What Is Attention?

Attention is such a fundamental concept that discussing what it means seems pointless. However, any fundamental concept always carries with it misconceptions perpetuated through tradition. It seems most fitting to start with these misconceptions and then move on to the implications of their dispelling.

1. Attention is not continuous.

An experiment done by Bunce et al. (2010) in the chemistry department at the Catholic University of America was designed to answer three questions regarding student attention:

1. How often do students report attention lapses during a 50-minute lecture?
2. How long are these attention lapses?
3. What possible pedagogical influences are there on the lapses?

For six weeks, students were asked to use a clicker whenever they noticed themselves distracted and inattentive. The clicker had three buttons signifying varying lengths of time they were “gone” for 1 minute or less, 2-3 minutes, or 5 minutes and more. The clicker data was collected every 30 seconds throughout the lectures, allowing Bunce et al. (2010) to see when the lapses occurred for the students. So what did they find?

Firstly, attention is not kept for the entire 50 minutes. No student using the clicker could hold attention for even 10-20 minutes, let alone 50 minutes. Some students even reported lapses in attention within the first 30 seconds of the lecture.

Secondly, attention is a cyclical process. Students would be engaged in a state of attention, switch to inattention, and then back to attention. These cycles occurred consistently throughout the lecture, but their length varied over the class duration. The time between inattentive periods became shorter and shorter the more time passed. Students would become less capable of holding their attention later in the class, being forced to abandon their longer periods of attention and instead be in a state of almost constant jumping between attention and inattention.

Thirdly, using student-centered pedagogical techniques leads to less reported inattention and increases attention afterward. When teachers performed demonstrations or assigned questions for the students to answer with clickers, fewer students would indicate lapses of attention. Furthermore, fewer students reported lapses in attention for the lecture section following demonstrations, indicating that students were more focused on the student-centered techniques and could maintain that increased attention.

2. Attention is not one thing

We often conceptualize attention as one thing, imagining the attentive student who maintains eye contact with you, nods their head in agreement, and laughs at your very funny jokes. However, the student who is avoiding your gaze, seemingly distant and lost, might also be attentive in a different way.

Keller et al. (2020) discuss the existence of a four-quadrant attention style. On one axis, you have to determine whether attention is on-topic or off-topic, and on the other, whether attention is internal or external. According to Keller et al. (2020), attention can take the form of four different types based on the two axes.

On-topic and off-topic seem intuitive; it is whether the attention is focused on something relating to the class. However, one important thing to note is that while a student may not be focusing on your direct words, they might still be on-topic in their attention. The student may be lost in thought about examples of the material; they may be trying to connect the information to previous knowledge or are hyperfocused on the PowerPoint. These things are on-topic but might not be what you hope for.

According to Keller et al. (2020), the key distinction between our usual conception of affection and the actual thing is that attention is either internal or external. Internal attention is when the student is focused on their own thoughts and connections, on their own internal environment. External attention is when the student is focused on stimuli from the external world, such as the professor’s words, PowerPoint slides, demonstrations, etc.

Keller et al. (2020) explain that a teacher must be able to allow for shifts between internal and external attention. Students often need internal attention to form answers, make connections, and gain a deeper understanding of the material. But if they are not given time for internal attention, then they will be stuck in a state of unwilling external attention from which they are more likely to be distracted and forego theirs.

Keller et al. (2020) conclude by noting that attention shifts are a natural process of human focus: we cannot focus on one external thing without either moving off-topic or going internal, and we cannot focus on one internal thing without either moving off-topic or going external. Therefore, when structuring your lectures, it is pivotal to note that there needs to be an accommodation for these shifts, allowing students to internally reflect on what has been said and giving them external material.

3. Attention is not due to a lack of interest

Hopefully, by reading the above points, you can conclude that a lack of attention is more a human condition than a personal deficit. It becomes very easy to think that if students wanted to pay attention, they would. However, this ideological approach lacks the dimensions of human emotion and depth. I am sure there have been moments in your own life where, despite your ire, you were wrought down by other things and unable to pay attention. Maybe you slept poorly, maybe you were in an argument with your partner, maybe you felt lonely, maybe it just wasn’t your day. These reasons occasionally bring all of us down. Therefore, give your student the lenience you would want in those situations.

Most students want to pay attention. This does not mean you aren’t going to encounter students who fundamentally do not care about your class; you most definitely will. However, they are not the only ones with attention deficits; everyone will occasionally—even the most motivated student.

What works to keep attention?

Beyond adjusting for internal and external focus, there are things that people pay more attention to.

1. Novelty
2. Intensity
3. Movement/Motion

Novelty means an impression and sensation that is new. When something is new, we are more likely to be interested in it. Intensity is extreme and, well, intense sensory information. Being faced with something big, bright, loud, and extreme makes us pay attention. Movement means that things that are moving around grab our attention, while motion means that when the learners themselves move, they are more likely to be able to retain their attention.

Practice is the best way to understand these three areas. To learn more about them, visit the Applications page.