Chapter 6.2- "Pay Attention!"
Early on, attention was defined as a cognitive process that focuses on a particular feature within the environment surrounding us, while others are ignored. The problem with this definition is that it defined attention as one system. Recent research, however, has identified multiple networks that work towards attention.
Early psychologists like Edward Bradford Tichener suggested that attention determines the content of consciousness and influences the quality of conscious experience. Later, Psychologists focused less consciousness and more on behaviours that made attention recognisable. Humans do not control the way their attention is directed at an experience. For example, when someone experiences difficulty concentrating to a conversation. Another example is that sometimes someone's attention is seized as a result of an unexpected event taking place, which is not voluntary.
Attention is a state of current awareness by an individual. Simply by existing we are exposed to a multitude of events that take place around us, and each of these will affect our senses. However, as individuals we tend to focus on a small subset of all of these experiences and events. This subset makes up our subjective field of awareness. Our brains are responsible for the processing of information and the storing of these experiences. Furthermore, it organises patterns of response so ensure that we react the same way in certain situations, for example not necessarily touching the hot stove-top. Although the brain processes a lot on a day to day basis, it has a limited capacity meaning we cannot consciously experience every single event and every single piece of information we are exposed to at all times. Therefore, attention can be seen as a state of selective awareness which controls the size and quality of the interactions we have with out environment.
Attention is followed by physiologically changes that usually happen in the brain and the nervous system. Through functional magnetic resonance imaging (or fMRI), which is used to measure brain activity by picking up cerebral blood flow through certain parts of the brain, has been used to study attention. Blood usually pools or concentrate in areas of the brain where neural activity is increased. Other physiological changes as a result of attention is by looking at an individual's response to new stimuli. Things like heart rate, electrical conductivity of the skin, the change in pupil size in the eyes, respiration patterns and the tension changes in muscles are part of this.
Most of these responses are regulated by our autonomic nervous system which is responsible for conducting bodily functions that we do not have conscious control over. For example the beating of our hearts or digestions. It helps us prepare a response for a potentially threatening situation. In summary, we are designed to take in information fast and efficiently while giving priority to systems that need a fast response to certain information.
Now in relation to Dyscalculia, attention, the automatic recall of mathematical facts and the recall and later execution of mathematical procedures is extremely complex.
It is suggested that the working memory may be the biggest factor leading to attentional problems in people with Dyscalculia. The working memory is believed to be the main component in executive function and is usually used when diagnosing ADHD. The executive function organises one's output over a prolonged period of time. It connects what we know with what we do. The processes of learning and memory are usually put in the same boat as they both include the stages of encoding, consolidating, storing and retrieving information. Research shows that the efficiency in the process of encoding and retrieving is substandard in people with attentional problems. Usually, a poor active working memory affects procedural skills and delay the understanding of basic mathematics. The working memory, like attention, is built on many neuro-cognitive mechanisms. Here the rate at which memory decays, how able one is to allocate attention and the level of activation associated with encoding is important. Being slow at counting or having a high rate of memory decay, prevents us from developing automatic arithmetic facts in long-term semantic memory. So for example, constantly forgetting times tables and having to actually recalculate 5 x 4 instead of automatically associating this calculation with 20. Research has also shown that children with Dyscalculia are unable to allocate their attention and effectively return to a task.
Rourke believed that there are minimum 2 profiles of neuropsychological assets and deficits are associated with impaired mathematical performance in children.
Group A, of the children tested, included those who had a mathematical impairment but good reading and spelling skills. They demonstrated a poor performance in visuospatial skills which suggests a dysfunction of the right hemisphere. These children were believed to have a form of non-verbal disabilities that induced deficits in tactile and visual attention but showed strength in auditory and verbal attention.
Group B included children that have poor arithmetic and reading skills. This group did well in non-verbal problem solving tasks but showed clear difficulties in verbal/auditory-perceptual tasks. They appeared to have the exact opposite deficits in auditory and verbal attention than Group A but demonstrated strengths in tactile an visual attention.
Geary later used a cognitive approach to study the development of these sub-skills that are fundamental to arithmetic problem solving. In children with Dyscalculia, Geary found functional deficits in procedural and memory retrieval.
Procedural deficits are affected by poor attentional and active working memory skills. So, the computational errors that were made by these children seem to be a result of their proneness to not monitor their work whilst solving problems.
Deficits in memory retrieval, on the other hand, are often related to Dyslexia which may suggest a general deficit in representation or retrieval from the semantic memory. The semantic memory is a part of the long-term memory that processes ideas and concepts that are based on facts and not personal experience, for example, the names of different colours. So, inattention creates procedural errors and a poor memory creates factual errors. Great combination.
Reading about this has made me think about the things I go through when trying to solve a mathematical problem. I forget what I'm calculating or what I've already done, I forget how certain things are calculated and then end up with 5 different answers every time I work over the problem and can't explain why or how.
Geary expanded the suggested subtypes of Dyscalculia by Rourke.
His first type was in relation to a dysfunction of visospatial skills, like Rourke's Group A.
Another involved difficulties in arithmetic fact retrieval (which includes things like having problems memorising arithmetic tables and mathematical facts). With the last one, Geary suggested issues with
using arithmetic processes (like counting).
Ackermann et al. later showed that children who showed deficits in attention, also showed delay in automating the recall of arithmetic facts which foreshadowed the later arithmetic difficulties faced. Another thing they managed to show was that many children with deficits in attention with normal reading ability, also had delayed automatisation of mathematical facts from very early on (as in, school career-wise). Their research shows that the existence of common factors that influence and require arithmetic and sustained attention respectively, may not be present in reading and paying attention.
While researching this aspect of my disability, I kept remembering what happens when I try to solve a mathematical problem. I've caught myself forgetting what I was doing 2 seconds earlier, then think I remember, continue working things out (whilst not really remembering certain processes) and come up with the wrong answer. Then I go over the question over and over only to get 5 different answers because I stop paying attention half way and do whatever. I do think this problem translates into my every day life. There's times where I just zone out and some days even just paying attention to a film is a mental work out.
I've been described as absent minded by all types of people because I am so quick to losing objects and myself, asking people to repeat themselves 5 times but it's all down to the fact that my attention is constantly shifting.
I know this post might have been a little heavy with the science but I hope it's given a bit of an insight to an extremely complex mechanism.
Take care of yourselves!
Study by Lindsay et al.
Study by Rourke
Study by Geary
Early psychologists like Edward Bradford Tichener suggested that attention determines the content of consciousness and influences the quality of conscious experience. Later, Psychologists focused less consciousness and more on behaviours that made attention recognisable. Humans do not control the way their attention is directed at an experience. For example, when someone experiences difficulty concentrating to a conversation. Another example is that sometimes someone's attention is seized as a result of an unexpected event taking place, which is not voluntary.
Attention is a state of current awareness by an individual. Simply by existing we are exposed to a multitude of events that take place around us, and each of these will affect our senses. However, as individuals we tend to focus on a small subset of all of these experiences and events. This subset makes up our subjective field of awareness. Our brains are responsible for the processing of information and the storing of these experiences. Furthermore, it organises patterns of response so ensure that we react the same way in certain situations, for example not necessarily touching the hot stove-top. Although the brain processes a lot on a day to day basis, it has a limited capacity meaning we cannot consciously experience every single event and every single piece of information we are exposed to at all times. Therefore, attention can be seen as a state of selective awareness which controls the size and quality of the interactions we have with out environment.
Attention is followed by physiologically changes that usually happen in the brain and the nervous system. Through functional magnetic resonance imaging (or fMRI), which is used to measure brain activity by picking up cerebral blood flow through certain parts of the brain, has been used to study attention. Blood usually pools or concentrate in areas of the brain where neural activity is increased. Other physiological changes as a result of attention is by looking at an individual's response to new stimuli. Things like heart rate, electrical conductivity of the skin, the change in pupil size in the eyes, respiration patterns and the tension changes in muscles are part of this.
Most of these responses are regulated by our autonomic nervous system which is responsible for conducting bodily functions that we do not have conscious control over. For example the beating of our hearts or digestions. It helps us prepare a response for a potentially threatening situation. In summary, we are designed to take in information fast and efficiently while giving priority to systems that need a fast response to certain information.
Now in relation to Dyscalculia, attention, the automatic recall of mathematical facts and the recall and later execution of mathematical procedures is extremely complex.
It is suggested that the working memory may be the biggest factor leading to attentional problems in people with Dyscalculia. The working memory is believed to be the main component in executive function and is usually used when diagnosing ADHD. The executive function organises one's output over a prolonged period of time. It connects what we know with what we do. The processes of learning and memory are usually put in the same boat as they both include the stages of encoding, consolidating, storing and retrieving information. Research shows that the efficiency in the process of encoding and retrieving is substandard in people with attentional problems. Usually, a poor active working memory affects procedural skills and delay the understanding of basic mathematics. The working memory, like attention, is built on many neuro-cognitive mechanisms. Here the rate at which memory decays, how able one is to allocate attention and the level of activation associated with encoding is important. Being slow at counting or having a high rate of memory decay, prevents us from developing automatic arithmetic facts in long-term semantic memory. So for example, constantly forgetting times tables and having to actually recalculate 5 x 4 instead of automatically associating this calculation with 20. Research has also shown that children with Dyscalculia are unable to allocate their attention and effectively return to a task.
Rourke believed that there are minimum 2 profiles of neuropsychological assets and deficits are associated with impaired mathematical performance in children.
Group A, of the children tested, included those who had a mathematical impairment but good reading and spelling skills. They demonstrated a poor performance in visuospatial skills which suggests a dysfunction of the right hemisphere. These children were believed to have a form of non-verbal disabilities that induced deficits in tactile and visual attention but showed strength in auditory and verbal attention.
Group B included children that have poor arithmetic and reading skills. This group did well in non-verbal problem solving tasks but showed clear difficulties in verbal/auditory-perceptual tasks. They appeared to have the exact opposite deficits in auditory and verbal attention than Group A but demonstrated strengths in tactile an visual attention.
Geary later used a cognitive approach to study the development of these sub-skills that are fundamental to arithmetic problem solving. In children with Dyscalculia, Geary found functional deficits in procedural and memory retrieval.
Procedural deficits are affected by poor attentional and active working memory skills. So, the computational errors that were made by these children seem to be a result of their proneness to not monitor their work whilst solving problems.
Deficits in memory retrieval, on the other hand, are often related to Dyslexia which may suggest a general deficit in representation or retrieval from the semantic memory. The semantic memory is a part of the long-term memory that processes ideas and concepts that are based on facts and not personal experience, for example, the names of different colours. So, inattention creates procedural errors and a poor memory creates factual errors. Great combination.
Reading about this has made me think about the things I go through when trying to solve a mathematical problem. I forget what I'm calculating or what I've already done, I forget how certain things are calculated and then end up with 5 different answers every time I work over the problem and can't explain why or how.
Geary expanded the suggested subtypes of Dyscalculia by Rourke.
His first type was in relation to a dysfunction of visospatial skills, like Rourke's Group A.
Another involved difficulties in arithmetic fact retrieval (which includes things like having problems memorising arithmetic tables and mathematical facts). With the last one, Geary suggested issues with
using arithmetic processes (like counting).
Ackermann et al. later showed that children who showed deficits in attention, also showed delay in automating the recall of arithmetic facts which foreshadowed the later arithmetic difficulties faced. Another thing they managed to show was that many children with deficits in attention with normal reading ability, also had delayed automatisation of mathematical facts from very early on (as in, school career-wise). Their research shows that the existence of common factors that influence and require arithmetic and sustained attention respectively, may not be present in reading and paying attention.
While researching this aspect of my disability, I kept remembering what happens when I try to solve a mathematical problem. I've caught myself forgetting what I was doing 2 seconds earlier, then think I remember, continue working things out (whilst not really remembering certain processes) and come up with the wrong answer. Then I go over the question over and over only to get 5 different answers because I stop paying attention half way and do whatever. I do think this problem translates into my every day life. There's times where I just zone out and some days even just paying attention to a film is a mental work out.
I've been described as absent minded by all types of people because I am so quick to losing objects and myself, asking people to repeat themselves 5 times but it's all down to the fact that my attention is constantly shifting.
I know this post might have been a little heavy with the science but I hope it's given a bit of an insight to an extremely complex mechanism.
Take care of yourselves!
Study by Lindsay et al.
Study by Rourke
Study by Geary
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ReplyDeleteQuite Insightful. Great content .. (MamaOti)
DeleteThank you so much!
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