Limited Attention Span – Is it Real?
Jonathan Firth's Memory & Metacognition Updates #51
As an educator, you’ve probably come across the idea that students have a limited attention span. You might have heard a specific figure attached to it—the idea that people can only pay attention for ten minutes, for example.
But is this true? And if so, can we do anything about it?
First, it’s worth considering that students, even quite young ones, frequently bust this supposed limit in many contexts. Universities hold lectures lasting an hour, while young children may spend quite a long time focusing on a book or playing a game. In doing so, they are sustaining their attention on a task.
So, if it’s not a hard rule, what is the idea based on?
An Analogy
As an analogy, consider that someone told you that people could only throw rocks for ten metres. You would immediately realize that such a figure would be variable—it would depend on the person, and on the rock! Some people are stronger, some rocks are lighter, and so on.
Likewise, we can consider that:
Some people are better at focusing on a talk or lecture;
Some speakers/subjects are more engaging than others.
These things will really affect whether people pay attention for ten minutes, more, or sometimes even less, before attention starts to wander.
Because education is more complex than throwing rocks, there is a third consideration:
Focusing depends on an interaction between the listener and the talk. For example, does the listener have relevant prior knowledge or skill, and are they motivated to learn from it?
The importance of skill and motivation makes it easier to understand why people can focus on a novel, or a game of Mario Kart. They are good at the task, and motivated to engage in it.
These ideas also help us to see why students sometimes can’t sustain attention for very long in class. They may struggle to do so if the task is complex and novel, and their expertise is limited or non-existent—or if they just don’t enjoy it.
Executive functions
Sustaining attention on a task is, along with things like task switching and metacognition, one of the mind’s executive functions—skills and strategies for controlling and regulating our own cognition.
Executive functions are important for both education and later life, and they play a role in several psychological conditions. You can read more about them in this short article:
Next week, I’ll say more about how educators can use our understanding of sustained attention and executive functions to bust the ‘attention barrier’. That’s all for now.
Enjoy your week! 😎
Jonathan
Last week: Welcome Back to Memory and Metacognition Updates
Website: www.jonathanfirth.co.uk
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