Attention is the process of selecting the most relevant information from the mass of sensory input all around us.

Awareness is the attention of the moment.  The subconscious mind needs to be on automatic pilot to process the enormous amount of information from the world coming in through all the senses.  When our brains are working optimally, we recognize some input as familiar but unimportant, and ignore it.  We then automatically consider the data needing to be acknowledged at that moment.  After brief consideration, the data are either dropped from working memory and disregarded, or selected for further processing.  For example, when looking for a particular highway exit, you are aware of the exit signs you pass and pay attention to them momentarily.  If an exit is not the one you are looking for, you won’t send its name to your working memory bank. 

Click here to learn more about how the brain proceses all of the surrounding sensory information.
      Watch the information presented in clip #6 &  clip #1

Click here to watch a video about how the brain attends to various stimuli.
        Watch the 'Vision Counting Game' #5 & #6

Optimal brain activation occurs when subjects are in positive emotional states or when the material holds personal meaning, connects to their interests, is presented with elements of novelty or evokes wonder.  This is why attentiveness is so closely linked to positive emotional cueing and personal meaning.  When there is connection to prior knowledge or positive emotional experience, new information passage through the limbic system will be enhanced.  The thalamus will then ‘decide’ to pay attention to the information.  If it is then interpreted to have rational meaning, based on previous knowledge, it is linked to existing brain cell networks, which in turn are enlarged, extended, and ultimately strengthened by their reactivation.  If there are no emotional or intellectual connections to the new information, and it is not presented in a way that sparks attention, it will be discarded, and attention will be withdrawn.

How to increase the dopamine and create a positive climate:

• Moving
• Collaboration
• Listening to Music
• Reading Stories Aloud
• Self Appreciation for Accomplishments
• Humor
• Choice
• Strong Peer Support
• Sufficient Non-Learning Time
• Frequent & Specific Feedback
• Orchestrated Common Experiences

Although it is commonly believed that brain cell growth stops after age 20, that is not completely true.  New connecting cells, called dendrites, can be formed throughout life.  It is true that the neurons where memory storage takes place are not replenished; however, their extensions, these dendrites, continue to sprout and connect to form new circuits with other dendrites throughout life.  These neural networks, similar to electric circuitry, are the roadways that connect various parts of the brain. 

After repeated practice, working memories are set down as neuronal circuits of axons and dendrites ready to be activated when the information is needed.  When a memory has been recalled often, its neuronal circuitry are highly developed because of their repeated activation.

The brain is divided into lobes, each with many functions, each interconnecting to the other lobes through nerve pathways and circuits.  For example, areas in the left frontal lobe and both temporal lobes are integral in executive attention - alerting the rest of the brain to pay attention or respond to stimuli.