attentional capacity Quotes

Attention is like energy in that without it no work can be done, and in doing work is dissipated. We create ourselves by how we use this energy. Memories, thoughts and feelings are all shaped by how use it. And it is an energy under control, to do with as we please; hence attention is our most important tool in the task of improving the quality of experience.

Multitasking divides your attention and leads to confusion and weakened focus.

Attention is a little-noticed and underrated mental asset.

Everyone is always having their attention divided between the world of the people [they're] with and this other reality.

It's a skill that people are born with. Either you're a focuser or you're a multitasky person. I am a full-focus person.

This is the first, wildest, and wisest thing I know, that the soul exists, and that it is built entirely out of attention.

Attention is a bit like real estate, in that they're not making any more of it. Unlike real estate, though, it keeps going up in value.

We are defined by how we place our attention.

I sometimes worry about my short attention span, but not for long.

What is the difference between attention and inattention? What is attention and what is concentration? ...Attention has no centre.

What looks like multitasking is really switching back and forth between multiple tasks, which reduces productivity and increases mistakes by up to 50 percent.

Daydreaming defeats practice; those of us who browse TV while working out will never reach the top ranks. Paying full attention seems to boost the mind's processing speed, strengthen synaptic connections, and expand or create neural networks for what we are practicing.

Surely there is something to be said for drawing a circle around our attention and remaining within that circle. But how large should this circle be?

To succeed, you must be able to concentrate, and to know what to concentrate on.

Apparently there are three levels of brain activity. Level 1 is the lowest level - the amount of concentration required to, say, delete emails or serve in congress.

A leading difficulty with the average player is that he totally misunderstands what is meant by concentration. He may think he is concentrating hard when he is merely worrying.

The ability to focus attention on important things is a defining characteristic of intelligence.

The processing capacity of the conscious mind has been estimated at 120 bits per second.

It is decreed by a merciful Nature that the human brain cannot think of two things simultaneously . . .

You cannot give your full attention to something, and at the same time resist it.

When we are forced to do multiple things at once, not only do we perform worse on all of them but our memory decreases and our general well-being suffers a palpable hit.

The mind is easily distracted; it loses its focus and becomes restless. If it is not directed positively, its power will be diffused.

In order to understand one person speaking to us, we need to process 60 bits of information per second.

The most effortful forms of slow thinking are those that require you to think fast.

The development of the faculty of attention forms the real object and almost the sole interest of studies.