Introduction to attention in the classroom

Attention has been defined by Gazzaniga (2002) as "a cognitive brain mechanism that enables one to process relevant input thoughts, or actions while ignoring irrelevant or distracting ones." According to Gazzaley (2011) and Zanto & Gazzaley (2009) attention is seen as an important cognitive function which is essential for information processing and becomes the platform in which processes such as perception, understanding, and working memory, long term memory, comprehension and reasoning, and general fluid intelligence (Braver and Barch, 2002; Gray, Chabris and Braver, 2003). It has been suggested by Laureys and Tononi (2009) that attention has an important role in the learning process due to its influence of brining whatever information is being discussed to the individuals own consciousness which leads to conscious processing (Styles, 1997). Attention is the filtering mechanism that allows us to select information and to adjust processing and has been mentioned by Laureys and Tononi (2009) that when paying attention to a certain object or information, people become conscious of the objects or information’s attributes but as soon as attention is shifted to away from the objects or information consciousness regarding that which was attended to disappears from the consciousness. However, Cowan, Elliott, and Shelton (2008) have a different view and went against this idea by suggesting that not everything being attended to is available to consciousness, or vice versa, they suggest that any information being attended to is not always under the control of attentional processes, and attention can be often directed towards input that remains outside of consciousness. Dean (2006) and Engle (2002) mention that attention is related to working memory and by having greater working memory capacity the ability to be attentive in avoiding distractions improves. This relationship between attention control and working memory has been suggested to be reflected in students' academic achievement in terms of their comprehension and recall ability (Dean, 2006). According to Schweizer (2010) there are multiple kinds of attention which sit within the term executive attention, those being sustained attention which requires continuous mental effort that is applied over time, selective attention or focused attention which is where the capacity to remain attentive to a single stimulus where there are several other stimuli are occurring at the same time. There is controlled attention, which refers individual's capacity to choose what they pay attention to and what they ignore, divided attention, which refers to the ability to divide the attentional resources according to the demands of different processing tasks, and spatial attention, which requires the ability to locate a target appearing in an unexpected location in contrast to an expected location. In today’s classroom according to Kruschke (2000) Selective and sustained attention are being suggested are the most significant aspect in learning because it helps students to focus only on what is important over a given period. Research by Posner and Peterson (1990) have identified three subsystems related to attention. The first sub system is the alerting system which can be defined by achieving and maintaining an alert state, the second subsystem is the orienting or selecting system which is selection of information from sensations, stimuli, responses, memories or thoughts and finally the executive control system which is responsible for resolving conflict among responses as well as prioritizing among responses Engle & Redick (2006) have suggested that each of these types is independent from one another because each one serves different attention functions. Humans are seen to have limited information processing capacity: for example, we could never be able to deal with of all the inputs that flood into our processing systems from our senses and memory, and even if we were, we have limitation in the number of the responses we can make Pashler (1998). Four theories that have been developed concerning attention (Allport, 1987). The first of these is the Single-channel filter which suggest that: (a) the filter selects for physical characteristics, (b) information goes through a limited capacity channel that is all or none (thus, only selected messages will be available for later processing; unselected messages will not; also, people cannot pay attention to more than one source, because the channel is limited), (c) the filter is consciously controlled, and (d) interpretation (semantic processing) happens only after information has been filtered (Dertouzos, 1998). Central resource capacity which looks at the capacity limits of the central pool of resources are flexible. This means that the amount of available attention can be modified depending on conditions related to: (a) The individual - stimulation level differs within and between individuals (b) The tasks - attentional demands vary across tasks and (c) The circumstances i. Involuntary attention to innovation, meaningfulness ii. Selective attention to specific aspects of situation (Kanheman, 1973). Multiple resource capacity is according to Wickens (1992) proposed 3 sources of information processing capacity: (a) Input and output modalities - e.g., vision, hearing, limbs, speech (b) Stages of information processing - e.g., perception, memory encoding, response output and (c) Codes of information processing - e.g., spatial codes, verbal codes. Finally, the Action-selection approach the key idea behind resource theory is the idea of mental energy. There is a major difficulty in defining mental energy, capacity, or resources (Allport, 1992). Allport (1992) hypothesized that attentional mechanisms have been developed to fulfil functional purposes - to meet the requirements of goal-directed behaviour. However, what these theories do not mention in the span of attention that is seen within those involved within attentive task. Research is highlighting that a student’s attention will normally begin to wain after 10 – 15mins (Wilson and Korn, 2007) or a little as 8 minutes (Risko, Anderson, Sarwal, Engelhardt, & Kingstone, 2012). According to Johnston and Pericval (1976) in the first 5 minutes of a lecture a student is likely to experience a 2 – 4-minute lapse in attention as they and their peers settle, once settled students will be able to pay attention for between 10 – 18 minutes before experience another 2 – 4-minute lapse. By the end of 50-minute lecture students were observed to experience a lapse in concentration every 3 – 4 minutes. Bunce, Flens, & Neiles, (2010) and Risko, Anderson, Sarwal, Engelhardt, & Kingstone, (2012) echo the views by Johnston and Pericval (1976) and suggest that student attention lapses seem to increase as lectures progress, with lapses occurring during shorter cycles, such as every 3–4 minutes. In terms of length of lapses, students most frequently report attention lapses lasting 1 minute or less and less frequently reported 2–4- or 5-minute-long lapses (Bunce, Flens, & Neiles, 2010). In addition, Bligh (2000) and Bunce, Flens, & Neiles (2010) suggest that students are not likely to pay attention during the first minutes during a lecture when they are still settling in, nor during the last few minutes. After those first few minutes of settling, however, students are thought to pay the most attention. Many authors state the first 10 minutes of lecture are the most valuable for holding student attention, with lapses increasing after this minute mark (Bligh, 2000; Bunce, 2010; Lloyd, 1968; Johnstone & Percival, 1976).