What is Attention?
Attention is focusing and processing information from our surroundings.
There are four main types of attention that we use in our daily lives:
- Sustained Attention: The ability to attend to a task for extended periods of time without losing focus or concentration. Like working on a project, listening to a lecture, reading a book, playing a video game, or fixing a car.
- Selective Attention: The ability to focus and concentrate on a task even when distractions are present. Like Listening to a friend at a loud party.
- Divided Attention: The ability to divide focus between two tasks and complete them simultaneously. Like talking on the phone when surfing the web or texting while you are trying to talk to someone in front of you.
- Alternating Attention: The ability to shift focus from one task to another efficiently and effectively. Like Reading a recipe and preparing a meal.