less stable his attention is.

One of the important values ​​for achieving success in any activity is concentration and stability of attention, which characterize the depth, duration and intensity of a person's mental activity. It is they that distinguish people who are passionately passionate about their work, who are able to disconnect from numerous side stimuli for the sake of the main thing.

Even with very stable and concentrated attention, there are always short-term involuntary changes in the degree of its intensity, tension - this is a fluctuation of attention.

You can force yourself to read the same text carefully several times if you set new tasks before each repetition.

The amount of attention is the number of objects that a person can be simultaneously aware of when perceiving in connection with any one task. At the same time, you can realize 3-7 objects, although objects are different. And they don't get the same amount of attention. Much depends on the experience of a person, his professional training, which makes it possible to form a volume of attention that combines several objects into one, more complex one.

For some occupations, high intensity and a high amount of attention are needed almost all the time of work, and motor skills are of much less importance. These professions belong to the psychology of work.

High intensity of concentrated attention for other professions is needed only in some moments of work.

it is the ability to perform several actions at the same time. The distribution depends on the individual characteristics of the individual and on professional skills. No one can do two things at the same time without being able to do each separately.

The ability of a person to keep a certain number of different objects in the center of attention at the same time allows you to perform several actions at once, while maintaining the form of conscious mental activity, and the subjective feeling of the simultaneity of performing several is due to a quick sequential switch from one to another.

W. Wundt showed that a person cannot focus on two limiting stimuli at the same time. But sometimes a person is really able to perform two types of activity at the same time. In fact, in such cases, one of the activities performed must be fully automated, and do not require attention. If this condition is not met, then the combination of activities is impossible.

A large group of professions associated with the management of moving mechanisms is called driving in labor psychology. For them, such qualities of attention as a wide distribution and rapid switching, which determine the success of controlling mechanisms under conditions of multifaceted influence in the conditions of the outside world.

The physiological mechanism of the distribution of attention is related to the fact that habitual actions that do not cause any difficulties due to already developed strong systems of temporary connections can be controlled by areas of the cortex that are outside of optimal excitation.

The dynamics of any work leads to the need to constantly change the objects to which a person pays attention. This is expressed in switching attention.

Switching is the conscious process of attention from one object to another. The involuntary switching of attention is called distraction.

Physiologically, voluntary switching of attention is explained by the movement of an area with optimal excitability along the cerebral cortex. High mobility of nervous processes as an individual trait of temperament allows you to quickly move from one object to another. In such cases, it is mobile attention.

For example, if a person has insufficient mobility of nerve fibers, then this transition occurs with effort, difficultly and slowly. Such attention is called inert. When a person has poor switchability in general, this is sticky attention. Sometimes poor switching in a person is due to poor preparedness for work.

3 Absence

Absent-mindedness is the inability of a person to focus on anything specific for a long time.

There are two types of absent-mindedness imaginary and genuine. Imaginary absent-mindedness is a person's inattention to the immediate surrounding objects and phenomena, which is caused by the extreme concentration of his attention on some object.

Imaginary absent-mindedness is the result of great concentration and narrowness of attention. Sometimes it is called "professional", as it is often found in people of this category. The attention of a scientist can be so concentrated on the problem that occupies him that he does not pay attention to anything.

Absent-mindedness as a result of internal concentration does not cause much harm to the cause, but it makes it difficult for a person to orient himself in the world around him. Much worse is genuine absent-mindedness. A person suffering from absent-mindedness of this type has difficulty establishing and maintaining voluntary attention on any object or action. To do this, he needs much more willpower than an undistracted person. The voluntary attention of an absent-minded person is very unstable and easily distracted.

The causes of truly distracted attention are very different. The causes of true absent-mindedness may be a general disorder of the nervous system, anemia, diseases of the nasopharynx, which impede the flow of air into the lungs. Sometimes absent-mindedness appears as a result of physical and mental fatigue and overwork, any difficult experiences.

One of the reasons for true absent-mindedness is overload with a lot of impressions. Therefore, children should not be allowed to go to the cinema, the theater often during school hours, take them to visit, and be allowed to watch TV every day. Scattered interests can also lead to genuine absent-mindedness.

Many students enroll in several circles at once, take books from many libraries, are fond of collecting and at the same time do nothing seriously. The reason for true absent-mindedness can also be the wrong upbringing of the child in the family: the lack of a regime in the classroom, entertainment and recreation of the child, the fulfillment of all his whims and more. Boring teaching, which does not awaken thought, does not affect feelings, does not require effort of will, is one of the sources of absent-mindedness of students.

4 Psychologist in KRO classes

The concentration of correctional and developmental education (CRO) in schools, which includes the principle of complex diagnostics, correction and rehabilitation of children with persistent learning difficulties, was developed at the ICP RAO and approved by the RF Ministry of Defense in 1994. The KRO system is a form of differentiation that allows solving the problems of modern active assistance to children with learning difficulties and adaptation to school.

One of the main places in the KRO system is given to the psychologist. The work of a psychologist in the KRO system is not just to provide psychological assistance, support for children with learning difficulties. This is the psychological support of children at all stages of education as a complex process of interaction, the result of which should be the creation of conditions for the development of the child, mastering his activities and behavior, for the formation of readiness for life self-determination, including personal, social and professional aspects.

Producing psychological support for the educational process in the KRO system, the psychologist conducts individual and group preventive, diagnostic, consultative, corrective work with students; expert, advisory, educational work with teachers and parents on the development, education and upbringing of children in a general education institution; participates in the work of the psychological-medical-pedagogical council of the educational institution.

The work of a psychologist in the KRO system cannot proceed in isolation from the work of other specialists of a general education institution. A collegial discussion of the results of the examination by all PMPK specialists makes it possible to develop a unified idea of ​​the nature and characteristics of the child's development, to determine his developmental defects.

Conclusion

So, with the help of our research, we found out that attention is the concentration of the subject's activity at a given moment in time on some real or ideal object. Attention also characterizes the consistency of various links in the functional structure of an action, which determines the success of its implementation. The range of problems in the study of attention emerged as a result of the differentiation of the broader philosophical concept of apperception. In the developments of Wundt, this concept was attributed to the processes through which a clear awareness of the content of the perceived and its integration into the integral structure of past experience is carried out. A significant contribution to the development of ideas about attention was made by the Russian psychologist Lange, who developed the theory of volitional attention. Like the French psychologist Ribot, he connected attention with the regulation of ideomotor movements.

There are three types of attention. The simplest and genetically initial is involuntary attention. It is passive. The physiological manifestation of this fork of attention is the orienting reaction. If the activity is carried out in line with the conscious intentions of the subject and requires volitional efforts on his part, then they speak of arbitrary attention. As the operational and technical side develops due to its automation and the transition of actions into operations, as well as as a result of changes in motivation, the so-called post-voluntary attention may appear.

Among the characteristics of attention, determined by experimental studies, are selectivity, volume, stability, the possibility of distribution and switchability.

In modern psychology, a theory of attention has been developed as a function of internal control over the correspondence of mental actions to programs for their implementation (P. Ya. Galperin). The development of such control improves the effectiveness of any activity, in particular its systematic formation, allows you to overcome some defects in attention, such as absent-mindedness.

Glossary

No. p / n Concept Definition 1 Attention is the focus of the subject's activity at a given point in time on some real or ideal object 2 Concentration of attention<#"justify">List of sources used

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