Hi all

Continuing from the discussion of my usual workplace in engineering laboratory,

developing components for engineering applications, code writing, and
researching, I will be discussing the role of attention with respect my workplace.
I believe that all three types of attention have their place in my workplace, which
involves a variety of tasks. Focused attention is defined as the ability for one to
exclusively focus their attention on a stimuli that comes from a particular source
(Kahneman, 1973). When I conduct a research at my office, or when I am writing
a program, or soldering wires and sensors, focused attention is prominent, as I
am focused on the task in front of me. As such, I tune out the noise in my
laboratory environment. The unintentional processing of irrelevant information
can break down focused attention, as shown in a comic strip of a programmer
being interrupted whilst having deep thoughts about a simple piece of code see
references (Heeris, 2013). Kahneman (1973) wrote that intense irrelevant
distraction can cause tension in one, and thus one is more likely to break their
pencil in a noisy examination hall than in a quiet environment.
Selective attention is used when an experiment is carried out multiple sensors
displaying information about the state of the experiment (for example
surrounding temperature of the apparatus, stress and strain of component, and
displacement of components) have to be monitored roughly at the same time.
Attention is switched from one gauge to another and back to the same gauge
again. Selective attention is done when one attends to selected sources of
information (in this case the information reading from sensors) sequentially
(rather simultaneously). My colleagues would selectively monitor other sensors.
Divided attention is not as prominent as other types of attention. Divided
attention concerns multi-tasking when resources are allocated to different
tasks. Tasks that require more attention are allocated more resources than
others, but in some theories attention is rapidly shifted (Parasuraman 1998, as
cited in Hahn et al., 2008). Minor examples of this in everyday life is talking
whilst driving, or tapping my feet to music whilst I am researching.
Thanks for reading.
Peerapat
References
Hahn, B., Wolkenberg, F. A., Ross, T. J., Myers, C. S., Heishman, S. J., Stein, D. J., . .
. Stein, E. A. (2008). Divided versus selective attention: evidence for
common processing mechanisms. Brain research, 1215, 137-146.
doi:10.1016/j.brainres.2008.03.058
Heeris, J. (2013). This is why you shouldn't interrupt a programmer. Retrieved
from http://heeris.id.au/2013/this-is-why-you-shouldnt-interrupt-a-
programmer/
Kahneman, D. (1973). Attention and effort: Prentice-Hall.