The Dynamics of Attention

Perception and Attention. • We have been discussing at great length the Innate or Gestalt perceptual processes. Of course, it was evident all the way along, that the influence of learning cannot be totally extracted from these processes. • We will now turn our attention to the Learned or Behaviorist side of Perception. Of course, as before, the influences of the opposite innate physiological factors will still be present. • We will be discussing two powerful influences in the perceptual processes: Attention (including Focused, Sustained, Selective, Alternating and Divided) and Expectancies. Attention arises through a host of complex processes that contribute to consciousness itself. • • • Attention: Like the word "Language," the word "attention" is easy to say, but hard to describe. I find myself getting confused in the literature by the terms "arousal" and "vigilance," which are often used in discussions about attention. The confusing nomenclature is probably a byproduct of the fact that attention is a complex process. It arises through a number of other complex interacting processes that contribute much to consciousness itself. Some of these major players are: orientation, executive control, arousal, and short-term memory, to mention a few. • • • Orientation is an awareness of self and the elements of causality in the environment. It relates to levels of consciousness. o Confusion and problem solving issues are the byproducts of diminished orientation. These typically occur at lower levels of consciousness. o I have seen, for instance, a head-trauma patient in a hospital discuss, without any real regard to it's bizarre nature, a piano, that she perceived to be floating on the ceiling in her hospital room. o This would be an example of a lack of an awareness of causality. o A normally functioning person would be shocked to see such a thing as a piano on the ceiling. Actually the normal person wouldn't even see it, because it didn't exist. For the patient is was an internally generated image. o Hence, with diminished orientation (an altered state of consciousness) there is a figure-ground capability but it gets interfused with imagery which, is quite a different thing. o Suffice it to say that for our purposes here, to understand a credible figure-ground experience, we need to operating at the highest level of orientation and consciousness. Executive Control relates to motivation. Individuals who have had a frontal lobotomy are satisfactorily oriented but lack the motivation to do many of the things they did before (which in some cases is why the lobotomy was performed). Our focus in life can be seriously blunted if we lack the motivation to set our goals in action, whether it is to build a skyscraper, or select all the odd numbers from a numerical array. • • • • • • • Since perception is a process that often requires "work" on the part of the individual, a lack of motivation could seriously diminish the effectiveness of the perceptual process. This also relates to our level of arousal. Arousal has to do with the amount of energy we have available, or choose to put into the process of perceiving. Involved here, in addition to motivation, is the integrity of the Reticular-Activation System. o This controls our state of wakefulness, and can range from a coma to a state of hyper-excitability (epileptic seizure). o The degree of arousal affects also to the degree of perceptual organization one is able to achieve. Short-term memory is the ability to hold on to information for short periods of time. As we shall see later, this is also a composite of at least three different processes, which we will describe in the topic on Memory. One of the benefits of short-term memory is that we can remember what it is we are doing. This is certainly a factor in what we will discuss below as sustained focus. There are times when I have gone to a room at the other end of the house to get something, and all of a sudden realized that I had forgotten why I was going there. This is a good example of a lack of sustained focus. I was focused when I started out, but lost it somewhere in transit. This is a natural occurrence when it happens once and a while, but when it becomes the rule and not the exception we have a problem. • These processes of consciousness can interact in various ways to enable five different processes of attention: Focused, sustained, selective, alternating and divided attention. Focused Attention: This can be defined as the ability to give a specific response to a given stimulus. • • • • An example would be if I asked you to pur a cross over all the "s" letters in the line above. Another example would be if if I asked you to repeat a list of numbers one at a time, for example: "3-8-6-4," "2-8-7-3," "1-6-6-4," etc. To focus on something, you must be oriented, motivated, aroused and have some innate figure-ground capability. The next step, of course, will be to hold the focus on a particular figure or task for a period of time, which is called sustained focus. Sustained Focus: When the time duration for Focused Attention becomes extended, a new factor is introduced into the attention process: the ability to maintain a consistent level of performance which involves short term memory. • Here's where the terms vigilance, attention span, working memory and concentration are often applied. • • • • • • • I might, for example, give you a rather long string of numbers and ask you to raise your hand when you hear the number 4 followed by the number 7. The length of the task will require higher levels of orientation, short-term memory and motivation. The more difficult the task is made, the slower the perceptual process may proceed and the more liable the process will become to breakdowns. One need only to watch a ballet class for 3-year old children to see wonderful normal examples of breaks in sustained focus. The kids at that age can follow instructions for short periods of time (minutes) and then they wander off into their own little worlds. They vacillate in and out repeatedly throughout the lesson. It is easy to recognize the kids who have temporarily lost focus. They will be crawling along the floor or climbing up the wall or wandering around when everyone else is lined up "following" instructions. Here are some examples of activities on an older level that involve sustained focus : o o o • 1. Ask a person to count back from 100 by 3's; 2. Tell me the day of the week that is two days before the day I say. 3. Give a person a list of random numbers and ask them to circle all the odd numbers. 4. Give a person a series of numbers and ask him to repeat each one backwards (e.g., 0-1-8 3 becomes 3-8-1- 0 etc.), or a list of words to spell backwards (e.g., "B L U E" becomes "E U L B" etc.) • • A formal test of sustained attention is the Seashore Rhythm Test In this test, the listener has to tell whether two sets in a series of tapped patterns are the same or different. Selective Focus Attention: This is the ability to maintain a specified level of performance in the presence of distracting or competing stimuli. This is a major process in the figureground discrimination task. Here are some examples of these types of tasks. • • • Actually, we have discussed numerous examples of figure-ground tasks for the visual modality and signalnoise discrimination for the auditory modality in the last three topics. What we are demonstrating here are more abstract figure-ground attention tasks that require ignoring one set of characteristics to decode another. 1. In the following Selective Focus example, (below) the task is to read all the words in the chart and, if possible record the length of time it takes. (Actually it would be better if the list were at least a page long.) Then go through list again but this time don't read the word, but just tell its color! Note the time difference. 2. A similar Selective Focus example is to make a list of words like "big" and "little." The task is to identify the size of the print that the word is written in. 3. Another interesting example (exercise) of selective focus is to identify the side of the word that the asterisk is on in the following list: 4. The last example is to draw a circle around the word "square" and a square around the word "circle." You would have to print this one out to do it. Alternating Focus Attention: This is the capacity for mental flexibility that allows a person to shift the focus of his attention back and forth between tasks. Examples of this activity might be: • • • • • 1. This first example of alternating signals is a demonstration that we used earlier in the Auditory Perception discussion, but it is worth repeating. The child is instructed to listen to one of two competing voices and follow his/her instructions. 2. The second example involves alternating an attribute with meaning. It is a repeat of the "big/LITTLE" activity above. However, this time on the first word you tell the size of the print; and on the second word, you give the meaning of the word; then you keep alternating. Then you self destruct! 3. A third example be would to provide a person with alternating math problems. For example (3 + 3 = ? ); (4 - 2 = ? ); (7 + 4 = ? ); (13 - 8 = ? ) etc. etc. 4. In this final example of scattered numbers and letters , the task is to draw a line between number 1 and A; number 2 and B; number 3 and C; etc. etc. • Note that if we connected only the numbers (or the letters) it would have been a sustained focus task. Divided Attention is the ability to attend to two or more activities simultaneously. • • Driving while talking on the cell-phone is an excellent example. One must stay focused on the road without fail but must also attend to the flow of the conversation. Some other activities that exemplify divided attention would be as follows: o o o 1. Walk down a street and keep track of the white cars on the right and the blue ones on the left. 2. Dividing playing cards into suites and at the same time turning over any card that has the letter "e" in it's name. 3. In Chess you must keep track not only of the shape of each piece but also of its color. • • 4. A formal test of divided attention is the Paced Auditory Serial Attention Test (PASAT). This test presents a series of pre-recorded numbers at varying time intervals. The listener must add the last number he heard on the tape to the previous number the he (the listener) had said. If there is one activity that provides exercise for all these focus processes, I believe it is learning to play the piano. o One must definitely have focus, to pick out those small notes from the ground of the lines in a bar of music. o Sustained focus, of course, is a must if one is to practice for any length of time. o More than one teacher has let out, a primordial scream as their student becomes repeatedly distracted by some irrelevant environmental noise, or marking on the practice sheet, or some internal day dream. o The Base versus the Treble Cleft is a classic example of selective focus. The note value of the lines of a measure carry a different significance depending upon which one it is. o Music is treasure chest of alternating focus tasks. Notes are continually switching their count; changing their pitch (between, sharps and flats); switching their rhythm (eg. from 3/4 to 4/4 to 2/2 as in Carmen by Bizet.) o The piano is also a study in divided focus! Learning to do different activities with each hand simultaneously is the name of the game. Also one must learn to read the notes as they move their hands over the keyboard. o o o o o And of course one has to read the notes on the Treble and Base Cleft bars at the same time! Then some people even sing and/or talk while doing all this. In my opinion, piano training should be a required part of the first four grades in elementary school. I, frankly, would start it by age 4 years. I did start to teach my daughter formally at age 3.5 years (informally much earlier) but it turned my hair gray in the process (the twenty or so that I have left). But I believe it was worth it and here's why. The Los Angeles Times ran a interesting article on February 28, 1997 entitled "Study Finds Piano Lessons Boost Youths Reasoning." In this study approximately 100 children ages 3 to 4 years were divided into four groups. One group had no training, One received individual singing lessons, one received individual computer lessons and one received individual piano lessons. The children were tested on four tests of mental ability before and after the project. Only the group taking piano lessons showed any improvement. o Those receiving piano lessons scored on the average 34% better on tests that involved temporal spatial reasoning. o Frankly, I would like to see a room of pianos installed in the early elementary grades rather than a room of computers! o Here are two excellent references on the usefulness or danger of having young children use computers:  Failure to Communicate--How Computers Affect Our Children's Minds--and What We Can Do About It, by Jane M. Healy, (Simon & Schuster, 1998.  Also see Endangered Minds Why Children Don't Think and What We Can Do About It, by Jane M. Healy, (Simon & Schuster, 1990; I suspect that Chess also would significantly exercise the skills of sustained, selective focus alternating, and divided focus. Pieces move in different patterns depending upon their color, shape, position, and even previous events. o • • • • • • • • • On a personal note, I was an average student in High School except for the year I seriously studied Chess. That year I made the Dean's List. There is much in the literature about attention and vigilance disorders in children. These are usually focused on physically based problems (ADD). By and large they deal with the problems that a child may have in focusing on a particular figure. If a child can't find the figure, the problem could be a with figure-ground discrimination (focus). We have discussed this in the topics of visual and auditory perception. They frequently have problems with sustained focus. This involves memory motivation and arousal. We will be discussing arousal shortly. Some links of interest are: ADD kids also often have problems with selective, alternating and/or divided attention. All these skills can be improved through selected activities and experiences. Arousal is the amount of energy one has or elects to devote to the perceptual process. • • The aspect of attention that we will be looking at next, is Arousal. This is the amount of energy one elects or has to devote to the perceptual process for any given experience. This is a process, which we, in particular, both as students and teachers, struggle with continually. • • • We will describe four levels of arousal: subliminal, nonreflective, reflective and semantic. These we are considering in the highest level of consciousness. Lower levels, or altered state of consciousness will of course, effect perception. But these are medical concerns and are outside the scope of this discussion. Subliminal Level of Arousal: This is the lowest level of arousal, and simply refers to our ability to be aware of the presence or absence of a stimulus. o o o o o o The expression to have "something catch our eye" is very descriptive of this level. We don't know what it is, but only that its presence is noted. The stimulus, of course, has to be above the threshold of transduction for any awareness to occur. Some stores purchase and play tapes just below the hearing threshold (transduction level) of shoppers in an attempt to install the subliminal idea that if they shoplift, they will be caught and sent to jail. Their premise is probably right, but their practice is faulty in that their message falls literally on deaf ears. Typically, the stimulus is considerably above the level of transduction. To my students sleeping in the front row of my oncampus class, my voice is around 50dB. But their only awareness is its presence or absence. When the voice becomes absent at the end of class, they all of a sudden arise and exit the room. Having done this my self, in my younger days, I know that the level of perceptual organization they achieve, and information they have obtained is not enough to pass a test...although they look rested and appear to feel great. o o o I actually once tried to learn Russian this way--by listening to Russian records in my sleep. The records were well above my hearing threshold but my level of attention was obviously subliminal. After a month, it happened that a friend who spoke Russian came up and said "Good Morning, Hall," in Russian. To my credit, I recognized that it wasn't English, but my only tangible response, after month of "sleep learning," was an overwhelming feeling of drowsiness. Not to say, however, that there isn't something to be gained from subliminal attention. At a conference, I once heard a speaker, who places prostheses in the mouths of cleft palate children, (a prosthedontist) discuss the success he had had with subliminal suggestion. His job was to fit four year old cleft palate children, for whom surgery would not work, with an artrificial palate.  This palate consisted of a small turtle shell like plate with a small bulb which extends into the back of the throat (where the nasopharyngeal port would have been (see a picture of one in the graphic version).  You can imagine how willingly a four year old child would accept that! the The prosthedontest, however, said he would ask the parents to read a short message (prepared by him) for one week into the childs ear 15 minutes after he/she had fallen asleep. It would say basically that everyone loved him including the prosthedontist, and that it was a good thing to have this appliance in his mouth. After a week of this subliminal stimulation, he reported that the child would accept the prosthesis with minimal objection.  You can actually try this as a home assignment, with someone whom you have access to after they have gone to sleep. Your message could include the suggestion that the sleeper make you breakfast in bed on the next Saturday morning.  On the other hand, my wife gave up on that idea after I nearly destroyed the toaster oven. In fact I think she is now telling me to stay out of the kitchen. I, my self, have witnessed a child in a comma respond to things that were said during unconsciousness. He was told that he would be taken to Disney Land when he revived. The first thing he inquired about when he awoke was Disney Land. How could this work when my Russian Records didn't? I suspect that the difference was in the length of the message. If the message is short and repeated, I believe there is an opportunity for the brain to store and retrieve it through a process that we will discuss later (Eidetic Imagery) when we talk about imagery. My Russian records were too long and varied and too mundane to be stored in Eidetic memory. The subliminal level of awareness does have value in that it can lead to us to raise the level of energy in the perceptual process. If -something catches our eye,... we may wish to investigate it further.  o o o o o o o o o o o There is also information that can be transmitted subliminally but at higher levels of arousal. They are usually transmitted through one of the non linguistic channels such as the emotional-graded. I think the the Tele-Tubby TV show is one good example. They feature many noises that are babylike in nature, sometimes human and sometimes like a kitten. The shapes and movements of the Tele-Tubbies are baby like. All this conveys a subliminal message of security and non confrontation that toddlers like. On an adult level, subliminal messages play an important role in things like courtship. I may meet a girl that I am interested in, but I do not want to risk the embarrassment of being turned down verbally for a date. So I go up to her and say, "Hi, do you know what time it is?" That's the figure. But I try to assume a body posture and voice quality that is (in my opinion) rather "chummy, if not down-right masculine." That is my subliminal message. If she turns pale, backs-up a few paces and kind of murmurs through clenched teeth,"two ten," I suspect that she would probably say "no," so I don't ask the fatal question. Of course, in my younger days, I wasn't quite as sensitive to those pragmatic little hints and did ultimately experience some rather assertive statements of rejection, like "Get lost you little creep!" • • Non-reflective Level of Arousal: With a little more energy investment, we become focused more clearly on the stimulus. We do not yet, however, develop a figure or ground structure. o This, for example, would be like listening to the hubbub or background din at a party, where there is an auditory collage of noises such a clinking, murmuring, shuffling, coughing, etc., but not anything that would stand out. o When I was child, I used to listen to boxing on the radio on Friday evenings. Very soon my level of arousal would hang at the non-reflective level consisting of the drone of the audience. It would always put me to sleep before the main fight was over. I never knew who won any of the fights. Football crowds on TV have done the same thing to me as an adult. o In the visual modality, we would experience a mosaic of shapes, shades textures and colors but no clear figure. I believe we do this also when our attentioin shifts internally and we become deep in thought. Reflective Level of Arousal: With an increase in the energy investment into the perceptual process, a strong figure ground structure emerges. What is lacking at this point is the energy to complete the process, which would terminate in meaning. At this point, meaning is lacking, although the figure is clearly structured. o For example, I know a person (not mentioning names) who has on at least one occasion in his life gone through a red light. o This happened because he was thinking about (investing energy in) some other thought, like the ticket he had gotten for speeding the day before. The figure (red light) had been clearly perceived, but not meaningfully decoded and hence, not reacted to. o It was probably the process of Eidetic imagery (which we will talk about later) that flashed the image back to his consciousness. o This time it was fully decoded with all its meaning-("I believe that was a red light I just went through!"), but not until the car had gone totally through the intersection. o Then, of course, he was all of a sudden aware of what I (whoops--he) did. o It followed, that at the subliminal level of awareness he sensed there was something behind him. Upon investing further energy to raise his arousal level, he recognized the flashing red light of a police car behind. Semantic Level of Arousal : When you look at something and have the "I know what it is" feeling (like recognizing a policeman's flashing red light), you are functioning at the Semantic Level of awareness. o This occurs when we apply the highest level of energy into the perceptual process. We would like to be operating at this level as much as possible, particularly in classroom situations. o • I was a student for 15 years in graduate school (when one graduates with a BA in Tropical Agriculture, there is much to make up), and on many occasions I swore on my way to class that I would attend to everything that was said for the entire period. o I never once succeeded. I would stay fully aroused for a while, and then my mind would sink to a lower level (to the sub-liminal on more than one occasion), only to be brought back by an awareness of a lot of pencils writing. o I would return to the semantic level, just in time to hear the instructor saying, "...and that will be one of the major questions on the final exam. Don't miss it!" o On the other hand, we are told by those who teach Public Speaking classes, that we really can't attend to speeches for more than 15 minutes without loosing our level of concentration. Hence, we should expect a certain amount of fluctuation. o But how can we influence these fluctuations to maximize the amount of time that we focus our energies at the Semantic Level. There are a number of environmental factors, which can impact upon the level of energy we have for the perceptual processes. o • • • These include among others: motivation, nutrition, sleep and fatigue, and stimulation through other modalities. There is another, which is outside the scope of this discussion, and that is body rhythm. Motivation: If in our judgement there is no compelling reason to attend to something, we probably will not put much energy into it. Here, of course, we are partly talking about arousal again. o o o o o o o o o o When I appear, as I often do, in front of my oncampus class acting somewhat crazed, dressed in a sumo outfit and brandishing a spear, I usually get the full attention of the entire class. Those slumped over their desks in the first row raise their heads (become attentive) and watch (sustained attention) for a while, until the police come (selective and divided focus). There are, of course, better ways of motivating students. Providing grades is one, if not a rather weak motivator. The principal of feedback is sound, but the time lag and lack of significance of a letter or number grade is questionable. At best it's a balancing act. Usually the threat of a grade is too remote to influence a child's action now. On the other hand, the fear and anxiety created by tests and grades can energize us. But then too much fear and anxiety can have an adverse effect in that we may experience a "melt down." Making things relevant to pupils' or students' needs and interests is a much better way to go, but much more allusive to achieve. For me, in college chemistry, physics and math were nothing but boring mental exercises like moving stones from here to there and back. But when someone linked them into the framework of an explanation for the Universe, how it developed, where it came from, and where it is going, these sciences for me become alive and fascinating. For preschoolers it means talking about the here and now. o o • • For me it was the universe. For my 3.5 year old daughter, Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood is the carrot. She will happily do a 45 minute piano lesson and pick up her toys for the privilege of seeing a half hour of Mr. Rogers. The following is a rather startling and powerful example of motivation. Sleep Deprivation and/or Fatigue are major factors in arousal. o Some high school and college students work several jobs while they attend classes and find it difficult to maintain a high level of perceptual energy in school despite their high motivation to do so. o For kids, the danger, in my opinion, is TV. The problem is that it can emulate the sleep patterns of the brain without providing the benefits. o Hence, children can watch mindless shows late into the evening, only to find real sleep inevitable in the classroom the next day in school. o And of course, there is the issue of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Just type in the word "fatigue" into any internet search engine and you will be overwhelmed on the sites which focus on this topic. o Or you can go to their home page, if your not already too exhausted by all this reading: Nutrition is a very important factor in arousal. o o Too much sugar, for example, in a child's cereal in the morning can cause a sugar high for a short period followed by a lack of energy for the rest of the day. On the following page, I have scanned a label from a typical well liked children's cereal. o o o o Pay particular attention to the ingredients and note in how many ways and how many times some form of sugar is added to the product. In the ingredients list of this cereal the first line reports sugar (#1; the second line reports sugar (#2), honey (#3) and brown sugar (#4); the fourth line reports sugar (#5), malt (#6) and corn syrup (#7) and honey (#8); and the sixth line reports high fructose (#9), corn syrup (#10), honey (#11) and malt flavoring (#12). They do include vitamins also and this is better than nothing. Talking about vitamins, here is a product that is not a taste treat but packs a real wallop when it comes to furnishing brain food. It's a yeast product that when taken with tomato juice, in my experience, and OPIONION (which is strongly challenged by my wife), improves arousal. Below you will see a label scanned from a yeast product which is a food with real impressive supply of brain food if not high on taste. o o o o o Of course, there are many kids who don't get any breakfast and just experience the low. Much of the apathy we see in some classrooms, particularly in depressed economic areas, is due, I believe, to kids who do not have the energy to perform the rigorous mental task of perceiving. What is alarming to me, is the lack of attention we give (as a Nation) to our children's diet to insure they get food with real nutrition. Keeping in mind that neurons need more protein than any other body tissue, not to mention all the other vitamin complexes and minerals it takes to run the intense chemical machine we call the brain, most of the foods we consume are seriously devoid of what we need. They are highly processed, which typically means they are low in fiber and in many of the nutrients children need to think with. o o o o o o o o o But they are high in sugar, carbohydrate and fat content (not to mention preservatives and coloring chemicals)! Look at your typical fast food delicacy. A fatty hamburger, with fatty French fries and a devilish chemical brew, called a cola. Even many school lunches are guilty of this. We are starving our kids nutritionally, but we just don't know it because it looks and tastes great (sweet). There are of course, my foods that are not just lacking in constructive nutrients but are directly damaging in their effects. Alcohol and drugs including tobacco (which some kids chew, thanks to some of our baseball heroes), lead the list. We are probably, ironically, created more adversity for our Russian and Chinese competitors recently through our tobacco, Soda and Fast Food Industries than we ever did with the CIA. There is a lot of information on the Internet about nutrition. For example the Notes below provide a number of sources to explore: The bottom line is that we need to consult with nutritionists, read books, and select our foods with considerable care taking note of their ingredients and the level of processing involved. There is a plethora of excellent books on nutrition available. A good one to start with is Sugar Blues, by William Dufty published by Chilton Book Company in Radnor Pennsylvania in 1975. Stimulation through other modalities, particularly the Haptic can raise the arousal level and hence improve the level of perceptual organization and understanding. • Tactile: One of the best methods to improve attention is message. Of course, this is also one of the best ways (in today's society) to be sent to jail. When used under a strict regime of observation, with severely disabled children (such as those with Cerebral Palsy) or adults having serious attention deficits, message can be a very useful tool to raise arousal and improve perception. o Particularly, the bottom of one's feet or the palms of one's hands are excellent points for message, as well as the more conventional shoulders and back areas. Kinesthetic: Just the process of moving energizes the reticular activating system and hence raises our level of arousal and perceptual organization. o • o o o o o In the old days in the elementary grades, when we didn't have a Physical Education (PE) program, the teacher would make us march around our row of desks once or twice a day. Despite our resentment of this seemingly ridiculous exercise, it did raise our level of arousal for at least an hour or so. I certainly prefer and advocate a good PE program as an academic tool. Actually the students in the front row of my oncampus evening class have found that when they are falling asleep, if they simply roll their heads around, they can buy a least three or four minutes of consciousness. It does work, but it makes the front row appear more like an assembly line. • Vestibular: The vestibular mechanism has some excellent connections with the reticular activation system which can increase arousal. o In many classrooms for disabled preschool children, you may find many devices, all selected to stimulate the sense of balance and movement. o These include swings suspended from the ceilings, tops on which the children can be spun, giant balls upon which they can be rolled, mats on which they can do summersaults, rails on which they can walk etc. o I believe, that it is possible and advantageous to develop and strengthen the infra structure of these neural connections, between the vestibular mechanism and the reticular activating system, when the child is very young. o It starts with the parents picking the baby up a lot and carrying him/her around a lot. There are many slings and front and back-packs available infants and toddlers. They can be carried here and there around the house, and later on, around the community. o The movements up, down and around will constantly stimulate the vestibular modality. o I once heard a man complaining to Dr. Schlesinger over the radio that he did not get personal quality time with his child, whereas his wife seemed to be always doing things alone with her. o Other considerations aside, one activity which he might have considered is to take his child in a back-pack on a "power" walk several times a week. o This is not only good vestibular stimulation for the child, but it also provides many excellent o o o o o opportunities for language development through the "powerful" conversations that can take place. Talking about the environment, reading signs, picking flowers, singing songs are just a few of the wonderful experiences that are possible on a "power" walk. And besides, if one could maintain the practice until his baby was 18 years old, he himself would develop a physique like Arnie Schwartzeneiger. On the other hand, I did try it with my first child, and my wife says now I look more like the Hunchback of Notre Dame. So better stop before five. Taking time to rock the infant, and swing the toddler as they do in the pre school classes, is good practice for vestibular stimulation. Some families even have small swings installed in the house, in a door frame, from which a child can frequently be swung. Later the same swing can be hung outside from the nearest tree . o I believe, that engaging young children by age 3 in gymnastics, pre ballet, and other activities that encourage body movement are good not only for the fun, socialization and learning but also for developing the infra structure for arousal and attention. Ballet, for example, encourages many different positions of the body. • Each new position, in ballet practice provides a different plane of stimulation for the for the semicircular canals, and the neurologic circuits of the reticular activation system, and arousal. o o o o o o o Television: It might appear that television would be a great attention developer. Kids can sit and watch it for hours. But the lack of brain activity belies this facade. The brain waves of a TV observer are more like the brain waves of someone who is asleep. Not a lot of neural development taking place there. In addition, the rapid switching of brief scenes in many television cartoon shows works against the development of sustained focus. There are a few exceptions which have merit. I highly recommend, for example, "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood." This show presents scenes that develop slowly (rather than switching every few second seconds like cartoons do). Here sustained focus is exercised and developed. See the Notes below for the Web site to "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. " Other than that, I believe that the TV should generally remain in the closet until the kids are old enough to understand the History Channel and some National Geographic shows. o o o In the final analysis, books are the big guns for exercising attention skills. But few children will read a book if television is available, just like few children will eat spinach if cake or ice cream is an option. My recommendation for the first three years is to put the TV in the closet. And then when the child is three, let him/her begin to watch "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood"; or to hear and see quality videos with classical music and dance; and then that is all for the next five years! BOOKS, BOOKS, AND BOOKS both read to and available to the child is the cardinal rule.