That focus in the midst of a din indicates selective attention,
the neural capacity to beam in on just one target while ignoring a staggering sea of incoming stimuli, each one a potential focus in it sel£ This is what William James, a founder of modern psychology, meant when he defined attention as "the sudden taking possession by the mind, in clear and vivid form, of one of what seems several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought."1
There are two main varieties of distractions: sensory and emo
tional. The sensory distractors are easy: as you read these words you're tuning out of the blank margins surrounding this text. Or notice for a moment the feeling of your tongue against your upper palate-just one of an endless wave of incoming stimuli your brain weeds out from the continuous wash of background sounds, shapes and colors, tastes, smells, sensations, and on and on.
More daunting is the second variety of lures: emotionally loaded
signals. While you might find it easy to concentrate on answering your email in the hubbub of your local coffee shop, if you should overhear someone mention your name (potent emotional bait, that) it's almost impossible to tune out the voice that carries it-your attention reflex ively alerts to hear what's being said about you. Forget that email.
The biggest challenge for even the most focused, though, comes from the emotional turmoil of our lives, like a recent blowup in a close relationship that keeps intruding into your thoughts. Such thoughts barge in for a good reason: to get us to think through what to do about what's upsetting us. The dividing line between fruitless rumination and productive reflection lies in whether or not we come up with some tentative solution or insight and then can let those distressing thoughts go-or if, on the other hand, we just keep obsessing over the same loop of worry.
The more our focus gets disrupted, the worse we do. For in stance, a test of how much college athletes are prone to having their concentration disrupted by anxiety correlates significantly ith how well or poorly they will perform in the upcoming season.2
That focus in the midst of a din indicates selective attention,
the neural capacity to beam in on just one target while ignoring a staggering sea of incoming stimuli, each one a potential focus in it sel£ This is what William James, a founder of modern psychology, meant when he defined attention as "the sudden taking possession by the mind, in clear and vivid form, of one of what seems several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought."1
There are two main varieties of distractions: sensory and emo
tional. The sensory distractors are easy: as you read these words you're tuning out of the blank margins surrounding this text. Or notice for a moment the feeling of your tongue against your upper palate-just one of an endless wave of incoming stimuli your brain weeds out from the continuous wash of background sounds, shapes and colors, tastes, smells, sensations, and on and on.
More daunting is the second variety of lures: emotionally loaded
signals. While you might find it easy to concentrate on answering your email in the hubbub of your local coffee shop, if you should overhear someone mention your name (potent emotional bait, that) it's almost impossible to tune out the voice that carries it-your attention reflex ively alerts to hear what's being said about you. Forget that email.
The biggest challenge for even the most focused, though, comes from the emotional turmoil of our lives, like a recent blowup in a close relationship that keeps intruding into your thoughts. Such thoughts barge in for a good reason: to get us to think through what to do about what's upsetting us. The dividing line between fruitless rumination and productive reflection lies in whether or not we come up with some tentative solution or insight and then can let those distressing thoughts go-or if, on the other hand, we just keep obsessing over the same loop of worry.
The more our focus gets disrupted, the worse we do. For in stance, a test of how much college athletes are prone to having their concentration disrupted by anxiety correlates significantly ith how well or poorly they will perform in the upcoming season.2
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That focus in the midst of a din indicates selective attention,
the neural capacity to beam in on just one target while ignoring a staggering sea of incoming stimuli, each one a potential focus in it sel£ This is what William James, a founder of modern psychology, meant when he defined attention as "the sudden taking possession by the mind, in clear and vivid form, of one of what seems several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought."1
There are two main varieties of distractions: sensory and emo
tional. The sensory distractors are easy: as you read these words you're tuning out of the blank margins surrounding this text. Or notice for a moment the feeling of your tongue against your upper palate-just one of an endless wave of incoming stimuli your brain weeds out from the continuous wash of background sounds, shapes and colors, tastes, smells, sensations, and on and on.
More daunting is the second variety of lures: emotionally loaded
signals. While you might find it easy to concentrate on answering your email in the hubbub of your local coffee shop, if you should overhear someone mention your name (potent emotional bait, that) it's almost impossible to tune out the voice that carries it-your attention reflex ively alerts to hear what's being said about you. Forget that email.
The biggest challenge for even the most focused, though, comes from the emotional turmoil of our lives, like a recent blowup in a close relationship that keeps intruding into your thoughts. Such thoughts barge in for a good reason: to get us to think through what to do about what's upsetting us. The dividing line between fruitless rumination and productive reflection lies in whether or not we come up with some tentative solution or insight and then can let those distressing thoughts go-or if, on the other hand, we just keep obsessing over the same loop of worry.
The more our focus gets disrupted, the worse we do. For in stance, a test of how much college athletes are prone to having their concentration disrupted by anxiety correlates significantly ith how well or poorly they will perform in the upcoming season.2
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