How children pay attention is one of the more perplexing issues for parents.  A common question I hear from parents is “My son is glued to his video game (or TV screen) for hours.  I have to pry him away.  Yet at school, the teacher tells me my son has trouble focusing on his work.  He can focus – is he not trying at school?”

The answer to this question lies in the brain.  The ability to pay attention is really divided into two systems that are wired differently in the brain.  The first attention system is reactive.  It’s based in the emotional center of the brain.  This attention system is passive and involuntary.  The brain is hard-wired from birth to pay attention to movement and stimulation.  We don’t need to learn this.

The second attention system is focused.  It’s based in the executive center of the brain.  This attention system must be trained and developed to work effectively.  We do not get this type of focused attention automatically.

Now guess which attention system is in play when a child plays video games or watches TV.  Yep, you guessed it – the reactive system.  It is hard-wired into a child’s brain to pay close attention to things that move.  Their survival from an evolutionary standpoint depended on it.  So any type of media activates reactive attention found in the emotional center of the brain.  If this movement is stimulating (and engaging as video games and TV shows are) then we also have a positive emotion attached to it which is reinforcing and wants us to do more.

Guess which attention system is needed for the types of higher order thinking and learning that takes place in school.  Yep, you guessed right again – the focused system.  The trick here is that this attention system needs to be trained in a child, one small step at a time from the moment of birth.  Media will interrupt the training of focused attention if an electronic screen is on around a child.  When that child reaches school, if the focused attention system has not been developed, attention issues may arise when that child needs to focus his or her attention on learning to read, write or think.

What activities do you think help develop focused attention in children?

Dr. Dave