TYPES OF ATTENTION
– focussed attention (studying) – limited capacity, easily fatigued
– passive attention (watching video) – attention is grabbed by saliency
– mind-wandering (‘day-dreaming’) – off-line or default mode
USING ATTENTION
– the goal is to be able to recognize and shift between different types of attention
– people tend to feel less happy when in the mind-wandering mode
– to refocus wandering attention, focus on immediate sensations such as breathing or touch
– to restore fatigued attention, take regular breaks and vary activities
– to cope with distracting thoughts, write them down and deal with them later
– to focus on a difficult task, limit background distractions and multi-tasking
– to get an entirely different perspective, return to a task after a night’s sleep