Friday, October 17, 2014

Focus, Focus, Focus: The Roles of Attention and Working Memory in Consciousness

                How on earth could I make such a ridiculous mistake?  How could I have missed that?  These are questions that almost everyone is forced to ask themselves at some point.  Day dreaming or being absent minded is a nuisance that often causes individuals to make minor errors that they otherwise would not.  However, an article in the International Business Times reveals a somewhat unexpected twist on absentmindedness.  The article concerns a study from Psychological Science which reported that an individual’s working memory space is related to the likelihood that they will “drift off” or become absent minded.  Specifically, the study indicates that subjects with a better working memory were actually more prone to absentmindedness.  Monami Thakur, the author of the International Business Times article states, “A new study has indicated that a wandering mind is a form of a mental workspace that allows you to juggle multiple thoughts simultaneously.”
                In his book The Ravenous Brain, Daniel Bor discusses both the phenomenon of absentmindedness (in a broader discussion of attention) and working memory, ultimately linking them to consciousness.  In reference to attention and absentmindedness, Bor states, “What I attend to is what I’m conscious of, and whatever falls outside of my attention is processed, if at all, by my unconscious mind alone” (112).  This makes intuitive sense.  For instance, if you’re driving home from work and are playing around with the radio, you may accidentally pass your street.  Your attention is directed toward the radio and you are conscious of the song that’s playing; however, you are not conscious of your street as you pass it (or it is processed by your unconscious) because your attention is directed elsewhere. Later in the book, Bor addresses working memory by writing, “…I firmly agree with [Bernard] Baars that consciousness and working memory are largely synonymous processes, and that attention is the critical means by which items enter into consciousness” (136).  Here, it is easy to see the connection between working memory, attention, and consciousness as defined by Bor.  However, taken in conjunction with the aforementioned article, the picture becomes much cloudier.
                Essentially, Bor paints the picture that an individual’s working memory can allow some object or stimulus to enter consciousness, only if their attention is directed toward that specific object or stimulus.  In my opinion, this makes logical sense and is supported by the George Sperling study that Bor references later in this section of the book.  He also implies this idea when discussing absentmindedness by establishing the close linkage of attention and awareness.  However, the article in International Business Times provides an interesting juxtaposition to this.  The question becomes, if working memory space increases with the likelihood of becoming absent minded or inattentive to the task at hand, does that in turn mean that our consciousness is inversely related to working memory space?  Or is it that a larger working memory space is positively correlated to an individual’s consciousness, but negatively correlated with the necessity of attention to perform well on memorization tasks?

                It appears to me that the latter is most likely true.  To elaborate, Bor seems to depict attention and working memory almost like a filter and net, respectively.  Specifically, working memory acts as a net to catch the information with which an individual is presented and direct it into consciousness. However, in a typical human being, this net on its own will simply catch any random four objects and bring them to consciousness.  With the addition of attention (a filter), individuals can screen out irrelevant information so that their net only catches specific objects.  However, if we increase the size of the net (larger working memory), then we decrease the need for a filter (attention).   Generally, I would say that this study does not necessarily imply that absentmindedness (or a “wandering mind” as referred to in the International Business Times article) opens up space in the working memory.  Rather, I would say that this study in conjunction with Bor’s commentary on working memory, attention, and consciousness provides new insight and evidence as to how these three are closely related.


Bor, D. (2012). The Ravenous Brain: How the New Science of Consciousness Explains Our Insatiable Search for Meaning. New York: Basic Books.

Thakur, M. (2012, March 17). Wandering Minds and Absent Minded Children Have Sharper Brains: Report. International Business Times. Retrieved October 16, 2014. http://www.ibtimes.com/wandering-minds-absent-minded-children-have-sharper-brains-report-426476

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