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The secret of attention: Why can we focus on only a few objects at the same time?
In our daily lives, we often find that while processing a large amount of information, it is difficult to fully focus on one thing. Multitasking at work, school, or social situations forces us to spread our attention, but according to research in psychology and neuroscience, this practice often affects our efficiency and performance.
Attention is the process by which the mind focuses in a clear and vivid form on one of several objects or thought processes that appear to be available simultaneously.
Psychology master William James once discussed the nature of attention in depth and pointed out that the core of attention lies in the selective concentration of specific information. It can even be said that attention is the allocation of our limited cognitive processing resources, which makes us have to go through a process called "attention bottleneck" when observing and understanding the surrounding environment. The amount of information the human brain can process per second is limited, which makes our attention even more precious. If the visual input data per second is regarded as a busy data stream, then in fact less than 1% of the information can enter our "attention bottleneck". Therefore, this phenomenon often leads to what we call "unconscious blindness".
When it comes to the study of attention, many scholars start from different disciplines, such as education, psychology, neuroscience, etc. Scholars in these fields continue to explore the sources of attention, including the generation of sensory cues and signals and their impact on processes such as wisdom development and psychological sensitivity.
The study of attention is not only the pursuit of our cognitive operations, but also a reflection of culture and social psychology.
As time goes by, the definition of attention gradually shifts from the field of philosophy to the study of scientific methods. Psychologists began using positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) techniques in the 1990s to observe brain activity when humans focus on tasks. The advancement of these technologies has prompted researchers to think in the field of neuroscience and refocused attention research on currently known brain area networks, such as the anterior temporoparietal attention network. The operation of these brain regions is crucial to understanding the dynamics of human attention.
Interestingly, cultural differences in attention are also increasingly being recognized. There may be significant differences in how attention is expressed and managed in different cultural backgrounds. For example, in some Aboriginal societies, children are more likely to demonstrate the ability to pay attention simultaneously, which is closely related to their social interaction styles and learning methods.
The division of attention is not only a cognitive ability, but also a social and cultural response pattern.
In psychology, the concept of selective attention is very important. Research shows that when we receive information from multiple sources, our brains allocate this information into its working memory, and this process can be affected by many factors, including mood, cognitive load and task difficulty . Many studies have also shown that when multitasking, the human attention system is often severely limited, resulting in increased error rates and reduced efficiency.
Comparing research on selected attention and allocated attention, when we try to perform multiple tasks at the same time, such as answering the phone or sending and receiving text messages while driving, the real question is whether our attention resources can be well allocated. In fact, until now, the scientific community's understanding of multitasking is still being explored, and the latest research points out that whether it is listening to loud music or talking on the phone, the demand for attention can affect our performance.
Finally, while discussing attention, we should also think about how to use this knowledge to improve concentration in life and work. For future topics, can we break through our current limitations on attention and further understand how to fully realize our cognitive potential?
