Concentration and attention: what exactly are they?

Cognitive psychologist Michael Posner and his team have spent decades researching the question of how attention works - and have repeatedly used imaging techniques to help them. They discovered three networks in the brain, three attention systems, each of which controls parts of our attention:

1. the alerting network: «I am awake and ready»

The so-called alerting network has the task of keeping us in an alert, mentally open state. It prepares the body to absorb information and recognise warning signals at an early stage. We can think of this network as a large radar screen that captures impressions from the environment. If we take a kindergarten child for a walk through the forest and his alerting network is very active, he won't miss a rustle in the bush or a movement in the corner of his eye.

2. the orientation network: «What's going on here?»

The orientation network organises all the information that comes to us via our sensory channels. It makes an initial assessment in a flash: «Where does the stimulus come from? Is it an image, a sound, a physical sensation, a smell or a taste? Is this information important or unimportant? Should I turn my attention to it?» This assessment takes place unconsciously and within fractions of a second. For example, a kindergarten child hears a loud bang while playing. His orientation network decides immediately and unconsciously that this stimulus is relevant and requires a reaction: The child instinctively turns round to see what is going on and realises: a building block has fallen off the table. This network therefore sometimes determines where our focus of attention shifts.

3. executive control: «Full concentration!»

And now it gets exciting: if we had to take in all impressions unfiltered and react to them, our brain would be completely overloaded. To prevent this from happening, nature has equipped us with a third network that sets priorities and mediates between different areas of the brain: It is called executive control. Among other things, this comes into play when a child needs to concentrate.

Concentration is a special form of attention in which we deliberately focus on a specific task or object over a longer period of time and block out possible distractions. For example, a kindergarten child sits at a group table and creates a bead pattern. He concentrates on creating the desired pattern. His executive control ensures that he blocks out the noises from the construction and dolls' corner and stays focussed until the artwork is finished. They may have to resist the impulse to get up and do something else, and endure small moments of frustration if they drop a bead or start the row with the wrong colour, which upsets their plan.

For some children, kindergarten is the first place where they can practise their concentration.

The child therefore needs concentration above all when the task becomes strenuous, interest in it wanes or difficulties arise. For some children, kindergarten is the first place where they are confronted with such tasks or where they are motivated to finish something or get involved in something that they find difficult.

Other so-called «executive functions» are also trained there: The children learn to listen and retain information in their memory by learning new songs, responding to questions about stories or completing small assignments. They slowly train to stick to the instructions when playing board games, resist the impulse to simply babble in the circle of chairs, stick to the rules and increasingly manage multi-step processes such as getting dressed or tidying up independently. In activities such as arts and crafts, the children learn to proceed in a structured manner, make plans, get involved in new things and adapt flexibly if something goes wrong.

Laying a good foundation for these skills in kindergarten is crucial for a successful start to first grade. However, these skills continue to develop into adulthood. How quickly and how well children learn to concentrate and use other executive functions depends on several factors. We would like to briefly discuss some of these.

Highly inherited skills

A large number of studies can now prove that the ability to consciously direct attention or concentrate is inherited to a high degree. Some people are naturally better at focussing on a task over a longer period of time.

In addition, harmful influences during pregnancy (alcohol, nicotine, prolonged illness, severe stress, etc.), complications during birth (premature birth, lack of oxygen, etc.) as well as illnesses and accidents can have a negative impact on these abilities.

Children who are confronted with emotionally stressful experiences early in their development are more likely to develop difficulties in this area. These include, for example, traumatic experiences such as violence, being placed in a different home, the death of a close carer, a divorce with loss of contact with a parent or ongoing conflicts within the family. An environment with little stimulation can have a similarly serious effect, where the child is often left to its own devices and receives little closeness and affection as well as hardly any mental stimulation, for example in the form of conversations, reading aloud or playing.

Age and maturity determine the ability to concentrate

As executive functions develop throughout childhood and into adulthood, age and maturity determine how well children are able to utilise these functions.

There is currently a trend towards starting children at an earlier age. In many places, the cut-off date has been moved forward without adapting the kindergarten curriculum accordingly. For children who are just four years old when they start kindergarten, it is often too much of a challenge to find their way in a group with 20 other children, to have just one contact person, to occupy themselves at times or to follow the kindergarten routines. Of course, the kindergarten teachers try to adapt as well as possible to the developmental stage of each child - however, many younger children still need a similar care ratio to that in the crèche.

The importance of age and maturity is also evident in several studies. For example, children who are among the youngest in their class are diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) significantly more often than the oldest children during their school years. In a study from the USA (Elder, 2010), the parents and teachers of over 18,000 children were asked about their children's development several times during their school years. The results showed that 8.4 per cent of children who started school relatively young were diagnosed with ADHD during their school years. In the group of children who started school later, the figure was 5.1 per cent. Studies from German-speaking countries (e.g. Wuppermann and colleagues, 2015) confirm this finding.

Children who are among the youngest in their class are significantly more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD during their school years than the oldest.

If the kindergarten teacher reports back that the child is very slow, dreamy or appears to be extremely fidgety and impetuous throughout, that they have difficulties settling into the group and listening in the circle, parents should take notice. The same applies if they tell you that they struggle with or avoid fine motor activities such as handicrafts, colouring or cutting out and fail at everyday routines such as getting dressed despite lots of practice. Many subsequent problems at school could often be prevented or alleviated with a third year of kindergarten - just like the African proverb: the grass doesn't grow any faster if you pull on it.

Read more about kindergarten:

• What changes in the second year of kindergarten?
  You will no doubt be amazed, dear parents, at how quickly the first year of kindergarten has flown by. Now your child is already one of the big ones - what does that mean and how do girls and boys develop this year?
• Playing without toys - a kindergarten puts it to the test
  What happens in a kindergarten when all the books, cuddly toys, Duplos and dressing-up clothes temporarily go into the cellar? We accompanied a kindergarten class that went completely toy-free for three months.
• Fears: Mummy, get rid of the monster!
  During kindergarten, children experience many fears: of animals, of separation from their parents, of ghosts and monsters under the bed. Some things seem incomprehensible or even absurd in the eyes of an adult. But trivialising doesn't help: parents need to show their children how to deal with their fears.