Involuntary (passive) attention This type of attention is activated and maintained without the person's will. E.g.1, it is difficult not to turn around when you hear a loud noise or notice a bright flash of light. Involuntary attention manifests itself as an orientating response to an unexpected stimulus. As a rule, involuntary attention is not maintained for a long period of time.
Voluntary attention if a person's attention is connected with an objective, it is voluntary. It is active and targeted. E.g., you've decided to learn more about attention and are currently reading this text. Voluntary attention is developed throughout a person's education and work, because systematic conscious activity is impossible without attention control.
Post-voluntary attention if a person makes an attempt and focuses his attention on some important activity, he will be able to continue it without effort after a while. E.g., studying for a difficult exam for the whole day. First, his attention is voluntary and then it turns into involuntary attention. It is based on automation of mental activities and change in motivation.
Attention Characteristics. Basic characteristics of attention are attention span, concentration, stability, ability to switch, distribution, and selectivity.
Attention span is a number of objects a person can clearly perceive at a time. According to the tests, attention span cannot be developed and is generally limited to 6-7 elements. For example, some pilots were trained to find low targets during low altitude flights (below 100 meters). It was proven to be impossible, because both piloting and search required maximum concentration. Attention refused to split and long training sessions had no effect.
Attention concentration is a person's concentration degree on some object or activity. Attention concentration is an indicator of attention depth and determines a person's ability to work in unfavorable conditions. Concentration heavily depends on interest and motivation. When you read a thrilling story or watch an interesting movie you forget everything around you.
Ability to switch (alternating attention) is transition of your attention from one object to another due to a selection of a new goal. Ability to switch attention is the reverse side of concentration. The more focused you are, the harder it is to switch. Borodin, a famous composer and chemist, once was holding a dinner at home and after he had become tired he said goodbye to everybody explaining that he needed to go, because he was reading a lecture the following day, and went to the anteroom2 to get his coat.
Attention distribution (divided attention, multi-tasking) personal ability to focus your attention on several objects or perform several tasks simultaneously. There is a reason to believe that the feeling of simultaneity comes from very quick switching from one activity to another. An average person can distribute his attention on several automated activities. For example, you can drive a car, talk to your friend, and eat a pie at the same time as long as the situation is unstrained. You wouldn't try doing that on a slippery road.
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Attention stability (sustained attention) is how long you can stay focused on the object. Stability is the duration of voluntary attention. It is defined by the period of time you can keep your attention at its initial quality level. Stability depends on your physical state, interest, and motivation. You can cope with interesting work in the morning better than with boring stuff in the evening when you are tired.
Attention selectivity (selective attention) is the ability to pick certain objects out of a wide object range. Selectivity is an ability to sort objects, turn some of them into figures and the others into background. Your selectivity is influenced by your emotional state and information's relevance to your needs. When you are starving all the café signs on your way keep catching your eye, but you don't pay much attention to them when you are not hungry.
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1 E.g. for example
2 anteroom ['æntɪruːm]
3. Translate the words of the same root:
to attend, attention, attentive, attentiveness
to require [ 
], requirement, requiring
to perform, performance
target, targeted
to switch, switching
to perceive, perception
selection, selectivity, to select
distribution, to distribute, distributor
4. Mind the pronunciation:
objective [əbˈʤɛktɪv], target [ˈtɑːgɪt], conscious activity [ˈkɒnʃəs ækˈtɪvɪti], to require [tuː rɪˈkwaɪə], attention depth [əˈtɛnʃ(ə)n dɛpθ], multi-tasking [ˈmʌltɪ-ˈtɑːskɪŋ], simultaneously [ˌsɪməlˈteɪnjəsli].
5. Do the matching:
| to turn perception to cope with mental to pay to require without the person's | o interesting work o around o activities o maximum concentration. o will o of objects o attention |
6. Answer the questions using essential vocabulary of the topic. Get prepared for the interview on the topic.
1) What Is Attention?
2) What types of attention do you know?
3) What type of attention is activated without the persons will?
4) Can you describe voluntary attention?
5) What does post-voluntary attention mean?
6) What attention characteristics are there?
7) What are the limits or attention span?
8) If you drive a car, talk to your friend, and eat a pie at the same time, what characteristic of attention do you use?
9) What characteristics of attention will you need to get prepared for an exam?
10) Can you explain, what is attention selectivity?
7. Read the text and try to translate it without a dictionary
