The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-07-23
ATTENTION AND INTEREST
Work Should Be Changed Often to Keep
IN Condition of Mind.

DIR. Lindley spoke on Attention and
interest and said in substance: Living
and moving things are the first to elicit
our attention. Then there are the things
thatSare stirring and dramatic. Educa-
ton depends upon spontaneous atten-
ton.
The power to pay attention to things
which are not interesting is one of the
powers of the race, Work means v.lun-
tary attention. Women were the first
to develop attention. There are certain
stages in the development from spon-
taneous TO voluntary attention. The
f1rst is innate curiosity, then bodily eff
tects make change. Love of self, emu
lation, ambition, duty, develop volun-
tary attention. In its highest stage vol
untary attention is acquired by habits.
Refractory individuals never arrive at
this stage of acquired attention.
interesting things IN general are those
things which claim the attention In
terests change. In adolescence inter-
ests begin to depend on relations of
things in the natural sciences. Much
later on comes interest in logic and
metaphysics.
Professional men have strong ac-
quired interest.
stronger than inner attention, because
sensations are stronger than the re-
membranes of them. It Is the first form
to develop, and inner attention comes
much later
In attention there must be magma
ton of what is to be looked for. We
never have much interest in an entirely
new subject. In attention the mental
machine works much better and clever
er. We see and remember better those
things on which we focus our thoughts.
Fore-knowledge tends to anticipate
the stimuli. Attention is not constant.
When you hear your watch ticking at
night you will notice the fluctuations.
Rhythm in outer stimulus is an aid to
attention.
/ Attention reaches its height in about
a second and a half of time. To hold
attention, the object must move. We
hold things in our minds by speaking
the words to represent them. Advertise
Ing appeals to memory and brings
variety of novelty.
Inattention is an important thing
There is pure inattentiveness and there
is inattention due to concentrated at
tention on another subject
In its highest forms, one sees it in
ecstacy, which gets the mind in a
cramp, making one oblivious to hun
ger. In insane asylums it is seen IN
fixed ideas, such as the morbid fears
Distraction and diversion are condi-
tons of highest Importance. Getting to
sleep depends on getting rid of the
mind cramp. To get to sleep, some peo-
pie count, others repeat poetry, some
imagine themselves asleep, others i'm
agine sheep jumping over a fence, any
thing to distract the attention
Ona of hi0hoef buoiaaio vo lI1or of
the bicycle is it's power of diversion.
There are those who are inherently
goal 1t is said that they would be
efficient if there were a deep passion
to bring them into the direct line. Then
there are certain specialists who have
an intense focus of attention. He is
inattentive to the whole world except
one particular aspect.
1t Is well to use spontaneous atten-
.tion whenever possible. Voluntary at
tention means use of energy. One S
general alertness can be improved by
practice. 1t has a great social value.
"A man who pays attention is likely to
succeed.
One should change work often if he
wishes to keep voluntary attention in
the best of condition.
Look to posture in developing atten-
ton. DR.. Hall says the rocking chair
is the foe of attention. 1t is suggested
that with the forward motion Of the
head In contemplating, there is a
change In the flow of blood to the
brain. Voluntary attention il nothing
but the will.