Attention is a skill. As part of the BrainHQ training, there is an entire category related to attention. It is the first step in memory, and in the learning process. It is easier to pay attention when you are interested, but difficult when you are tired or sick. Not paying attention can have consequences, so it pays to improve your attention skills.

In this lesson, we will review what we have learned about attention, and then look at some of the newer studies on attention.

A good attention span must:

· Quickly identify and focus on what is important

· Sustain attention while monitoring additional information and ignoring things that are not important

· Access non active memories which may be important

· Shift attention when new information arrives

Attention begins with information from the outside world received via your sensory receptors. This is passive. Your brain searches the stimuli for what is important to pay attention to. The attention will then shift between the sensory inputs to our internal memory and interests. This updates long term memories and strengthens the neural networks.

Paying attention requires that you have a focus while ignoring stimuli. Distractions such as what is going on around you or your emotional status will distract from the ability to pay attention. Emotional distractions are the most disruptive. If the mind is negative and focused on self-centered thoughts, paying attention can be very difficult.

When we pay attention, groups of neurons fire at once, coming from the inferior frontal junction of the brain. These neurons allow the important information to be heard while decreasing the input of unnecessary information.

Attention is also regulated by neurotransmitters, which fluctuate in 90-minute cycles across 24 hours. As a rule, neurotransmitters are highest in the morning, gradually decline in the afternoon and reach their lowest level by midnight.

ADD and ADHD are examples of dysfunctional attention process. They have been the product of quite a bit of research, as the number of cases has skyrocketed in recent years. We will look at some of the more recent research in this lesson.

Attention training improves intelligence and functioning of children’s brain

This study begins with the premise that being able to regulate attention is crucial to intelligence and learning, so it looked at an intervention of a computer-based attention-training intelligence.

The results showed that children who took part in the attention-tracking intervention improved their intelligence score and brain function related to attention control.

The study also highlighted the benefits of brain training. There are even more benefits when a coaching strategy design is used to help the child understand their training process. They concluded that the most effective strategies are those where the educator helps the child to reflect on his or her learning process. Educating about attention can improve intelligence and prepare term of formal learning in school.

Bottom line: Brain training and education about the learning process was shown to improve intelligence and prepare for learning. (Pozuelos, 2018)

Details of information processing in the brain revealed

New research shows that when you are paying attention to something, the information is processed in a continuous manner. But, when trying to ignore something (like a distraction) we perceive and experience information in waves or frames, similar to a movie. Researchers found that the two processes interact with one another.

The reason lies in the brain. The brain oscillates at many different frequencies, and each frequency has a different role.

For example, 12 hertz alpha oscillations occur when inhibiting or ignoring a stimulus. This allows us to focus while ignoring others. If you are in a movie theater, the alpha waves lock into the dialog on the screen and the brain can better process things that occur within the movie.

This study shows that this happens more in places we are ignoring. We have so much information and stimulation at once, our brains have to select the useful information and ignore the rest. Now we know that the ability to do this lies in the oscillations of the brain.

Future research will involve stimulating the brain at different alpha frequencies to better understand brain function. An example of this would be a real-world situation like riding a bike. In this case, there are many things that you must pay attention to but additional things you can ignore. Researchers are working to develop novel and portable technologies to improve attention and performance in everyday life.

Bottom line: Brain oscillations are what enable us to ignore some stimuli while paying attention to others. (Sayeed, 2016)

How visual attention selects important information

In the previous study, researchers identified brain oscillations which allow us to ignore some stimuli. This study looks at visual processing and how that information is facilitated and unimportant information is ignored. An example of this is finding your friend in a crowd.

This report describes evidence for the attention at the early stage and selection or inhibition at a later stage of visual processing. Analyzing electroencephalogram (EEG) readings at different stages in an attention experiment, the researchers then compared the results during a steady state visual experience and an event related experience. They found that the steady state experience showed broad tuning, while the event showed narrow tuning. This can be attributed to spatial attention at the early and late stages of visual processing. You might interpret this to suggest that during the early state (when you are looking for your friend in the crowd), the brain is using multiple sources for attention gathering, while in the later state (when you are talking with your friend), the brain is narrowing its attention ability.

This was helpful because research has not been consistent with results on how the brain directs attention. Knowing that the brain responds differently if you are at the beginning of your visual attention phase (looking for someone in the crowd) than if you are at the end of the visual attention phase (talking with that person). The group proposed a model of spatial attention that has two stages with different functions. This model can predict different attention affects for different visual processes.

A practical application would be in driving, where you need to focus not only on the road but on pedestrians, other cars, the environment, etc.

Bottom line: The brain performs differently as you begin to focus your visual attention on something than when you are near the end of that focus. This helps us to recognize that there are stages of attention with different functions. Developing a model will help researchers pinpoint the functions of the brain in various scenarios, and may assist in helping to understand what is involved in attention-demanding conditions. (University, 2016)

Strategic studying limits the costs of divided attention

This was an interesting study. We talk about multitasking, and whether it can affect attention and memory. In this study, they looked at multitasking while studying. Although you may be past the studying phase, this can be useful in understanding how much multitasking can affect your memory.

Researchers began with the assumption that dividing attention wasn’t necessarily a good thing for learning and recall. However, they did learn that distracted participants were just as likely to remember the most important information as participants who gave the presented information their full attention. Prioritizing high-value information was found to be immune to divided attention, regardless of distractions faced by participants.

Previous research has shown that learners can compensate for limitations of memory by prioritizing certain information and sacrificing other information as they study. This requires cognitive resources for the learner. The study found that when participants adjusted their studying to compensate for the distractions, they were able to pay attention to the most important items.

Researchers concluded that distractions are common, and it is seldom that we are able to give our full attention to a topic. Multi-tasking and distractions may still affect how we prioritize information, but it doesn’t suggest that you are automatically doomed if there are distractions. When faced with this, we tend to allocate our resources to the highest priority.

Bottom line: When faced with distractions, we prioritize what is important. Fortunately, this can mean successful results when you are faced with an important task to remember. (Science, 2017)

First risk genes for ADHD found

Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common mental disorders affecting children. It also affects many adults. Symptoms include inattention (lack of focus) hyperactivity (excess movement) and impulsivity (doing without thinking). Children diagnosed with ADHD are medicated and will often include psychotherapy to help improve focus and attention. Given the prevalence of ADHD, this has been a topic of much research. This particular study identified for the first time genetic variants which may increase the risk of ADHD. Researchers from the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium compared genetic variation among 20,000 people with ADHD and 35,000 without it. They found twelve locations where a particular genetic variant had an increased risk of ADHD compared to those who did not.

This provides insight into the biology behind developing ADHD. Some of the genes have significance for how brain cells communicate with each other, while others are important for cognitive functioning like language and learning.

Another interesting finding is that the results were not limited to ADHD. Some of same genetic variants that were seen in ADHD participants were found to be present in the general population. The difference between having the genes and developing ADHD is related to the number of risk variants a person has.

Researchers also looked at ADHD and education, and found a negative genetic correlation. They found that on average, genetic variants which increase the risk of ADHD also influence performance in the educational system. This would explain the difficulty in school performance for the child.

They also discovered a positive correlation between ADHD and obesity, increased BMI and type-2 diabetes, which suggests that the variants that increase the risk of ADHD also increase the risk of being overweight and developing type-2 diabetes.

Bottom line: ADHD and attention in general may be related to your genetic variants. This helps researchers to clarify how genetic risks with environmental risks can cause ADHD, which will then help to improve treatment. (University A. , 2018)

Brain attention control deficits in adult ADHD

While the previously mentioned study looked at genetic variants in ADHD, this study wanted to find out how ADHD affects the brain functions associated with attention control while in various multi-tasking or divided attention scenarios. Using fMRI, all participants had overlapping brain activity in the frontoparietal salience and the default-mode networks, as well as the somato-motor, cerebellar and striatal areas. (Don’t worry, we will learn more about these various areas of the brain in subsequent topics). In the ADHD participants, exclusive activity enhancement was found in attention control functions.

When facing auditory-focused attention, higher activation was found in the sensory cortical areas and in the default-mode network. The default-mode network activity also increased during divided attention in the ADHD. When irrelevant stimulation was applied to the participants, an increase in the salience network was observed. And when irrelevant distractions were provided, the dorsal attention networks and cerebellum were activated.

Bottom line: Depending on the attention challenge (auditory, divided attention, irrelevant stimulation and irrelevant distractions), different areas of the brain are activated. Understanding this may help researchers to develop ways of improving areas of the brain connected to attention in adults with ADHD. (Salmi, 2018)

Attention is a skill which must be practiced if you want to improve it. However, we have learned that some of the factors involving attention may be wired in your brain. According to recent research, these include:

· Understanding what is happening in the brain, and how that affects your attention.

· Brain rhythms and oscillations are involved when looking at different facets of attention (zoning out of some things, while concentrating on others). Alpha waves seem to be behind these rhythms.

· Your brain responds different depending on where you are in the visual attention spectrum. When you are initially paying attention, there is a broad amount of activation, while when you are focused, it is narrower. (Remember finding a person in a crowd versus talking with that person.)

· Prioritizing information to pay attention to is a thing! It is possible to multi-task and still remember important details.

· ADHD seems to have some genetic similarities, which will help diagnose and treat attention disorder in the future.

· Depending on the type of attention needed, different areas of the brain may be activated.

Research is continual with attention. In these days of distracted driving, multitasking and ADHD diagnoses, research should help treat attention disorders and perhaps to help all of us improve our attention skills.

Pozuelos, J. P. (2018). Metacognitive scaffolding boosts cognitive and neural benefits following executive attention training in children. Developmental Science. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/12/181211103108.htm

Salmi, J. e. (2018, August 1). Out of focus - Brain attention control deficits in adult ADHD. Retrieved from ncbi.nlm.nih.gov: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29702087

Sayeed, A. D. (2016, December 12). Power and Phase of Alpha Oscillations Reveal an Interaction between Spatial and Temporal Visual Attention. Retrieved from ScienceDaily.com: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/12/161212134625.htm

Science, A. f. (2017, June 21). Strategic studying limits the costs of divided attention. Retrieved from ScienceDaily.com: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170621082442.htm

University, A. (2018, November 11). First risk genes for ADHD found. Retrieved from ScienceDaily.com: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/11/181128115024.htm

University, T. (2016, November 15). How visual attention selects important information. Retrieved from ScienceDaily.com: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161115094635.htm