Focusing on Attention
by Freeman Chakara, Psy.D.
Neuropsychologist
A few months ago I was having a conversation with the frustrated father of a 15-year-old young man. He was trying to find a way to get his son to finish mowing the lawn (a 20-minute job) without running off to ride dirt bike with his friends. The father asked me, "Why would you even ask me if my son has any problems with attention? Of course not! That kid can play video games for two hours straight...skateboard around the neighborhood with his friends until it is time for bed. His problem is that he just doesn't listen to what we say, and he doesn't follow through on anything that he starts." This father is not alone in his the way he understands and explains attention. There are many parents who identify with the frustration he feels when he thinks that his son is motivationally challenged. While it might be true that his son could have benefited from a motivational speech, I was struck by some of the ways he, and (truth be known), most of us describe the concept of attention. In the interest of reducing parental anxiety, I have undertaken to define several kinds of attention and how to recognize these features in everyday activities. With such recognition, care providers can take active roles in getting the appropriate professional help for their children.
Allan Mirsky and Russell Barkley are recognized for their individual contributions to our current understanding of attention and the difficulties associated with it (please see references at end of article). Researchers in Neuropsychology (a discipline that studies the relationship between behavior and the brain) have identified four main types of attention. Attention may be described as: 1. Focus-execute, 2. Encode, 3. Sustain, and 4. Shift. Others have suggested that divided attention makes up the fifth element; however, it can easily be accounted for by focused attention.
Focused attention refers to the ability to attend to one target item from among a group of unrelated items. Others have referred to this type of attention as the ability to scan through several items, selecting to focus on just particular aspects. The following example from two preschoolers may be helpful. Kate and Josh's parents decide to take the kids for a 5-minute drive to the mall. In an attempt to avoid boredom, Josh (5) says to Kate (4), "Let's count the number of red cars that we will see on the way to the mall." These children are engaged in a task of focused attention. In other words, although they will likely pass several cars on their way, their attention, for about five minutes, is strictly focused on identifying and announcing only the red vehicles.
Encode attention has to do with holding information "online" while performing a mental task on it. In this kind of attention, one is holding information in a kind of short-term (seconds) store while manipulating it at the same time. Others refer to this as working memory because the brain is actively manipulating this incoming information in order to produce an appropriate response. We all have had the experience of hearing a phone number for the first time and being asked to immediately repeat it. What is important about encode attention is that it requires the following: 1. holding onto information while manipulating it, and 2. reproducing that information, in the same or different form. Take, for instance, the following conversation between a teacher and her pupil. "When you get home, I would like you to give this note to your mother, read the fourth chapter of your Geography book, and call two other students in your group to discuss your skit for next week. Please do this before I call you at 6:00 tonight." If the teacher immediately says, "tell me the things I asked you to do in order," she is tapping the student's encode attention.
Sustained attention is often described as vigilance or the ability to maintain alertness for an appreciable period of time. We will illustrate this kind of attention from a speeding violation. Image a police officer that is asked to issue citations to motorists driving faster than 35 miles per hour on an infrequently used country road. Since this road is used by very few drivers, most of whom travel much slower than the posted speed limit, the officer would have to rely on his sustained attention in order to spot a vehicle, particularly a speeding one! In the experience of children, and some adults, difficulties with sustained attention are often displayed as distractive behaviors.
Finally attention shift refers to the ability to change the focus of attention in a flexible and adaptive manner. A simple example may be drawn from common errors on tests. Let us suppose that little Jim is given a 20 question Math test, in which the first 5 problems require multiplication, the next 5 are addition, the next 5 are subtraction, and the final 5 are division. If he applies multiplication throughout the twenty questions, his failure to switch to addition, subtraction, and division, as required, reflects poor shift of attention (among other difficulties).
Studies have shown that there are different brain regions that are responsible for the control each type of attention. In addition, attention difficulties in children and adults, show up in various forms depending on the type of attention compromised. This is why attention deficit disorders cannot be thought of simply as one type of attentional difficulty. More importantly, although motivation is a possible explanation for why children under-perform in their schoolwork, it is very important that we understand the contribution of attention to their academic difficulties.
Dr. Freeman M. Chakara is a Neuropsychologist at the Providence Behavioral Health. His work mainly involves assessment of brain functioning through observation and specialized testing. While he focuses on the neuropsychological disorders of children, he is trained to work with adults as well. Thus, individuals who are experiencing difficulties in thinking as well as behavior, whether children or adults, are encouraged to contact our office for a neuropsychological consultation.
References:
Mirsky, A.F., Anthony, B.J., Duncan, C.C., Ahearn, M.B., & Kellam, S.G. (1991).
Analysis of the elements of attention: A neuropsychological Approach. Neuropsychology R
Review, 2, 109-145
Barkley, R.A. (1995). The Assessment of Attention in Children. In Lyon, G.R. (Ed.),
Frames of Reference in the Assessment of Learning Disabilities (Pp. 69-102). Baltimore, MD: Paul. H. Brookes.