CONCENTRATION IS CENTERINC YOUR ATTENTION

      Psychologically defined, concentration is the process of centering one's attention over a period of time. In practical application, however, concentration is not as simple to deal successfully with as the definition may imply. For this reason, it is helpful to keep the following points in mind.

      Your attention span varies

      Even with the greatest effort, oar span of attention fluctuates. You can demonstrate for yourself this fluctuation of attention. In a quiet room, place a watch so that it can just scarcely be heard. Listen carefully and notice how the ticking increases in apparent intensity, fades to a point where it cannot be heard, and then increases again. This phenomenon reveals how our span of attention fluctuates, for the intensity of the ticking i s actually constant.

      You pay attention to one thing at m time

      Evidence to date indicates that you attend to one idea at a time. It is possible for your attention to shift so rapidly that it seems that you attend to several concepts at once. But apparently this is only an ********. In high concentration the shift from the focus of attention is of short duration and relatively infrequent.

      An illustration of periods of high, moderate, and low attention

      High attention has long periods of attending and short distraction periods. In low attention the periods of attending are short and the distraction periods long. In moderate attention there is a mixture of the extremes. Thus it is easy to see that it is highly unlikely that the student who has most of his attention centered on fancying at large will be able to recall even the major points of a lecture.

      Lack of concentration is a symptom, not the cause, of difficulty. When a student says  "I can't concentrate", what he is really saying is, "I can't attend to the task at hand because my distractors are too strong."

      DISTRACTORS ARE OF TWO SORTS --PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PHYSICAL

      A distractor is anything which causes attention to vary from a central focal point. In the study situation distractors may be thought of as either psychological or physical in nature. Both types of distractors must be understood before the student can attempt to remedy his lack of concentration.

      Emotions are the most powerful distractors

      The angry man forgets the pain of injury the fearful man finds it difficult to enjoy pleasure and the tense or anxious person may react violently to the smallest of matters. In the student's life there are many psychological pressures and tensions which block effective productivity. The fears about making the grade, the doubts of the friendliness of a friend’s behaviour and the pressures of limited finances -- these are only a few of the emotional forces which affect the student.

      Emotional reaction varies greatly from person to person. Some persons gain goal and direction from their tensions and actually do better because of them. Others fall apart under pressure, while a fewpeople do well despite the pressure.

      Physical distractors are always present and rarely understood

      Our environment is much more important to how we feel and react than we often think. Particularly is this true of the effect of physical distractors on mental tasks. One research report has shown that comprehension and retention of reading were decreased when students listened to lively music. However, rate of reading was not affected, so that many students were not aware that they were affected by the background distractor. Another study found that the ability to recall accurately was affected by distracting conditions. Most of the evidence indicates that noise affects adversely higher mental task output. Still, the effect of distractors is seldom fully appreciated by students.

      ROUTINE AND REASONING TASKS ARE AFFECTED DIFFERENTLY BY DISTRACTORS

      Many routine tasks can be performed with distraction in the background with little or no adverse effect on output. Most students have found this fact to be true from their own experience. They may have had high school homework which was drill or merely copying assignments. It was possible to do such work with the latest recordings or the television set playing in the background. In time such students began to feel certain that they could do all work -- routine or problem-solving -- in the sate manner. The evidence indicates the contrary conclusion.

      EXCEPTIONS MAY MISLEAD YOU

      Typically when students are faced with the evidence on distractors the argument is given that their cousin, friend, or classmate can study in "Grand Central Station.” And he makes "all A's" too! There is evidence, of course, that motivation plays an important role in overcoming the effects of distractors and that there are considerable differences in individual spans of attention. Either of these factors could account for some individuals being able to do well using inefficient methods. The fact that some exceptional people do well under adverse conditions scarcely justifies your assuming that you are exceptional in the same manner. Your chances of success are higher if you avoid the distractors which are known to hinder the typical student.

      从心理学上讲，聚精会神就是在一段时间内集中注意力。然而，在实际应用中，聚精会神并 不像它的定义解释的那样容易对付。因此，将下列几点铭记在心十分有益。

      注意力的波动

      即使尽最大努力，注意力的持续时间也是有变化的。你可以自己演示一下这种变化，在一个 安静的房间放置一块手表刚好能听到它的声音。仔细听，同时注意手表的滴答声是如何明显增强、减弱、消失、然后再次增加的。这种现象显示出我们注意力持续的时间是如何波动的 ，因为手表的滴答声一直没有改变。

      在同一时刻你只能注意一件事情

      迄今为止的资料表明，在同一时刻你只能有一个念头。你的注意力有可能迅速转移以至于你 似乎可以同时注意到几个概念。但显然这仅是一种错觉。当思想高度集中时，注意力转移的时间很短且不太经常。

      关于高、中、低度注意力的解释

      注意力高度集中时，注意力持续时间长而精神不集中的时间短。注意力低度集中时，注意力 的持续时间短而精神不集中的时间长。注意力中度集中时兼有两者的特点。因此，显而易见，把自己的注意力集中在胡思乱想上的学生甚至不可能回忆出讲课的要点。

      注意力不集中是困难的表面现象而不是起因。当一个学生说：“我不能集中注意力”时，他 的真正含义是：我不能把注意力集中在身边的工作上，因为我自己的干扰太强。”

      干扰有两种：心理干扰和物质干扰

      干扰是指任何引起注意力从关心焦点转移出去的东西。在学习环境中，本质上讲，干扰可以 是心理的，也可以是物质的。在尝试着纠正注意力不集中的毛病之前，必须了解这两种干扰。

      感情是最大的干扰物

      生气的人忘记伤痛，害怕的人没有快乐，紧张或焦虑不安的人会对鸡毛蒜皮的事大动肝火。 在学生生活中，许多心理压力和紧张阻碍着学生学习效率的发挥。对成绩的担忧，对朋友友谊的怀疑以及经济的拮据——这些仅仅是影响学生的几个感情因素。

      人与人之间的情感反映差别很大。一些人在紧张中获得目标和方向并做得更出色。有些人尽管有压力也会把事情做好，而其他人在压力下彻底崩溃。

      物质干扰一直存在但几乎不被理解

      我们的环境对我们如何感觉和如何适应是非常重要的。这种重要性要大大超过我们平常的认识。对脑力劳动任务的物质干扰的效果而言，尤为如此。一项调查报告显示：当学生们听节奏明快的音乐时，他们的阅读理解能力和记忆力在下降，但阅读速度却没有受影响，以致于许多学生对背景的干扰一无所知。另一研究表明：准确回忆的能力受到了干扰条件的影响。大多数材料证明：噪音对脑力劳动产生负面作用。然而，学生们对干扰的影响却很少有全面的认识。

      干扰对日常工作和推理的影响程度不同

      人们可以在有干扰的情况下完成许多日常工作，而且工作效率几乎没有或者说根本没有受到 负面的影响。大多数学生会从他们的亲身经历中发现这个事实。他们有家庭作业，如句型训练或仅仅是抄写型的作业。他们很有可能一边放着最新的唱片或者开着电视，一边做这些作 业。这些学生很有可能慢慢开始相信他们能以同样的方法做所有的工作——日常工作或解决 问题的工作。但有关证据却得到相反的结论。

      例外会误导你

      典型的情况是当有关干扰的证据摆在学生面前时，他们会提出证据反驳：他们的表兄弟、朋 友或同学能在纽约的“中央火车站”学习并取得了“全优”!当然也有证据表明：人们的动 机在克服干扰影响方面起着重要作用，而且人与人在个人的持续注意时间上也有相当大的差 异。以上两个因素的任何一个都可以解释为什么一些人能够用低效率的方法来做好工作。事实上，一些特殊人物的确能在不利的条件下做好事情，但这不能说明你也和他们一样特殊 。如果你能够避开众所周知的妨碍一个平常学生学习的干扰，那么你成功的机会就会更大。  

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