Definition: Attention is a multidimensional matrix of states, processes, and abilities supporting cognition.
Attention skills are closely related to other skills that can also be affected by a TBI such as memory, processing speed and communication skills. Attention is important because it allows us to carry out daily tasks and to effectively communicate. Due to its complexity, it is important to understand the various levels of attention include maintaining our attention, shifting it to multiple speakers or between several ongoing tasks.
Attention can be categorized into 5 levels of attention: focused, sustained, selective, divided and alternating, and each level is more complex then the previous one. Each level of attention presents a certain set of challenges, and individuals with traumatic brain injury may experience difficulties with each of these levels, in particular the more complex ones.
1. focused attention:
Attention skills are closely related to other skills that can also be affected by a TBI such as memory, processing speed and communication skills. Attention is important because it allows us to carry out daily tasks and to effectively communicate. Due to its complexity, it is important to understand the various levels of attention include maintaining our attention, shifting it to multiple speakers or between several ongoing tasks.
Attention can be categorized into 5 levels of attention: focused, sustained, selective, divided and alternating, and each level is more complex then the previous one. Each level of attention presents a certain set of challenges, and individuals with traumatic brain injury may experience difficulties with each of these levels, in particular the more complex ones.
1. focused attention:
- discrete response to auditory, visual or tactile stimuli
- it does not involve conscious decision-making or purposefulness and is the most basic level of attention
- for example: you hear a noise behind you and automatically turn around towards it
- as long as you are not in a coma, you have focused attention
- referred to as our "mental stamina"
- it involves concentrating and maintaining attention for a longer period of time to complete a task
- for example: you may have to study for an exam or read an essay, which requires you to constantly focus and concentrate on the material that you are attending to
- difficulties: individuals with brain injury may feel mental fatigue more rapidly and may have difficulty with constantly attending to a task; thus, they may not absorb the information
- it enables you to attend to something and filter out background noise or movements
- for example: you are in a restaurant, background music is played and people next to you are clinking their glasses: can you attend to your conversational partner by ignoring all of the other stimuli surrounding you?
- difficulties: individuals with brain injury may struggle with blocking out those "distracting" stimuli
- referred to as "multitasking": doing more than one thing at the same time and dividing your attention (cognitive resources) between these tasks
- for example: you are washing the dishes while talking on the phone: can you do both tasks efficiently or do you miss parts of the conversation because you have difficulty with attending to two different tasks at the same time
- difficulties: attending to two tasks and successfully completing both
- this is the most complex level of attention and requires mental flexibility
- it allows us to shift our focus of attention and move between tasks that have different cognitive requirements
- for example: you are writing a letter and this task gets disrupted by a phone call; alternating attention allows you to shift your attention from your task of writing a letter to the phone conversation; once you hang up, this type of attention enables you to shift your attention back to your previous task
- difficulties: after hanging up the phone, individuals with brain injury may completely forget about their previous task of writing a letter OR they may return to their previous task of writing a letter; however, it may take them a very long time to ramp up and re-focus on the task again.