Great Ideas from the Brain Sciences: How Attention Defines Learning
By: Mirela C. C. Ramacciotti
In a previous article in this series on memory and retention, we saw how remembering shapes learning and how we came to that understanding through the works of Ebbinghaus, Craik, and Lockhart. But can we remember something that we did not attend to?
Your answer may be that it is not possible and that attention is something that everybody knows about. But do we? William James, regarded in the US as the father of psychology because of his groundbreaking ideas made available at the turn of the 20th century, is famously quoted as having claimed that “everyone knows what attention is.” However, he went on to write a treatise to explain, among many other things, that attention is not so clear-cut an idea. He proposed tenets that support an understanding of it and that define it as transcendental, active, structuring, and embodied. Let us examine how that came to fruition.
A common, dated notion of attention equates it to a spotlight, i.e., attention would be akin to a light that is focused on a certain thing (object, event, person, etc.). That idea takes the thing to be constant and our capacity to focus on it as equally potent at all times. Now, we come to the point where you may start to wonder if something is not right…
Maurice Merleau-Ponty, a French phenomenologist who grounded the notion of attention on bodily perceptions in the first half of the 20th century, pointed out that the spotlight theory of attention could not be true as the body is necessary for a number of reasons: (1) the body has to be attended to before we can attend to something else; (2) bodily functions have to be well attended to before we can steer resources to pay attention to something else; (3) the body has to be prepared and ready for the mind to pay attention to something. And, if you are still in doubt whether these three factors are necessarily related to paying attention, try to recall the last time you or a student could not attend to something because of (1) a cramping leg, (2) a growling stomach, or (3) a missing notepad.
Merleau-Ponty grounded attention and perception as notions that are related to the body but yet transcend it as one’s body needs to be in the background for attention to be directed to something in the foreground. Further, one pays attention to whatever is relevant, meaningful, and necessary; therefore, it becomes an act of volition. When performing this action, i.e., paying attention to something, we create a whole new world of possibilities structured on the capacity of attending to something. It is only through this structuring that possibilities ensue. A clear example of this in the classroom is when, amidst the cacophony of questions and confusion that may configure a speaking activity, the teacher says “Silence”. It is then that students, upon the imperative of attending to the teacher’s instructions, gather their thoughts, and get ready for the next round of activities planned.
Now comes the time to understand how attention takes shape in our brains. Michael Posner, an American psychologist, has a lot to offer on that.
Posner and various colleagues developed our understanding of attention as a series of neural networks. Throughout his long career, Posner has shown that such networks are relatively uncorrelated, that is, one may be good at alerting (attending to a stimulus) but not at orienting (directing neural resources to the stimulus) or at executing (pursuing the stimulus until an action dependent on it is completed). Posner’s work extends our knowledge over brain areas engaged in each network, their primary neurotransmitters, and their genetic correlates. In recent years, his discoveries have elucidated how our attentional network states and predispositions may be trained and changed by, for instance, parenting and meditation. As work is still in progress in this arena, reserve your resources, gear up, and pay attention to the field as there’s more to come!
For More Information
William James on Attention. Folk Psychology, Actions, and Intentions
Diego D’Angelo explores three major concerns in William James’s theory of attention, emphasising its embodied, active, and structuring nature. This paper highlights how bodily movements shape agency and suggests bridging James’s pragmatism with phenomenology for deeper insight.
Merleau-Ponty, The Phenomenology of Perception
In this video, professor Ellie Anderson introduces Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s approach to phenomenology, exploring ideas like the lived body, the primacy of perception, and how we experience space.
Steven E. Petersen and Michael I. Posner revisit their influential 1990 framework for attention research, highlighting new findings on brain networks, development, genetics, and interventions.
Enhancing attention through training
In this article, Michael I. Posner, Mary K. Rothbart, and Yi-Yuan Tang explore how network training and mindfulness practices can improve attention, reduce stress, and even reshape the brain.
Mirela C. C. Ramacciotti is presently engaged as an external lecturer on the topic of Mind, Brain, and Education at the Graduate Level Course with the Psychology Department at the University of São Paulo. She holds a PhD in Neuroscience and Behavior and another in Human Communication Disorders.