The psychological state of involuntary attention caused by the effect. Arbitrary attention, its features, types, formation. Voluntary attention of the child. Mindfulness in all its diversity

Attention is when a person selectively directs and focuses his consciousness on an object or a particular activity. At the same time, the sensory and motor, and intellectual activity of the individual increases. Mindfulness has an organic basis, representing a special structure of the brain that ensures the functioning of this parameter and is responsible for the manifestation of the characteristics of the external plan. In the brain, special cells are responsible for mindfulness - neurons, which experts also call novelty detectors.

Why is attention needed?

Reply to this question functions performed by attention. The importance of mindfulness can be indicated by the simplest situational examples from the daily activities of a person, illustrating the work about the “scattered from Basseynaya Street”. So, carelessness can lead to erroneous actions. In some mental disorders, inattention in its extreme manifestations acts as a symptom of the disease. Inattention in children may indicate delayed developmental processes. Thus, voluntary attention may be impaired.

Psychologists distinguish the following main functions:

vigilance;
response to signals and their detection;
search functions;
selectivity;
distribution.

Vigilance is important in providing a sense of personal security. Search features are also directly related to mindfulness. So, the development of this quality through search is facilitated by such a simple school technique as working on mistakes and checking one's own work for their presence. This not only develops mindfulness, but forms involuntary attention.

Mindfulness in the field of intellectual work is important. In order to identify the degree of its formation and development, various methods are used.

In addition, in psychology, such a concept as signs of attention is used. These include pantomic features of behavior: fading, holding the breath or slowing it down, manifested in concentration on a specific object, during intellectual work. So, today among the most studied - visual attention. A sign of its manifestation is contemplation or looking at visible objects, the ability to remember their arrangement or external features. Develop children's visual attention through color or shape. The development of auditory attention is based on the ability to memorize sounds and pronunciations.

Mindfulness in all its diversity

Such a parameter as mindfulness, within the framework of psychological science also subject to classification. There are the following types of attention:

involuntary;
arbitrary;
post-voluntary.

The classification is based on the principles of consciousness of choice, its direction and regulation. It is also important to mention that the types of attention described below cannot be considered separately.

involuntary attention

In order for it to manifest itself, a person does not need to make special efforts. Some strong irritant in the form of a new one that arouses interest is enough. Key Function Involuntary attention is the ability of a person to quickly and adequately navigate with constantly changing parameters of the surrounding world, highlighting objects that are important in life, personal terms.

Involuntary attention in medicine is represented by several synonyms - passive attention or emotional. This emphasizes that the individual has no effort to focus on the object. There is a connection between the objects of attention and his emotions.

Arbitrary attention

It also has the following synonyms in the literature - active or strong-willed. This type purposeful concentration of consciousness, coupled with the efforts of the will, is characteristic. A person who has set himself a certain task and consciously develops a program to achieve it, launches his voluntary attention. And it begins to regulate the flow in the brain mental processes. The stronger the will of the individual, the more forces he will be able to mobilize to solve the tasks. Thanks to this function, a person can extract from his memory only the information necessary for this, highlighting the most important thing from the entire memory.

Based on this feature, the development of voluntary attention also works. A common person without special training is able to use it for about 20 minutes.

Post-random view

The post-arbitrary view occurs in situations where the task goes from being paramount to being mundane. An example is a student with his homework. At first, by an effort of will, he sits down for their implementation, but gradually this process becomes commonplace, and for its implementation no volitional effort is needed on his part. A post-voluntary look is a habit of something.

In terms of psychological characteristics, this type is somewhat similar to involuntary. The duration of the manifestation of post-voluntary attentiveness can be several hours. It is actively used in teaching practice, artificially introducing schoolchildren into a state of post-voluntary attention.

Other types and properties of attention

In addition to these above, related to the main ones, there are several more:

Natural attention is given to a person from birth. It is expressed in the selective response of the individual to stimuli with elements of novelty. It doesn't matter if they are internal or external. The main process that provides these types of attention, in particular their activity, is an orienting reflex;
Socially conditioned attention is the result of human education and upbringing. It has a close connection with the regulation of behavior with the help of the will and consciously selective response to the object of attention;
Direct attention - is controlled only by the object to which it is directed, and if the object of attention fully corresponds to the needs and interests of a person in this moment;
mediated attention. Its regulation occurs with the help of special means, which include gestures, words, indicating signs or objects;
Sensual attention - is part of a person's emotionality and the selective activity of his organs responsible for feelings;
Intellectual attention contacts with the direction and concentration of human thought.

The properties and manifestations of mindfulness are not subject to classification. And you can observe them in the course of intellectual activity. So, this is the ability to concentrate, switch from one type of activity to another job. Such a characteristic as intensity is also taken into account. It depends on the psychological significance and importance for the individual of intellectual or other activity.

Concentration - the ability to concentrate on a particular object for a long period of time, is one of the main signs of mindfulness.

development attention

Almost all forms of attention can be developed. This is facilitated by the educational, intellectual and labor activity of a person. At the same time, it is recommended to create conditions for it that contribute to the formation of:

intellectual work in the conditions of distracting factors, while ensuring that the person is not distracted by them;
get a person to realize that the work he masters is of social importance, and he must be responsible for the work he has done;
the distribution and volume of attention can be formed as a specific work skill or intellectual activity by simultaneously performing several actions in conditions where the pace of activity is increasing. In this way, for example, visual attention is developed. There is also a classification according to the degree of complexity of various methods.

The stability of mindfulness can be ensured by the development of the volitional qualities of the individual. Switching develops by selection special exercises. The method is often used when the development of voluntary attention is important. The only condition for learning is to do any work with high quality.

Article author: Syumakova Svetlana

Psychology. Tutorial for high school. Teplov B. M.

§23. Involuntary and voluntary attention

When a person watches an interesting movie in the cinema, his attention is directed to the screen without any effort on his part. When, walking down the street, he suddenly hears a policeman's sharp whistle close to him, he "involuntarily" pays attention to it. It is involuntary attention directed to a given object without our conscious intention and without any effort on our part.

With involuntary attention, the appearance of a site with optimal excitability in the cerebral cortex is due to directly acting stimuli.

But when a person has to tear himself away from an interesting book and engage in work that is necessary but little exciting at the moment, for example, to learn foreign words, he has to make an effort on himself to direct his attention in this direction, and, perhaps, make even more efforts to of not letting the attention wander, to keep the attention on the job. If I want to read a serious book and there is loud talk and laughter in the room, I must force myself to be attentive to my reading and not to pay attention to the talk. Such attention is called arbitrary. It differs in that a person sets himself a conscious goal to direct attention to certain subject and to achieve this goal applies, when necessary, certain efforts, diligence.

With voluntary attention, the area with optimal excitability is supported by signals coming from the second signaling system. A conscious goal, intention is always expressed in words, most often spoken to oneself (the so-called "inner speech"). Due to the temporary connections formed in the past experience, these speech signals can determine the movement of the area with optimal excitability along the cortex.

The ability to arbitrarily direct and maintain attention has developed in a person in the process of labor, since without this ability it is impossible to carry out a long and systematic labor activity. In any business, no matter how much a person loves it, there are always such aspects, such labor operations, which in themselves have nothing interesting and are not capable of attracting attention to themselves.

It is necessary to be able to voluntarily concentrate one's attention on these operations, one must be able to force oneself to be attentive also to what does not attract oneself at the moment. A good worker is one who can always focus on what is needed in the course of work.

The power of human voluntary attention can be very great. Experienced artists, lecturers, speakers know well how difficult it is to start acting, speaking or lecturing with a severe headache. It seems that with such pain it will be impossible to complete the performance. However, it is only by an effort of will to force yourself to start and focus on the content of the lecture, report or role, as the pain is forgotten and again reminds of itself only at the end of the speech.

What objects are able to attract our involuntary attention? In other words: what are the causes of involuntary attention?

These reasons are very numerous and varied, can be divided into two categories: firstly, the external features of the objects themselves and, secondly, the interest of these objects for this person.

Any very strong irritant usually attracts attention. A strong thunderclap will attract the attention of even a very busy person. In this case, the decisive factor is not so much the absolute strength of the stimulus as its relative strength in comparison with other stimuli. In a noisy factory shop, a person's voice may go unnoticed, while in the midst of the complete stillness of the night, even a faint creak or rustle can attract attention.

A sudden and unusual change also attracts attention. For example, if an old wall newspaper is removed from the wall in the classroom, which has been hanging for a long time and has already ceased to attract attention, then its absence in its usual place at first will attract attention.

The main role in attracting involuntary attention is played by the interest of the object for a given person. What is interesting?

First of all, what is closely connected with the life activity of a person and the tasks facing him, with the work that he is passionate about, with the thoughts and concerns that this work arouses in him. A person, captured by some business or some idea, is interested in everything that is connected with this business or with this idea, and, therefore, pays attention to all this. A scientist working on a problem will immediately pay attention to a seemingly small detail that escapes the attention of another person. One of the major Soviet inventors says about himself: “I am interested in the principles of all machines. I ride a tram and look out the window, how the car goes, how it turns (then I thought about the control for the cultivator). I look at all the machines, for example, the fire escape, and I see that it can be used.”

Of course, people are interested not only in what is directly related to the main business of their lives. We read books, listen to lectures, watch plays and movies that are not directly related to our work. What is required in order for them to be of interest to us?

First, they must be related in some way to the knowledge we already have; their subject should not be completely unknown to us. It is unlikely that a person who has never studied the physics of sound and understands nothing in the technology of metals can be interested in a lecture on the topic "The use of ultrasound in metallurgy."

Secondly, they should give us some new knowledge, contain something still unknown to us. A popular lecture on the topic just named will not be of interest to an ultrasound specialist, since its content is known to him in its entirety.

What is most interesting is that which gives new information about things with which we are already familiar, and especially that which gives answers to questions we already have. What is interesting is what we do not yet know, but what we already want to know. The plots of interesting, fascinating novels are usually built on this principle. The author leads the story in such a way that we are faced with a series of questions (who committed such and such an act? what happened to the hero?), and we constantly expect to receive an answer to them. Therefore, our attention is in constant tension.

Interest is the most important source involuntary attention. The interesting captivates, captures our attention. But it would be completely wrong to think that voluntary attention has nothing to do with interest. It is also guided by interests, but interests of a different kind.

If a fascinating book captures the reader's attention, then there is a direct interest, an interest in the book itself, in its content. But if a person, having set himself the goal of building a model of some apparatus, performs long and complex calculations for this, what interest is he guided by? He has no direct interest in the actual calculations. He is interested in the model, and calculations are only a means to build it. In this case, a person is guided by indirect, or, what is the same, mediated interest.

This kind of indirect interest, interest in the result, is present in almost every work that we do consciously and voluntarily; otherwise we wouldn't be making it. It's enough to get to work. But since the work itself is uninteresting, does not captivate us, we must make an effort to focus our attention on it. The less the very process of work interests and captivates us, the more necessary is voluntary attention. Otherwise, we will never achieve the desired result.

It happens, however, that work, which we first took up as a result of some indirect interest, and in which we first had to arbitrarily, with great effort to hold our attention, gradually begins to interest us. There is a direct interest in the work, and attention begins to involuntarily focus on it. This is the normal course of attention in the labor process. With the help of voluntary efforts alone, without any direct interest in the activity itself, it is impossible to work successfully for a long time, just as it is impossible to conduct long-term work on the basis of mere direct interest and involuntary attention; from time to time, the intervention of voluntary attention is necessary, because due to fatigue, the boring monotony of individual stages, all kinds of distracting impressions, involuntary attention will be weakened. So, the performance of any work requires participation and voluntary and involuntary attention, a constant alternation of them.

As a result, we can say: the central importance in the organization of attention is the tasks that life sets before us and the activities in which we are engaged. Based on these tasks, we consciously direct our voluntary attention, these same tasks determine our interests - the main engines of involuntary attention.

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involuntary attention- this is attention that arises without any intention of a person, without a pre-set goal, which does not require volitional efforts.

There is a complex set of reasons that cause involuntary attention. These reasons can be divided into various groups.

1. Features of the stimulus itself.

2. The degree of intensity of the stimulus. Any sufficiently strong stimulus - a loud sound, a bright light, a strong smell - involuntarily attracts our attention. Moreover, not only the absolute, but also the relative strength of the stimulus is important (our attention will be attracted by a slight rustle in complete silence, and the light of a match in the dark).

3. Novelty, unusual stimulus. Novelty is one of the most important features of stimuli that cause the awakening of involuntary attention. Any new irritation, as I.P. Pavlov, if it has sufficient intensity, causes an orienting reaction. Distinguish between absolute novelty (in this case, the stimulus has never been present in our experience before) and relative novelty - an unusual combination of known stimuli.

4. Weakening of the action of the stimulus and termination of its action: beacons, car direction indicators.

5. Object mobility: moving objects.

6. Compliance of external stimuli with the internal state of the organism or personality, i.e., needs.

7. Interests: one person will pass by and not notice a catchy poster about a football match, while another will pay attention to a modest announcement about an upcoming concert; a hungry person will involuntarily pay attention to everything related to food.

8. Feelings: it is well known that any irritation that causes this or that feeling attracts attention. It's called Emotional Attention.

9. Expectation: often it allows you to perceive even what, under other circumstances, a person does not notice at all.

10. Apperception - the influence of previous experience, knowledge, ideas. Even a weak stimulus will arouse the attention of a person who knows what is being said, while an ignorant person will simply not notice anything.

involuntary attention is the simplest kind of attention. It is often called passive or forced, since it arises and is maintained independently of the person's consciousness. Activity captures a person by itself because of its fascination, entertainment or surprise. Usually, a number of reasons contribute to the emergence of involuntary attention. This complex includes various physical, psychophysiological and mental causes. They are interrelated, but they can be roughly divided into four categories.

Unlike involuntary attention, main feature voluntary attention is that it is governed by a conscious purpose.

But, unlike truly involuntary attention, post-voluntary attention remains associated with conscious goals and is supported by conscious interests. At the same time, unlike voluntary attention, there is little or no volitional effort here.

Depending on the participation of the will, it can be involuntary or arbitrary. The most simple and genetically initial involuntary attention is called passive, forced, because it arises regardless of the goals facing the person. The direction and concentration of mental processes will be arbitrary if a person knows that he needs to perform certain work in accordance with the goal and decision made.

involuntary attention

Involuntary attention is the most ancient kind of attention. Its occurrence is associated with various physical, psychophysiological and mental causes, which are also closely related to each other, but for convenience they were divided into categories:

The first group of causes is associated with the nature of the external stimulus with its strength or intensity. Involuntarily, this attention will be attracted by loud sounds, bright lights, pungent odors, etc. During the day, compared to night, a person reacts less to weak sounds, rustles, because their intensity is low. At night, a person reacts very sensitively to these same sounds. Involuntary attention arises and is maintained regardless of the person's consciousness, and the reason for its occurrence always lies in the environment;
The second group of reasons is related to the correspondence of external stimuli to the internal state of a person. For example, a well-fed and hungry person reacts differently to a conversation about food;
The orientation of the personality form the third group of causes. A person pays attention most of all to the sphere of his interests, including professional interests. For example, a policeman will pay attention to a car parked incorrectly, an editor will find errors in the text of a book, an artist will notice the beauty of an old building. The general orientation of the personality, therefore, and the presence of previous experience, directly affect the occurrence of involuntary attention;
The fourth independent group of causes is related to the attitude to the stimulus. What a person is interested in causes a certain emotional reaction in him and a positive or negative feeling is developed. For example, interesting book, a pleasant interlocutor, an exciting film can rive the attention of a person for a long time, this happens by itself. I must say that unpleasant stimuli also attract attention, but neutral stimuli attract attention much less often.

Conclusion

Thus, involuntary attention has no purpose and volitional effort.

Arbitrary attention

Voluntary attention differs from involuntary attention in that it is controlled by a conscious goal and has efforts to actively maintain it. This type of attention was developed as a result of labor efforts, therefore it is often called strong-willed, active, deliberate.

For example, a person's attention is consciously directed to the decision to engage in some activity, even if it is not interesting. Voluntary attention in a sense is suppression, a struggle with involuntary attention.

Active regulation of the course of mental processes is the main function of voluntary attention, so it is qualitatively different from involuntary attention. Voluntary attention arose from involuntary in the process of conscious human activity. It can help you change your emotional state.

Arbitrary attention has social causes of its origin, it does not mature in the body, but is formed when the child communicates with adults. Selecting an object from the environment, an adult points to it and calls it a word. In response to this signal, the child repeats the word or grasps the object itself. It turns out that the given object for the child stands out from the external field.

Arbitrary attention is closely connected with speech, feelings, interests, previous experience of a person, but their influence is indirect.

The formation of voluntary attention is associated with the formation of consciousness. In a 2-year-old child, consciousness has not yet been formed, then voluntary attention is at the stage of development.

Experts identify another type of attention, which is purposeful and initially requires volitional efforts. Later, a person, as it were, "enters" the work, for him not only the result, but also the content and process of activity become significant and interesting.

Such attention N.F. Dobrynin called post-arbitrary. For example, when solving some complex problem, the student solves it only because it needs to be solved. When the right move is planned and the task becomes clear, its solution can captivate. Arbitrary attention became as if involuntary. Post-voluntary attention remains tied to conscious goals and supported by conscious interests, which distinguishes it from truly involuntary attention. Since there is no or almost no volitional effort here, it will not be similar to arbitrary attention. Post-voluntary attention is characterized by prolonged concentration, intense mental activity, high labor productivity.

Types of attention are shown in the diagram.

Mechanisms of attention

As a result of research by Soviet and foreign scientists, many new data have been obtained that reveal the neurophysiological mechanisms of the flow of attention phenomena. The essence of attention lies in the selective selection of influences. According to the data obtained, this is possible against the background of general wakefulness of the body associated with active brain activity.

In the state of wakefulness of a person, a number of stages can be distinguished. For example, gradually a deep sleep can be replaced by a drowsy state, which will turn into a state of calm wakefulness. This state is called relaxed or sensory rest. The relaxed state can be replaced by high level wakefulness - active wakefulness or wakefulness of attention, which turns into a state of sharp emotional excitement, fear, anxiety - this is the so-called excessive wakefulness.

In a state of increased wakefulness, active selective attention is possible, but concentration difficulties arise both against the background of relaxed and against the background of excessive wakefulness. Such changes in wakefulness are continuous and are a function of the levels of activity of nervous processes. Any nervous activation is expressed in increased wakefulness, and its indicator is a change in the electrical activity of the brain.

In various orienting reactions, a transition from calm wakefulness to alertness of attention is manifested. These reactions are very complex and are associated with the activity of a significant part of the organism. This guideline includes:

External movements;
Changing the sensitivity of certain analyzers;
Change in the nature of metabolism;
Changes in cardiac, vascular and galvanic skin reactions;
Change in the electrical activity of the brain.

The physiological basis of attention, therefore, is the general activation of brain activity, but it does not explain the features of the selective flow of attention processes.

For clarification physiological foundations attention great importance has the principle of dominance A.A. Ukhtomsky, according to which the brain always has a dominant focus of excitation. All excitations that go to the brain, he attracts to himself and dominates them.

Such a focus arises not only as a result of the strength of this stimulus, but also the internal state of the entire nervous system.

In the regulation of higher voluntary forms of attention, according to many researchers, the frontal lobes of the brain also play an important role.

According to modern data, thus, attention processes are associated with both the cortex and subcortical formations, only their role in the regulation of different forms of attention is different.

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

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

Sometimes involuntary attention can be useful, both at work and at home, it gives us the opportunity to timely identify the appearance of an irritant and take the necessary measures, and facilitates inclusion in habitual activities.

But 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. For example, unusual noises, shouts, and flashes of light during work distract our attention and interfere with concentration.

Causes of involuntary attention

Causes of involuntary attention may be:

The unexpectedness of the stimulus.

The relative strength of the stimulus.

The novelty of the stimulus.

moving objects. T. Ribot singled out precisely this factor, believing that as a result of purposeful activation of movements, concentration and increased attention to the subject occur.

The contrast of objects or phenomena.

The inner state of a person.

The French psychologist T. Ribot wrote that the nature of involuntary attention is rooted 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, we can conclude that this person is frivolous, banal, limited, or sincere and deep. A beautiful landscape attracts the artist's attention, acting on his aesthetic sense, while a local resident sees only something ordinary in the same landscape.

Arbitrary attention

If you tell me what you pay attention to, then I can determine whether you are a pragmatist or a highly spiritual person. Here we are talking about another kind of attention - arbitrary, deliberate, active.

If animals also have involuntary attention, then voluntary attention is possible only in humans, and it arose due to conscious labor activity. To achieve a certain goal, a person has to do not only what is in itself interesting, pleasant, entertaining, to do not only what he wants, but also what is necessary.

Arbitrary attention is more complex and peculiar only to a person is formed in the learning process: in everyday life, 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. Everything is simple here, you need to set a goal: "I need to be attentive, and I will force myself to be attentive, no matter what," and stubbornly go towards this goal.

Physiological mechanism of voluntary attention

The physiological mechanism of voluntary attention is the focus of optimal excitation in the cerebral cortex, supported by signals coming from the second signaling system. Hence, the role of the words of parents or the teacher for the formation of voluntary attention in the child is obvious.

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