1.Attention and Consciousness. This chapter was all about how we process the information and world around us (attention) and how we act based on that information (consciousness). The images and perceptions that are taken in through a multitude of sensory intakes are processes by our brain and how we deal with these images, thougths, and perceptions is our conscious.
2. I felt more comfortable with the correlation of this chapter then I did with chapter 1 and chapter 2. The attention processes falls right in line with visual and auditory recognition. This chapter goes into more depth on the processes used to obtain visual and auditory information and then what we do with it.
3. For perception and consciousness I actually get. It could be because I was discussion leader this week and I have had more time to see different points of view and have had to facilitate further discussion on it.
4. I have found that the attention processes are huge when coaching, especially in in-game situation. There are many times during time-outs when I have limited time to pass on a message I will have 5 players coming out of the huddle hearing 5 different things. Last night in a one-point game I drew up a play and 3 people came out of the huddle and did the wrong thing. I believe that they were a victim of divided attention. They were trying to catch their breath, get someone to get them some water, and listen to what I was saying while drawing a diagram. When I write that out it seems like a lot, but during the game it just happened. Me using divided, some in my huddle used selective, and others.....I just don't know. LOL!!
5. The multi-tasking was enough to catch me. The author uses a lot of examples of everyday things. The examples of the car phone, the phone on one ear while listening to another conversation (dichotic), and more when describing our consciousness. Another thing that was a good example was the white bear in thought suppression.
6.Is this type of knowledge important? Yes, I believe that it is important to know especially when dealing with students. We as educators have to understand that students today take in information in many different ways. Some learn through selective attention while others may be able to multi-task and use divided. Another thing I learned is that how we take in information helps how we percieve things and those perceptions are played out through our conscious.
7.I try and apply this at basketball practice and games. I have found it hard to keep my girls focused during games for long periods of time. One thing I have done though is mentally chart how most of them take in information. I watch for eye movement, for signs that they are easily taken off task by someone in the stands or perhaps the perception that I am upset or disappointed (this is a big one). It is hard to say what kind of circumstances would each student need because attention processes are individualized to each person. I would say that this generation is a lot more in tuned to using divided attention due to the advancement of technology, but there is not set criteria.
8. I don't believe that question 8 applies.
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I agree with your comment on number 7 concerning this generation using a little more divided attention than others. Technology has created a divided attention society. That might be a partially reason for your basketball players not being in the right place for your play. My question is are we making young adults more efficient with this divided attention technology or not?
ReplyDeleteThanks William. Re: #7 I see that a lot more too...how students look for validation and are bothered if they believe the teacher is upset or disappointed. I was having a conversation with another older teacher and he said he thought it was a generational issue. I am not sure I believe that at all, but it was an interesting perspective.
ReplyDeleteWilliam and Stew, multitasking (or lack of it) is a big issue when discussing attention. See the article I posted in the Extra Credit discussion. As the article and the Cognition book point out, in general when we multitask our performance deteriorates. This is mediated somewhat by individual differences as well as the kinds of tasks we are dividing our attention among.
There is some speculation about whether technology is making younger students better able to multitask, in some kind of evolutionary selection process - but for the most part when you divide your attention performance suffers. The human brain has not evolved so quickly since iPods were invented!