Induced versus Intentional Attention

Yesterday, I was listening to a talk about the importance of sustained attention in today's world. Indeed, the crisis of attention in today's connected world, forms one of the core concerns that can affect our individual and collective well-being. 

It is well known that cursory attention is characteristically different from sustained attention. Cursory attention makes us process the input at very shallow levels and come to a hasty conclusion (which is often wrong), while a nuanced and deep inquiry into the object of our attention needs us to sustain our attention for extended periods of time. Interruptions during periods of sustained attention have known to be extremely expensive, requiring the person to expend significant effort and time to get back to the original state of mind. 

Recently, I was in a talk where the speaker was saying that in the current day, attention spans have reduced drastically due to constant interruptions from social media, mobile phones, and other sources. As a result it is important for teachers to cut down their classes into byte-sized chunks that are in line with the average attention span. 

I remember thinking that, the argument loses the whole point. The question is not about what should be the length of an instructional material in today's distracted world, but about how to create islands of sustained attention in today's distracted world. 

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But, I have come to realise now that there is more to the fundamental dilemma. It is not about cursory versus sustained attention, but about induced versus intentional attention. 

In order to promote sustained attention, and a distraction-free learning experience, some educational institutions impose a ban on mobile phones and laptops in classrooms. Some institutions go even further to ban these gadgets from their entire campuses. 

In addition, several other mechanisms are also implemented-- like for example, compulsory attendance, social media ban in the campus, etc.

However, such measures are of course not exactly effective. Because, even if the students are physically present-- when they are forced to do so-- most of them are mentally absent. Although they are physically in the class, their minds are elsewhere. 

The fundamental issue here is not whether attention is sustained or cursory, but whether the attention is induced by the external system, or is an intentional and autonomous choice of the individual who is paying attention. 

Even with no ban on mobiles or laptops in the class, as teachers, we can see that in any class, a small proportion of the class is genuinely interested in the subject matter being taught, and intentionally engage with the teacher in learning the subject. While a few others who are physically mandated to be present are also paying attention-- but their attention is induced and forced. They have to expend an effort to sustain it. 

When attention is intentional, sustained attention becomes effortless, but when attention is induced, then sustaining attention becomes a big burden. 

Teachers and administrators wishing to improve educational outcomes, should not be asking how we can induce sustained attention over extended periods. Instead, they should be asking, how should we create an environment, where the students' attention are intentional rather than induced. 

Or rather-- how do we induce intentionality? 

One of the most powerful mechanisms of inducing intentionality is relevance. Our attention is not arbitrary or random. What we choose to pay attention to, is fundamentally derived from what we think is relevant for us.

This can be explained using what is called the "cocktail-party effect." Assume that you are in a party or a large marriage reception. There are people talking all around you, but you are in a small group yourself and chatting with others. Our attention is so effective that it completely attenuates what people in other groups nearby are talking, and focus solely on what our group members are talking. However, suppose somebody in another group happens to mention your name (or anything that you closely identify with). Then, you can see that your attention immediately shifts to the other group! 

Hence, even if our attention is attenuating all other signals, there is still some process that is scanning for anything that might be relevant to us! 

The same is true with classrooms as well. If we as teachers, are able to show that what we are teaching the students is actually relevant to their lives (beyond just in getting a job in the placement season), intentional attention and engagement develops naturally. 

But yes, how do we make our teaching relevant to a large group of diverse students coming from disparate background experiences, is a different matter altogether! We're actively researching this question and are working on an idea called "assimilation patterns"-- but that is a topic for a different time.