Managing attention while reading primarily includes the ability to create favorable conditions.

Unnecessary distractions should be eliminated, but since absolute silence is tiring and sleepy, it is necessary to be aware of stimulating interference. The properties of attention are such that distraction of attention, the need to switch it occurs after 15-20 minutes. Assimilation is significantly worsened due to the weakening of attention, and in such a situation it is better to distract consciously.

Any kind of switching contributes to maintaining long-term stability of attention.. You can cover your eyes with your palm and sit for a few seconds; look out the window at clouds, trees, a neighboring house or some other object. Turn your head first to the left, then to the right, forward and back. Such a warm-up will relieve stress and fatigue.

After reading a few pages, you can stop, make the necessary extracts, and think about what you read.

Involuntary attention is attracted and maintained not only by the strength and unexpectedness of the stimulus, but also by its brightness, unusualness, and novelty. If the content of the text itself is not captivating enough, but it is necessary to study the material, measures should be taken to ensure sustained attention. Using a variety of distractions that stimulate perception will help with this.

When reading, you can use a pencil or a pointer to set the pace and maintain it while reading. It is permissible to periodically make notes in the text.

It is undesirable to read at a uniform speed: it causes drowsiness. Monotony is overcome through an emotional attitude to what is read, even if it is a dry scientific text. If there is no interest, the reader loses the thread of the narrative, returns to what he has read, forces himself to read more attentively, but after a while gets distracted again. In the end, the desire to start reading disappears for a long time.

To read what is required, awareness of the duty, obligation, and importance of reading helps. The results achieved by volitional efforts become an incentive for further reading. After-voluntary attention is formed and gradually - interest in the results of reading and in the content of what is read. Understanding the need for careful reading of any literature brings up readiness for strong-willed efforts.

A big role is played by purposefulness, diligence, a strict reading regime, the desire, in spite of everything, to follow the plan. Absent-mindedness is characteristic of those who do not recognize the reading regime, they take it for one thing, then for another. Accurate execution of the planned contributes to the formation of high concentration, sustained attention.

Control over reading, fixing what has been read in memory contribute to the education of attention. If any thoughts distract from reading and even a significant effort of will does not help, you should switch, do something else. This will help to come to a balanced state and after a while to start reading again.

So, attention is a common property of phenomena and processes that make up human mental activity. It directs and expediently organizes such mental processes as perception, memory, thinking, accompanying each of them.

A person in the waking state is incapable of being completely inattentive. His attention is always focused on one or another object of activity, causing a clearer and more distinct flow of mental processes related to this object. Attentive perception is a kind of filter for irritations not related to the selected object.

In the process of work, a periodic analysis of attention is necessary for the most important indicators:

Concentration of attention;
attention span;
distribution of attention
switching attention;
amount of attention.

The best way to cultivate attention is to always try to be attentive.. L. S. Vygotsky put forward and substantiated the following proposition: managing oneself is a more complex process than managing others. The transition to self-management, the step from subordination to self-management is a higher stage of personal development.

16. General characteristics of memory. Physiological mechanisms of memory. The value of memory in human life and activity.

Attention is of three types: involuntary, voluntary and post-voluntary.

Involuntary attention is characterized by the fact that the orientation and concentration of mental activity are involuntary, that is, the goal is not even set to be attentive. Involuntary attention arises by itself when acting stimuli that suddenly arise are bright and strikingly different from the general monotonous “gray” background, or when the stimulus object is interesting and entertaining. For example, involuntary attention is caused by a loud siren signal on the street, a bright advertisement, an interesting story or an action-packed book. Another example of involuntary attention is the monotonous sea watch on a ship on the high seas, when suddenly a flock of frolicking dolphins appears overboard. A sailor on watch can retell in detail the trajectories of dolphins jumping out of the water, although watching them was not part of his duties. His attention involuntarily fixed unusual facts.

Voluntary attention differs from involuntary in that it is motivated and directed to an object under the influence of decisions made and goals set. It is the result of our intention, the targeted effort of the will.

Thus, voluntary attention is qualitatively different from involuntary, which does not prevent it, however, from being closely related to our feelings, interests and previous experience. But if interests with involuntary attention are intuitively direct, then with voluntary attention they are mainly indirect in nature. This is the interest of the goal, the interest of the subsequent result of the activity. The activity itself may not occupy us directly, but since its performance is necessary for the solution of the task, it often becomes exciting in connection with this goal.

Post-voluntary attention is a kind of attention that, like voluntary attention, is purposeful, but does not require constant volitional efforts to be realized. For example, sometimes when reading, it is difficult to keep your attention on the content: it is difficult, boring, and even not particularly important to you. But at some point, imperceptibly for ourselves, we stop making an effort on ourselves: we read without tension and the subject of reading captivates us. Attention changed from voluntary to post-voluntary. From what has been said, it follows that the normal process of reading is accompanied by constant fluctuations in attention, which to a large extent determine the pace and quality of reading. It is clear that fast reading requires increased attention. When reading a text, involuntary attention depends mainly on the author - on his skill, and arbitrary - on the reader himself. Thus, attention predetermines the psychological activity of the reader - his mood and readiness. At the same time, it greatly affects the understanding of the text, and the accuracy and depth of assimilation of the content. When reading, it is very important not only to direct attention, but also to maintain it for a long time.

A high degree of concentration of attention is called its concentration.

The success of fast reading also depends on the concentration of attention. It is facilitated by relative silence and the absence of distractions. The productivity of attention is determined by the general state of a person, his emotional mood; if he is tired or upset about something, it is difficult for him to achieve a good concentration of attention. Therefore, it is recommended to read with a fresh mind and in a good mood, and if this is not possible, then after a little rest. You need to be able to alternate activities: reading, rest, writing, etc. Finally, attention also depends on the content of the book, article, educational text being read. If they are incomprehensible to the reader, attention subsides. N. K. Krupskaya said: “To take on an unbearable book means to waste strength and waste time in vain.”

Undesirable and involuntary distraction from an overly light text. It must be remembered that any text, as an object of perception, is characterized by two sides: content and form. Each of these aspects can be an object of attention.

Scientists have established that the normal state of a person when reading a text is the focus of consciousness on the semantic content of the material and its focus on this. Here the setting is of great importance - how and what to read - the focus of attention on one or another aspect. It has been experimentally established that when perceiving a text, attention is attracted to:

• 1) individual keywords essential for understanding the content;
• 2) new or incomprehensible words that make it difficult to understand the text;
• 3) words that differ in the features of the configuration form.

Highlighting the perception of these words during reading affects the understanding of the text in different ways, depending on their belonging to one or another of the above groups. If attention is focused on the words belonging to the first group, then this has a positive effect on understanding the general content of the text. If the words of the second group are highlighted, this always disrupts the understanding of the text - attention is focused on the incomprehensible, and individual words begin to act as a psychological barrier that prevents understanding the entire text and reduces the speed of reading.

Recent studies by Prof. P. Ya. Galperin and his co-workers showed that attention should be considered as a separate form of mental activity. It follows from this that concentration, like any other action, must be specially taught.

Prof. Yu. B. Gippenreiter in his works also pays special attention to visual attention as a specific internal mechanism. The basis of visual attention at eye level is the phenomenon of a pulsating operational field of vision, which coincides mainly with the zone of clear vision. The work of Yu. B. Gippenreiter showed that a characteristic feature of the operational field of vision is the extreme mobility of its boundaries. Most often, it takes the size and configuration of the object perceived at the moment. This phenomenon is called variscopy. One can imagine the operational field of view in the form of a situation where the beam of a spotlight, as it were, “rummages” over a page of text. Such a beam not only moves across the page simultaneously with the movement of the eyes, but also changes the size of the light spot that illuminates different parts of the text. The ability to expand the size of the light spot of text perception is perhaps the most important characteristic of the visual attention of a person who can read quickly. Another characteristic of the work of visual attention is its level intensity. Subjectively, this is expressed in varying clarity or in varying degrees of awareness of the visual content to which the gaze is currently directed. If we continue the analogy with a searchlight, then this property is analogous to the degree of brightness of a spotlight spot. During reading, such a spot not only moves across the page of text, changes its size and shape, but also changes in brightness, sometimes intensifying, sometimes weakening, sometimes fading altogether. In the latter cases, a state of mental blindness or an unseeing gaze sets in, in which your attention seems to fade.

It follows from this that one must be able to arbitrarily control attention when reading with the help of skill and volitional efforts. This is the main thing when training attention - the most important parameter of mental activity.

In conclusion, let's sum up some results.

Attention is a kind of catalyst for the reading process. The effectiveness of reading largely depends on how the reader is able to control their attention. It determines the pace of reading, and the fatigue associated with this process also affects it. Both a very high (more than 8000 characters/min) and a slow pace of reading (less than 600 characters/min) are tiring and contribute to a decrease in attention.

Reading in conditions of involuntary attention is most effective. When mastering the method of fast reading, it is necessary first of all to develop voluntary attention, and then to form a post-voluntary skill from a stable voluntary one.

Practical instructions for training and developing all types of attention involve the implementation of special exercises.

Skills fast reading very important in today's world. Development in the conditions of a constant influx of new information becomes a vital skill, and one of the components of this skill is on a readable text.

Development of concentration- a process that can be purposefully pursued. The absence of this skill is expressed, for example, in the fact that you have to constantly return to the read text and re-read it. The more often you return. the lower your reading speed will be.

How to develop concentration of attention? One of the most effective methods is to increase interest in the text being read. interest and attention are interconnected. You yourself have probably noticed more than once how, when reading an interesting book, the speed of assimilation of information increases.

To increase interest, try turning reading even uninteresting material into a game. In the game, excitement is important. Try to define the rules of the game as clearly as possible, and the conditions for winning in it. It can be a competition with friends, or maybe setting personal records - in speed, in the number of pages, in the amount of time, in the quality of the information mastered, in the speed of achieving the goal.

Also, to increase interest, it will be useful to increase motivation. List for yourself all the benefits that you will receive by studying the desired material. After that, visualize them using lists, drawings, and get to work.

Try entering a trance state characterized by increased alertness and concentration. Such a state is often called creative inspiration, but in fact, this is not a very accurate definition, because such a state can be evoked at will.

The physical condition of the body also affects the concentration of attention when reading. If a person does not get enough sleep, or feels bad, or is upset with something, then the concentration of attention will leave much to be desired. The more you rest before reading, the calmer and less emotional you are, the better your ability to absorb what you read will be.

Take breaks, and rest does not have to be idleness - just change the type of activity.

Use biological rhythms. It is better to learn theoretical information in the first half of the day, and skills related to muscle work in the second half.

Don't forget about proper nutrition . A very good rule can be applied to the development of concentration, health and well-being - 80% of the food should be raw vegetables and fruits, and 20% processed food, including cereals, meat and fish. Start eating like this, and your brain's abilities will increase, you will stop getting tired, and you will feel great.

Also, the speed of reading is affected by how simply and clearly the text is written. As soon as you come across an unfamiliar word - that's it, you can stop reading further, the meaning slips away, attention is scattered. Therefore, it is important to fully understand everything that is written.

Turn off obsessive extraneous thoughts that can distract you from reading. Focus on the material being read. If you are afraid of forgetting something extraneous, do not keep it in your memory, write it down on a piece of paper.

Despite the importance of techniques for expanding the angle of view, as well as suppressing the pronunciation of the text when reading, it should be noted that if the reader is not concentrated, then the speed and quality of assimilation of the material will be at a low level.

What Factors Affect Reading Concentration?

1. The physical state of the body.
2. Inappropriate reading material.
3. Extraneous irritants.
4. Lack of motivation.

How does the state of the reader's body affect the speed of reading?

If a person does not get enough sleep or is not healthy enough, then the percentage of assimilation of information will be at a low level. The more rested the reader is before reading, the more information will be remembered.

Biological rhythms affect the memorization of information:

Theoretical information is best learned in the morning, and techniques related to muscle memory in the evening.

Rest and concentration in action

Breaks should be taken between lessons. Rest is not necessarily living on the couch - the best rest is a change of activity.

Are there special diets for the concentration of brain effort?

Scientists are developing special diets for people involved in extreme activities. For example, special diets exist for astronauts and politicians. There is a very simple rule of health and well-being - 80% of the food consumed should be fresh - this is how the first persons of the state eat.

According to the remark of people who work in the Federal Security Service, the first persons of the state eat a very restrained diet. 80% of what they eat is raw vegetables or fruits, and 20% is meat and processed foods.

Change your diet according to the 80/20 principle (80% raw vegetables and fruits and 20% processed food) and your brain capacity will increase. Fatigue and headaches will disappear.

How text thesaurus affects reading comprehension and speed

The simpler and more understandable the text is written, the more simply it is perceived by the reader.

What is a thesaurus

Thesaurus is a special terminology, a collection of information, a corpus or code that fully covers the concepts, definitions and terms of a special field of knowledge or field of activity. Unlike an explanatory dictionary, the thesaurus allows you to identify the meaning not only by definition, but also by correlating the word with other concepts and their groups, which can be used to fill the knowledge bases of artificial intelligence systems.

How do unfamiliar words affect the speed of assimilation of texts?

In order to understand how unfamiliar terminology affects reading speed, let's do a little experiment. Read the phrase in different languages ​​and think about how easy it was for you to understand the text.

In Russian

Have you noticed that some people read at the speed of light and implement what they read, while others take years to open the first page of a book?

Ukrainian language

Have you noticed that some people read the light of the day and read it again, just like others need it, to open the first side of the book?

English language

Have you ever noticed that some people read the speed of light and introduce old, whereas others require years to open the first page of the book?

Georgian language

ოდესმე შენიშნა , რომ ზოგიერთი ადამიანი წაკითხვის სინათლის სიჩქარით და დანერგვა წლის , ხოლო სხვები მოითხოვს წელი გახსნა პირველ გვერდზე წიგნი ?

Texts in Russian are easier to perceive. The same pattern can be observed when reading specialized literature. The closer and more understandable language will be used when writing the text, the faster and easier it will be read.

How to choose the right reading material?

Be guided by the following principles when choosing literature:

• Before reading, review the text and note how clear the author's language is.
• Write down unfamiliar words. The more incomprehensible words there are, the slower the reading speed will be.
• Pay attention to the examples given by the author.

If the choice of books is not large, then stick to the following reading algorithm:

1. Look through the book from fifth to tenth.
2. Postpone the text for a few days.
3. Read the text in depth.
4. Take notes in a notebook.

Read books with incomprehensible terminology in two passes. For the first time, you get acquainted with incomprehensible words. By reading a second time, you clean up and assimilate the material, while assimilating the structure of knowledge more fully.

But what if it is psychologically difficult to convince yourself to read the book a second time?

Choose 3-5 books in the area you need and quickly read them sequentially. Such a reading algorithm will overcome the psychological barrier of "re-reading".

How do outside stimuli affect brain function?

If you are an "audilist" - then you perceive information through sound channels, extraneous noise will be a serious problem for you while reading.

Here are some tips for those who are annoyed by side conversations:

1. Study in the library or where the noise level is minimal.
2. Use headphones while exercising. Turn on calm music or the noises of nature (the cry of seagulls, or the rustle of leaves).
3. Practice late in the evening when everyone has gone to bed or early in the morning.

How to turn off intrusive thoughts

In addition to auditory stimuli, there are stimuli that have settled in the mind and require attention. Obsessive thoughts spin in a circle and do not allow you to focus on an important matter.

Here is an example of intrusive thoughts:

• Did I close the car?...
• The deadline for submitting the report is coming soon, I don't have time...
• What did my "friends" write on Facebook?
• Did I close the car? Need to check...
• The report is on the nose, but there is no time ...

If you have such thoughts swirling in your mind, it is very difficult to concentrate and start reading carefully.

Ways to turn off intrusive thoughts.

1. Get into physical work. As a minimum, push up from the floor 20 times. Take a walk or do a set of stretching exercises.
2. Replace the annoying emotion with an even stronger one. For example, imagine what happens if you succumb to the harmful influence of the blues.
3. Make a promise to yourself to tackle the questions that are spinning in your mind a little later.

Important!

Carry out procedures to turn off thoughts, regardless of whether you feel an influx of obsessive thoughts or not. It often happens that after cleansing procedures, like after a hot shower, the body begins to feel how it was tense.

Lack of motivation and reading speed

It is important to note that if the reader has no interest in the book, then the reading speed and the reading absorption rate will be almost zero.

How to motivate yourself to read?

Motivating in a strict understanding of oneself is almost impossible.

What is a motive?

"motive"- this is literally translated - a stick for chasing cattle. Will you drive yourself with a "stick"? Others can motivate you by scaring you with expulsion from the institute or frustrated orders, but more humane measures should be selected for yourself.

You can motivate yourself to read only by interest and the possibility of practical application of the acquired knowledge.

How to maintain interest in classes at a high level?

To maintain interest in the work you're doing, try switching to something else as soon as your focus begins to fade. It's like how athletes train: do five push-ups, sit down five times, pull up five times, run a lap... and do five push-ups again.

You must have a switch plan prepared in advance. For example, like this:

• Editing article "A"
• I am reading book B.
• Editing the program "B".

It is in this mode that I write this text. Initially, I made a plan. Then I began to work in more detail on each item of the plan. As soon as I feel a loss of interest or fatigue, I switch to another activity, such as editing photos or writing programs or drawing. After a short period of time, I again take up editing the text.

This mode of keeping the mind in good shape works well because the mind constantly requires changes. If there are no changes, then interest is instantly lost.

Psychological sublimation before reading

You can also use another way to sublimate interest in reading. The method consists in visualizing the future result.

How to spark your imagination and get interested in reading

1. Visualize what you want to avoid. Color this picture in dark colors. For example, imagine how you go to a boring and uninteresting job, listen to the orders of a nervous boss ...
2. Visualize what you are striving for. Color the picture of the future in bright colors. For example, you are doing what you love.
3. Alternately call up a positive picture, then a negative picture, alternate them.

Keep an eye on yourself as you watch an imaginary movie. As soon as there is interest in the activity you are planning, get to work immediately!

Why a Slow Reader Has No Interest in Reading

Let's think about yourself in the exam, when you didn't learn the question you need to answer. And lo and behold, your neighbor gives you a peep at the cheat sheet. How long will it take you to remember what is written in the clue? I'm sure one moment will be enough.

People read slowly because they have no idea why they need the information they receive.. At the same time, it should be borne in mind that motives like " I will learn subjects, get a red diploma, become a good specialist and make a lot of money These are just words - there is absolutely no specifics in them. There are many tricks in this phrase.

Here are some of the catches:

1. How well do you need to study in order to pass the subject?
2. Does a diploma guarantee that I will be a good specialist?
3. Do good specialists always get big money?
4. To what extent does this idea correspond to the realities of the world?

As a rule, a slowly reading person starts reading at the moment when his level of psychic energy is most reduced. And, as a result, he reads without interest at the lowest speed.

What should be done to increase interest in reading?

The more specific the task before you, the more clearly you will understand what you lack to achieve it, the more interest you will read and memorize the text.

The patterns of increasing interest in the case are very simple:

1. Without an understanding of the practical application of the material being read, reading will be a mere waste of time.
2. The clearer the presentation of the future result, the stronger the motivation.
3. If visualization is not possible, such as with passing an uninteresting exam, then imagine what happens after a successful pass and what happens if the exam is not passed.
   

Development of attention and memorization of the information read

A person who has no interest in reading is said to be inattentive.

Lack of attention is manifested as follows:

• Periodically, the reader loses the thread of the story. He is in a sleepy state.
• The reader constantly returns to the same sections of the text.
• The reader does not understand what he should understand after reading.

What is attention:

Attention is the ability to keep the focus of consciousness on a particular subject. Like many qualities, attention can be trained.

How to test attention?

Most often, attention is trained by performing monotonous operations. For example, they ask you to multiply three-digit numbers. Perhaps, at first glance, it seems that the intermediate results from the calculations cannot be kept in mind, but this indicates an insufficient development of attention.

Attention is the catalyst for reading

The role of attention in reading is exceptionally great. Attention also determines to a large extent the effectiveness of many other types of human activity. Attention is one of the signs of will. The degree of concentration or organization of attention is an indicator of reading speed.

According to the figurative expression of K. D. Ushinsky, “attention is exactly the door through which everything that only enters the soul of a person from the outside world passes.”

So, attention plays a huge role in human life. It is with its help that other mental processes become complete. Where there is no attention, there is no conscious attitude of a person to what he is doing.

What is attention? It cannot be considered an independent mental process like emotions, thinking, memory. It does not exist outside of them. We can attentively perceive, think, remember, but it is impossible to be simply attentive, regardless of perception, thinking, memorization.

Psychologists call attention the selective direction of creation when doing a certain job. Reading is an activity in which attention is especially important. Indeed, it is possible to study the method of fast reading as a theory, but without the ability to concentrate, to organize attention, this method is unlikely to be applied. This means that learning to read quickly should include concentration as an obligatory element in the development of mental concentration skills. And for this, first of all, it is necessary to know the reasons that cause the formation of sustained attention, its maintenance and disappearance.

From the point of view of physiology, according to the teachings of IP Pavlov, attention can be explained by the law of induction of nervous processes. According to this law, excitation processes that occur in one area of ​​the cerebral cortex cause inhibition in other areas (negative induction). Conversely, inhibition in one part of the cortex entails excitation in other parts of the cortex (positive induction). The phenomenon of induction occurs immediately, as soon as a sufficiently concentrated focus of excitation or inhibition appears in one or another point of the cortex.

Thus, at each moment of time in the cerebral cortex of a thinking person there is a certain focus of increased excitability, characterized by the most favorable, optimal energy conditions for excitation. “If it were possible,” said I. P. Pavlov, “to see through the skull cover and if the place of the cerebral hemispheres with optimal excitability” shone, then we would see in a thinking conscious person how a constantly changing in form moves around his cerebral hemispheres and the size of a bizarrely irregular outline of a bright spot, surrounded by a more or less significant shadow in the rest of the hemispheres.

It is this “bright spot”, which can simultaneously cover different areas of the cortex, that corresponds to a clearer awareness of what influences us from the outside and causes this increased excitation, i.e., the effect of concentration.

Of great importance for clarifying the physiological foundations of attention is also the principle of dominance, put forward by A. A. Ukhtomsky. According to this principle, there is always a dominant, dominating focus of excitation in the brain. It seems to attract to itself all the side excitations entering the brain, due to which it dominates them to an even greater extent. The basis for the emergence of such a focus is not only the strength of the primary irritation, but also the internal state of the nervous system. On the psychological side, this is expressed in attention to some stimuli and distraction from others that are acting at the moment. There are people who are born with perseverance. As A. A. Ukhtomsky established, the focus of optimal dominant excitability is not only not weakened, but even intensified by excitation caused by the action of mild side stimuli.

As observations on the reading process show, many readers in those moments when they do not understand the text or get tired, involuntarily look at a distracting object, such as a picture hanging on the wall, look out the window or listen to extraneous quiet sounds. Such momentary distraction of attention creates some relaxation in intense mental work. Distracting concentration contributes to the subsequent concentration of attention on the desired subject. But this happens only if extraneous stimuli do not cause a complete shift of attention (for example, loud noise, loud speech, a type of thunderstorm with thunder and lightning) or lethargy and drowsiness (rhythmically, monotonously acting weak stimuli for a long time).

Proper organization of attention is of great importance for human mental activity. What role it plays in the learning process can be found out, for example, by considering various ways of organizing attention when taking notes on the teacher's speech directly while listening to it in the classroom.

Three ways to organize attention in the classroom. Perception can be built in such a way that almost all attention will be paid to compiling a summary.

Basically, RAM works here, and the recording goes almost under dictation. When checking, it turns out that the student did not understand much. You can learn the material in such a way that 50% of attention will be paid to compiling a summary, 50% to listening to new material without recording. This is a very common form. And finally, the third option. It was implemented in one of the experiments conducted in Moscow. There was no recording of what was heard. One hundred percent attention was focused only on understanding. Here, after the presentation of the material, the first stage of understanding is reached, very vague questions arise (the arrows show an appeal to the teacher), then the incomprehensible material is repeated, more questions, then there is a desire to write down. After a while, questions are asked again, and, finally, assimilation. The result of such work is a record of what has been learned in the “language of one’s own thoughts”.

This algorithmic scheme proved to be the most productive. Obviously, it is advisable to adhere to it when studying the educational material on your own.

Three kinds of attention

Attention is of three types: involuntary, voluntary and post-voluntary.

Involuntary attention is characterized by the fact that the directed and concentrated mental activity are involuntary, that is, the goal is not to be attentive. Involuntary attention arises by itself when the acting stimuli are clearly different from the general monotonous “gray” background, or when the stimulus object is interesting and entertaining. For example, involuntary attention is caused by a loud siren signal on the street, colorful advertising, an interesting story or an action-packed book. Another example: a flock of frolicking dolphins appears overboard a ship in the open sea. A sailor on watch can retell in detail the trajectories of dolphins jumping out of the water, although watching them was not part of his duties. His attention involuntarily fixed unusual facts.

Arbitrary attention is motivated and directed to the object under the influence of the decisions made and the goals set. It is the result of our intention, the targeted effort of the will. Voluntary attention is qualitatively different from involuntary, which does not prevent it, however, from being closely connected with our feelings, interests and previous experience. But if the interests with involuntary attention are intuitively direct, then with arbitrary attention they are mainly indirect in nature. This is the interest of the goal, the interest of the subsequent result of the activity. The activity itself may not occupy us, but since its implementation is necessary for the solution of the task, it often becomes exciting.

Post-voluntary attention is also purposeful, but does not require constant volitional efforts to be realized. For example, sometimes when reading, it is difficult to keep our attention on the content: it is difficult, boring, and even not particularly important to us. But at some point, imperceptibly to ourselves, we stop making an effort on ourselves, we read without tension, and the subject of reading captivates us. Attention has changed from voluntary to slepervoluntary. From what has been said, it follows that the normal process of reading is accompanied by constant fluctuations in attention, which to a large extent determine the pace and quality of reading. When reading a text, involuntary attention depends mainly on the author and his skill, while voluntary attention depends on the reader himself. Thus, attention predetermines the psychological activity of the reader - his mood and readiness. At the same time, it greatly affects the understanding of the text, and the accuracy and depth of assimilation of the content. When reading, it is very important not only to direct attention, but also to maintain it for a long time.

A high degree of concentration of attention is called its concentration. The success of fast reading also depends on the concentration of attention. It is facilitated by relative silence and the absence of distractions. The productivity of attention is determined by the general state of a person, his emotional mood: if he is tired or upset about something, it is difficult for him to achieve a good concentration of attention. Therefore, it is recommended to read with a fresh mind and in a good mood, and if this is not possible, then after a little rest. You need to be able to alternate activities: reading, rest, writing, etc. Finally, attention also depends on the content of the book, article, educational text being read. If they are incomprehensible to the reader, attention falls.

Undesirable and involuntary distraction from an overly light text. It must be remembered that any text as an object of perception is characterized by two sides: content and form. Each of these aspects can be an object of attention. Studies conducted by psychologists have shown that attention should be considered as a separate form of mental activity. It follows from this that concentration, like any other action, must be specially taught.

A special place in reading belongs to the so-called visual attention. It is based on the phenomenon of a pulsating operational field of vision, which coincides mainly with the zone of clear vision. A characteristic feature of the operational field of vision is the extreme mobility of its boundaries. Most often, it takes the size and configuration of the object perceived at the moment. One can imagine the operational field of view in the form of a situation when a searchlight beam, as it were, fumbles over a page of text. Such a beam not only moves across the page simultaneously with the movement of the eyes, but also changes the size of the light spot that illuminates the text.

The ability to expand the size of the light spot of text perception is perhaps the most important characteristic of the visual attention of a person who can read quickly. And a different clarity or a different degree of awareness of the content to which the gaze is directed at a given moment is expressed by the intensity of visual attention. If we continue the analogy with a spotlight, then this “property is similar to the degree of brightness of a spotlight spot. During reading, such a spot not only moves across the page of text, changing its size and shape, but also changes in brightness, either increasing, or weakening, sometimes going out altogether. Then a state of mental blindness sets in, or an unseeing gaze, in which attention, as it were, goes out.

It follows that when reading, one must be able to arbitrarily control attention with the help of special techniques and volitional efforts. This is the main thing when training attention - the most important parameter of mental activity. Attention is a kind of catalyst for the reading process. The effectiveness of reading largely depends on how the reader is able to control their attention. It determines the pace of reading: both a very high and a slow pace of reading are tiring and contribute to a decrease in attention.

Reading in conditions of involuntary attention is most effective. When mastering the method of fast reading, it is necessary first of all to learn how to control voluntary attention, and then form the post-voluntary from a stable voluntary one.

The main reasons for inattention

Many schoolchildren often complain about absent-mindedness: “I didn’t pay attention”, “I switched off and didn’t hear.” Most people treat their inattention and absent-mindedness quite condescendingly, without attaching serious importance to this.

But at school, you may be aware of the high “price” of such absent-mindedness. “I ran through my eyes” - and now I have to re-read my homework a second time, again wasting time. And if you missed an important place in the textbook or were late for classes, missed the teacher's explanation of a complex theorem, for example, then this often makes life much more difficult. Absence can be divided into real and imaginary. They are based on the uneven development of individual properties of attention. The fact is that the various properties of attention - volume, distribution, switchability, stability are largely independent of each other. Attention, good in one respect, may have a number of disadvantages in another. Genuine absent-mindedness is characterized by high switchability and low attention span.

Imaginary absent-mindedness is sometimes called “professorial”. Outwardly, it can be similar to the first type: a person does not immediately answer the question posed, he passes it “by the ears”, does not pay attention to people, to what is happening around. However, its internal mechanisms are completely different than in the first case. If genuine absent-mindedness is the result of strong switchability and weak concentration, then imaginary absent-mindedness, on the contrary, is associated with excessive focus on one's thoughts, feelings, experiences, combined with low switchability to other objects, thoughts, feelings.

The presence of two opposite types of absent-mindedness proves that completely different psychological factors can be hidden behind apparently similar manifestations in human behavior.

Sometimes it is difficult to determine which particular property of attention is responsible for learning success. When they talk about your comrade as an attentive person, they mean not a separate property, but an integral characteristic of his personality.

What is observation

Sometimes there are people who are simply not accustomed to being attentive since childhood. They look around but see little. Here we encounter the second cause of absent-mindedness - the absence of the habit of observing. If your comrades in the class are asked to remember in detail and describe something from memory (for example, visiting the assembly hall where meetings are usually held), it turns out that they simply did not pay attention to some details. Recall how Sherlock Holmes "examined" his friend Dr. Watson:

You look, but you don't observe, and that's a big difference. For example, have you often seen the stairs leading from the hallway to this room?

How often?

Well, several hundred times.

Okay, how many steps are there?

How much? Didn't pay attention.

Exactly. Didn't pay attention. In the meantime, you've seen! This is the whole point. Well, I know it's seventeen because I saw and watched.

It can be objected that this is not necessary in the classroom and no one sets such a task in the classroom. And that you should not overload your memory and attention with a mass of insignificant details. All this is so. However, for successful study, to reduce the time you spend doing homework, attentiveness and observation in any, including the most unfavorable circumstances, are especially necessary and should become a habit, traits of your character, personality traits.

Mindfulness involves a certain attitude towards other people. This is expressed not only in the ability to notice, but actively respond to the mental state of the people around you, to be sensitive to them. Mindfulness leaves an imprint on the course of all cognitive processes and mental activity in general, and has a positive effect on its results.

Psychohygiene of attention

The ability to maintain active attention is also associated with the state of the human nervous system. Therefore, we will designate the third reason for inattention as a violation of the mental hygiene of attention. Here we will talk about its psychophysiological foundations.

As we noted earlier, the physiological basis of attention is an increase in the level of excitation in certain areas of the brain - the emergence of the so-called dominant. According to experts, the presence of a focus of optimal excitability provides the best reflection of what affects the brain under given conditions. This determines the essential role of attention in cognitive processes.

The change in the level of excitation depends on the action of two laws of induction and dominant. According to the first of them, excitation in one area of ​​the cerebral cortex leads to inhibition of others. So, if in the lesson you focused all your attention on listening to the teacher (i.e., the excitation in the auditory zone of the cerebral cortex is increased), then his “visual” attention decreases to a certain limit (i.e., the excitation in the visual zone of the cerebral cortex decreases brain). According to the law of dominance, weak excitations in other parts of the brain reinforce the leading dominant focus, increasing attention and concentration. In this regard, the role of human training is great.

A person accustomed to working in ideal “hothouse” sound conditions from childhood will not be able to fully study in the hall of a public library for some time: he will constantly be distracted by people passing by, their quiet whisper, etc. And, on the contrary, after a large room where there are many other guys in the extended day group, silence will interfere with you to study in “greenhouse” conditions.

And if quiet music sounds in the room where you study, does it work better or harder? For most people, quiet music helps them focus.

It is interesting to note that this pattern was widely used in ancient Greece, in the philosophical school of Aristotle, called the “peripatetics” or “walkers”, because learning there took place during walks. The founders of this school believed that physical activity is reflected in the concentration of attention, in intellectual activity. When “the body is warmed up by a walk”, then “the thought becomes more alive.” The accompanying habitual movements, which do not require close attention and great effort, have a positive effect on working capacity, on focusing attention. IP Pavlov wrote that for the active state of the cerebral cortex, a minimum amount of stimulation is necessary. That is why it is difficult to maintain concentration of attention for a long time in complete silence, in a passive, inactive position of the body. Attention lacks “reinforcing” impressions.

We emphasize once again that accompanying, parallel movements should be automatic, and sound impressions should not attract attention with their content.

How to manage your attention

Attention plays a big role in our development and practice. Therefore, the strengthening of our power over attention, its management, carried out through the education of voluntary attention, never loses its relevance.

Here we would like to say a few words about the relationship and interdependence of mastering the control of the attention of other people with the control of one's own attention. Psychologist L. S. Vygotsky at one time put forward and substantiated the position that managing oneself is more difficult than managing other people. Therefore, the transition from managing others to managing oneself, from subordination to self-government, is a higher stage of personal development.

Before moving on to consideration of exercises for training attention and tasks for determining the degree of your attention, we would like to emphasize one important circumstance. Attention is one of the parameters of mental activity that are most difficult to train.

Remember, 3 months is the minimum period during which you will notice some shifts in your attention by doing the attention training exercises. At the same time, you must remember that by improving your attention, learning to manage it, you solve the complex problem of increasing the productivity of many forms of mental and physical activity.

Now let's analyze your attention on the four most important indicators:

Concentration of attention;

Stability of attention;

Switching attention;

The amount of attention.

Concentration of attention

It is known that qualitatively, i.e. accurately, quickly and accurately, any work can be done only if you are as focused and attentive as possible. Otherwise, all efforts may be in vain.

From the course of physics, you are familiar with the example of lenses. So, the sun's rays, collected with a magnifying glass to a point, are able to burn through a sheet of paper or ignite a piece of wood. Likewise, the quality of the work performed, the problem being solved can be significantly improved if we succeed in concentrating our efforts and energy on them.

Strictly speaking, absolute, total attention can exist only for a very short time. Experiments have established that the maximum concentration of attention is possible within 30 seconds, maximum - 90 seconds. After this period, attention is dispersed and it is possible to “collect” it, direct it to the task being solved at the moment only thanks to certain efforts, strong-willed and physical. Thus, the concentration of attention can be defined as an active opposition to its dispersion, dispersal. One of the most important characteristics of high intelligence, as we already know, is precisely the clearly expressed ability to concentrate one's attention on the content of the problem under consideration.

Table 5

Test to determine the concentration of attention

Exercise. Determining the concentration of your attention and the possibility of developing this ability. You are offered a table form with 25 lines of numbers (Table 5). For 7 min. it is necessary to find in each row of the table and underline with a line from below all pairs of adjacent numbers, the sum of which is 10. For example:

A. 2 9 1 4 8 7 5 6 3 9 4 6 7 8 83 12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 7

Then, gaps or incorrectly marked pairs of numbers are counted. One point is assigned for each mistake. Enter your result by series in the table. 6.

Table 6

The results of the test "Concentration of attention"

Series No. 1 2 3

Number of penalty points

The task is performed in three series, with three forms. To do this, on three pieces of paper, rewrite all the numbers and letters from the table. 5 (be careful when doing work). There is a 3-5 minute break between episodes. After the end of each series, you need to write down the number of penalty points in the table. 6. Looking through the table, you should focus on the location of the numbers in the line so as not to miss the desired pair of numbers. Work as soon as possible. Do not go back to double check, it will affect your results. After 7 min. after starting work, stop and start counting passes.

Attention! If the work is not completed, the results are not taken into account.

Key for counting and analyzing results.

In total, there are 149 pairs of numbers in the form, the sum of which is 10. For each mistake - omission or incorrectly marked pair of numbers - one penalty point is assigned.

Table 7

Analysis of the results of the test “Concentration of attention” Characteristics of attention % errors

Number of penalty points High concentration 10% 0 to 26

Good concentration 20% 27 to 37

Satisfactory data 30% from 38 to 48

Poor concentration 40% 49 to 149

Analyze your successes according to the results of the test in Table. 7. This task can also be performed to test the success of developing your ability to concentrate. For the first six months, it is recommended to perform it once a month, then repeat the test after six months, and the results should be stored for comparative analysis.

Sustainability of attention

Of particular importance for achieving success in speed reading, in addition to concentration, is the stability of attention. It is these properties that distinguish people who are passionate about their work, who are able to disconnect from numerous side stimuli for the sake of the main one.

In one of the Indian tales, it is told about how attention span was used for the purpose of professional selection. Maharaja announced that he would take as his minister the one who walks along the wall around the city with a large vessel in his hands, filled to the brim with milk, and does not spill a single drop. Many walked, and along the way they were distracted, scared, and they spilled milk. “These are not ministers,” said the Maharaja. But here comes one. Neither screams, nor shots, nor tricks distracted his eyes from the overflowing vessel. “This is the minister,” said the Maharaja.

However, even with stable attention, there are short-term changes in intensity, fluctuations in attention, for example, the clock in your room is periodically “heard” now quieter, then louder, as if changing its sound. This is an example of the natural fluctuation of our attention. Experimental studies have shown that such primary fluctuations in attention occur with an average period of about 10-12 seconds. It should be emphasized that if our mental work were subject to fluctuations with a similar periodicity, then our activity would be simply impossible. In work, however, such small periods of fluctuations in attention do not constitute a general pattern and refer only to elementary impressions (as in the example with the clock). Fluctuations in attention are easy to observe with the help of so-called dual images. Look at 33. Is it a vase on a black background or two profiles on a white background? As soon as a person sees two images, fluctuations in attention come into force: the image begins to pulsate, as it were, the profiles, then the vase.

The image of a truncated pyramid (34) is also dual. It seems either convex, with its apex facing us, or deepened, with a rear wall extending into the distance. There are fluctuations in attention here: the wall seems to be approaching, then receding. But these hesitations can be removed if we set ourselves a new, more complex task.

Exercise. Checking the stability of attention. Imagine that in front of you is an image of your room, where you are sitting now and which needs to be furnished: arrange a table, chairs, hang a chandelier on the ceiling, lay a carpet on the floor, etc. While you are busy with this, there will be no hesitation in attention. An important conclusion follows from this simple exercise: to maintain the stability of attention, external and internal activity of the individual is necessary, one must constantly set new tasks for oneself.

Exercise. Training in managing fluctuations in attention, in increasing its stability. Observe 33 “vases” of two “faces” and with the tap of a pencil note the moments when you see a “face” and keep silence when you perceive the drawing as a “vase”. The number of strokes is recorded by your assistant for 1 minute.

Then, with the help of willpower, try to keep one or another image in the center of your attention, delay its change and again tap the pencil when changing the image. Compare the number of strokes with the first version of the exercise.

The proposed task can also be used as a training task for independent and verification and diagnostic work (the first six months - 1-3 times a month, and then about 1 time a year).

Distribution of attention

Dividing attention means focusing it on two different activities at the same time.

The ability to manage attention, to distribute it is especially necessary in the case when you have to perform two or more work at the same time. Many prominent people have had an amazing ability to distribute their attention. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, according to the memoirs of N. A. Semashko, could simultaneously listen to the speakers, lead the meeting, delve into the materials and write notes to the members of the Council of People's Commissars on certain issues. About N. G. Chernyshevsky, biographer A. P. Primakovsky writes: “Amazing ability to work allowed him to often carry out two jobs at the same time:

often he wrote an article for Sovremennik while simultaneously doing something else, such as dictating to the secretary a translation from Schlosser's German World History.

Naturally, the simultaneous performance of two types of activity leads to partial, and often to complete destruction of one of them. So, if a person performs simple arithmetic operations and at the same time listens to a story in order to reproduce it later, then the productivity of his work is reduced by almost half.

Usually, when studying the distribution of attention, the subject is asked to perform, separately and simultaneously, two tasks. The proposed tasks can be homogeneous, heterogeneous and have varying degrees of complexity. The efficiency of simultaneous and separate execution of tasks is compared.

Table 8

Test - “correction test”

Exercise. Test to determine the ability to distribute attention For this task, a test table is used. 8. You need 5 minutes. carefully looking through this table, as quickly as possible, cross out the letters c, k in different ways, and circle the letter a, for example:

Upon completion of the work, it is necessary to evaluate its accuracy and performance in order to use the data obtained both for primary self-diagnosis and for assessing the degree of development of one's ability to distribute attention after classes or independent work.

The indicator of work accuracy is calculated by the formula:

where A is the accuracy of work; E-number of correctly crossed out characters; O is the number of errors.

When O == 0, A = 1, in the presence of errors, A is always less than 1. The performance indicator is calculated by the formula P \u003d C * A, where P is productivity;

C is the number of characters viewed.

These indicators characterize the features of your activity not only in a given test situation, but also have a wider meaning for real learning activities. For example, if you are in 5 minutes. looked at 1500 signs and correctly evaluated 1350 of them, this means a high degree of ability to sustain attention.

Switching attention

Switching, or switchability, should also be singled out among the most important properties of attention for reading. It refers to the ability of a person to quickly move from one activity to another. Switchability means a conscious and meaningful movement of one's attention from one object to another or from one property, quality of the situation to another. Many note that it is difficult for them to break away from one and switch to another.

Obviously, switching attention in complex and rapidly changing conditions means the ability to quickly navigate them. The ease of shifting attention varies from person to person. Some easily move from one activity to another, while the other requires time and effort. It should be noted that the switchability depends on a number of conditions. These include, first of all, the relationship between the content of the previous and subsequent activities, as well as the attitude towards them: the more significant and interesting the previous activity was for you and the less significant and less interesting the subsequent activity, the more difficult it is obviously to switch, and vice versa.

In psychology, there are several methods for studying attention switching. First of all, it should be noted Schulte's methods and all possible modifications.

Exercise. To study the ability to perform actions that require constant switching of attention from one series of actions to another. Take the two Schulte charts you have already worked with when developing your peripheral visual field (see insert). Your task is to sequentially search for numbers from table A, then from table B. Moreover, if from table A the search for numbers goes “ascending” - from 1 to 25, then from table B - “descending” - from 25 to 1 For example: “I, 25; 2, 24 ... ”At the same time, unlike the previous rules, you must show the called numbers in the tables with a pen or pointer, and also note the time spent on work. Follow the dynamics of the exercise. Its execution time should decrease all the time.

attention span

In practice, the amount of attention is determined by the number of objects that a person can perceive, “grab” with a quick presentation. In psychological laboratories, a special device is used for this purpose - a tachistoscope (the name comes from the ancient Greek words takhis - “quickly”, scopeo - “look”). Letters, numbers, pictures are shown on the screen for a short time, and then the number of correctly perceived elements is counted. In other words, the scope of attention is the breadth of the area to which it can be extended.

Exercise. Determine the amount of attention. It is necessary to pre-prepare 6 squares 4X4 on a sheet of paper (Table 9). Then carefully consider the first figure in Table. 9 for 2-3 seconds, no more, and try to reproduce it as accurately as possible from memory. So consistently test yourself on all six figures.

For each correctly placed circle (or square) in the corresponding cell of the table, one point is awarded. If you get 49 points, you can conclude that the attention span is good. If you get less than 35 points, you need to still practice 1-2 times a month for the first half of the year, and then return to this exercise as needed for self-assessment and training.

Exercises to train attention

Before proceeding to the description of exercises for training attention, I would like to remind you that attention is a general property of the psyche, phenomena and processes that make up the bulk of human mental activity. Attention accompanies, directs and expediently organizes such mental processes as perception, memory, thinking, and imagination. But it is impossible to be occupied solely with one process of attention. At the same time, a normal person in a waking state is also not able to be absolutely inattentive. His attention is always attracted by something and focused on something, namely, on the object of activity.

It has been established that attention increases the efficiency of any mental activity. It causes a clearer and more distinct flow of mental processes. At the same time, attentive perception serves as a kind of filter for irritations that are not related to the object of attention.

Finally, attention turns out to be a mechanism by which our consciousness organizes its activity selectively, avoiding overload and directing it towards somehow satisfying the needs of the individual. Thus, the selective nature of attention serves as the main prerequisite for the expedient orientation of both mental and labor activity of the individual. And the mental activity of the person is directed to what is of the greatest importance for him at the moment.

Table 9

Test to determine the amount of attention

To obtain long-term sustainable attention, at least two conditions must be taken into account. Firstly, your general well-being affects the concentration and stability of attention. So, with a significant overstrain and fatigue, there is a deterioration in the stability of attention, a decrease in the so-called noise immunity, you are more often distracted by side impressions, it becomes more difficult to keep your attention on a certain lesson for a long time.

Secondly, the most essential condition for the stability of attention is the ability to reveal new aspects of communication in the subject on which attention is focused. Where the content of the subject does not give an opportunity to comprehend the possibility of further deepening into it, the prerequisites for easy distractibility are created and absent-mindedness inevitably sets in, caused by fluctuations in attention. Any monotony, monotony, lack of novelty in the information received can dull the attention of the recipient of information.

Offering the exercises we have chosen from a series of psychotechnical games used in sports, I would like to remind you that 3 months is the minimum period during which, by carefully performing the exercises, you can get positive results. Here is what one of the participants in the experimental speed reading courses wrote: “I never thought that attention training would give me so much, and not just for reading. It used to be very difficult to force myself to read the book I needed for an hour. There was always something distracting. And I myself responded to these “distractions” with pleasure. Now it’s very simple, as if inwardly ordering myself “to work, I really need it.” And imperceptibly for myself I am fond of the work itself. Reading even an uninteresting book suddenly becomes excitingly interesting. I also noticed that in the service in the design bureau it is very easy for me to disconnect from the outside world and completely go into the work being done.

Exercise 7.1. "Fingers"

Sit comfortably in a chair or chair. Interlace the fingers of the hands placed on the knees, leaving the thumbs free. Slowly rotate them one around the other at a constant speed and in the same direction, making sure that they do not touch each other. Focus on this movement. The first two weeks, you should perform the exercise daily for 5 minutes, then 10 minutes. Gradually, you need to bring the exercise to 15 minutes. The exercise makes it possible to trace the work of attention "in its purest form" due to the meaninglessness of the rotation of the fingers.

You must be prepared for the fact that the performance of this task may turn out to be unexpectedly difficult for you precisely because the object of concentration is too unusual. Perhaps you will become sleepy. Unusual sensations may also appear: an increase or alienation of the fingers, an apparent change in the direction of their movement. You need to force yourself to overcome these difficulties and fully concentrate on the movement being performed. You need to constantly monitor your condition. At some point, you suddenly find that you forgot about the instructions. The fingers rotate mechanically, the eye follows the movement of the cloud outside the window, and the thoughts are occupied with something completely different.

Exercise 7.2. "Fly"

The exercise is performed together with a training partner. For the exercise, you will need a board (30x30 cm) with a nine-cell 3x3 playing field drawn on it and a small suction cup (or a piece of plasticine). The sucker acts as a "trained fly". The board is placed vertically. The essence of the exercise is that the movement of the “fly” from one cell to another occurs by giving commands to it. According to one of four possible commands: up, down, right, left - the “fly” moves according to the command to the neighboring cell. Its starting position is the central cell of the playing field. Teams are given by the participants of the game in turn.

The players must, constantly monitoring the movement of the “fly”, prevent it from leaving the playing field. After preliminary training on the board, the game is played on an imaginary field, which each of the participants imagines on their mind's eye screen. If you or your friend lose the thread of the game - or see that the "fly" has left the field, the command "Stop!" is given. Having returned the “fly” to the central cell, you start the game again.

The “Fly” exercise requires constant concentration: as soon as any of the participants is distracted even for a moment or think about something extraneous, they will immediately lose the thread of the game and will be forced to stop.

Exercise 7.3. "Arrow"

Exercise is performed daily, two to three times a day. Within 3 min. watch the second hand move on your watch. The exercise does not seem very difficult at first. However, very soon you will find that you are no longer following the arrow, but are thinking about something completely different, while your attention should be riveted on the arrow all the time.

Exercise 7.4. “Green Dot Contemplation”

You have been doing this exercise for a long time and you are convinced of its effectiveness. Here we would like to remind you that the main task of the exercise - the achievement of "clear consciousness" - is solved the easier and faster, the more attentively and concentratedly the previous stage is performed.

Constant monitoring of one's condition is just that powerful learning factor that will help solve the problem.

What do we usually read? What we need is interesting, useful. Very rarely do we start reading a text knowing in advance that it is unnecessary and useless. In this exercise, we suggest reading books that are obviously uninteresting to us. But to read not mechanically, but creatively, following the switching of your attention. Initially, it has the character of a clearly arbitrary. You hardly force yourself to read the text. Everything seems boring to you. But suddenly an interesting thought came to mind. Something has attracted you. Unbeknownst to yourself, you carefully read the text, forgetting that the book is generally uninteresting to you. Attention becomes spontaneous. The ability to “get involved” in any work, to make it beloved is a great advantage that helps to carry out many types of human activity productively. What books to choose for this exercise? We recommend that you usually read books that are not your field of activity.

Note. As we noted earlier, exercises for training attention should be performed within 3 months. We recommend doing exercises 7.3 daily during this period. “Arrow” and 7.4. "Contemplation of the Green Dot". In addition, exercises 7.1 should be performed alternately every other day. “Fingers” and 7.2. "Fly"; exercise 7.4. perform 1-2 times a week.

Determination of reading speed

Read Control Text No. 7. Try to read it very quickly and carefully. Calculate your reading speed using the well-known formula and plot the results on your reading speed growth chart.

Control text No. 7 Volume 4600 characters

"TROIKA"

Contemporaries called him "Nekrasov of painting". Like Nekrasov's, the muse of the artist Vasily Grigorievich Perov has always been "a sad companion of the sad poor, born for labor, suffering and fetters ...". In his paintings, with unprecedented force, the bitter life of ordinary Russian people, doomed to poverty, lack of rights, back-breaking work, was reflected. The works that came out from under the brush of Perov were not intended for peaceful contemplation and admiration - they disturbed the peace, awakened the civil conscience, caused the desire to fight for a better Share.

The artist's heart especially ached for the fate of children who were forced from childhood to go “to the people”, for penny earnings to strain in factories and factories.

Each time, meeting the unfortunate, hungry children, Vasily Grigorievich could not calm down for a long time. It seemed to him that in his works there is no force that would make people cry evil tears, angrily clench their fists. More and more he was seized by the dream of painting a picture dedicated only to children, he began to see it more and more clearly. On sleepless nights, he imagined a winter, blizzard street, as if fenced off from people, from the bustle of the city by a gloomy monastery wall. Along the wall, up the street, children are carrying a huge barrel of water on a sled. They are exhausted, the icy wind penetrates through their shabby, holey clothes, but they all go, pulling heavy luggage. The barrel almost slipped off the icy sled - it's good that a passerby held her back.

In the mornings, Perov left the house and wandered the streets of Moscow for a long time, observing, making sketches, painfully thinking, groping for a composition that had never been easy for him. He already knew: there would be three children. The picture will be called: “Troika”. Apprentice artisans carry water.” But so far, Vasily Grigorievich has painted only two children, but he could not find the image of the third one.

“For a long time I was looking for him, but, despite all the searches, the type I had conceived did not come across,” Perov later wrote in the story “Aunt Marya” (he was also a talented writer). “However, once in the spring, it was at the end of April, on a magnificent On a sunny day, I somehow wandered near the Tverskaya Zastava ... In an empty watch house with boarded up windows, on a dilapidated porch, I saw a large crowd of tired pedestrians. Some of them sat and chewed some kind of bread, others, sweetly falling asleep, scattered under the warm rays of the brilliant sun. The picture was attractive! I began to peer into her details and, to the side, I noticed an old woman with a boy. The old woman was buying something from a fidgety peddler. Coming closer "to the boy, I was involuntarily struck by the type that I had been looking for for so long."

Perov hardly persuaded the old woman to let him paint the boy:

she feared it was a great sin. And only for a good payment, she finally agreed to come to the workshop.

The twelve-year-old boy posed calmly. Perov painted ardently, quickly, and the old woman, who actually turned out to be much younger than the artist initially assumed, quietly told that she had buried her husband, children, and that she had only Vasenka left - her only joy.

Shortly after this meeting, the picture was completed and appeared before the audience at one of the exhibitions. Transferred to the canvas, such a scene, common for the Moscow streets of that time, according to contemporaries, “broke hearts”. “Which of us,” wrote critic V. Stasov, “does not know Perov’s Troika, these Moscow children who were forced by the owner to drag a huge vat of water on sleds over sleet? .. An expression of hopeless suffering, traces of eternal beatings were drawn on their weary pale faces; a whole life is told in their tatters, in their poses, in the heavy turn of their heads, in their tortured eyes...” The artist intentionally muted the color of the picture, using mostly dark tones that cause an anxious mood and pain.

Troika was bought by Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov. A few years later, an old woman once came to Perov's apartment. The artist did not recognize her at first: she had changed so much! The guest could not utter a word for a long time:

non-stop crying. Then she said that her son had died of smallpox, and having buried him, she sold her simple property, worked the winter with her master, saved up some money and now came to buy a painting “where her son was written off.” Perov replied that the picture no longer belonged to him, but you could look at it, and took the old woman to the Tretyakov Gallery.

“Having come to the room where the picture hung, which the old woman so convincingly asked to sell, I left it to her to find this picture,” Perov recalled. “I confess, I thought that she would look for a long time, and perhaps she would not find expensive her features; all the more so it could be assumed that there were a lot of paintings in this room. But I was wrong. She looked around the room with her meek glance and quickly went to the picture where her dear Vasya really was depicted. Approaching the picture, she stopped, looked at it, clasped her hands, somehow unnaturally cried out: “You are my father! You are my dear, here is your tooth knocked out! ”- And with these words, like grass, cut by a wave of a scythe, fell to the floor ...”

Vasily Grigorievich promised Aunt Marya to paint a portrait of her son and send it to her in the village, wrote down the address. A year later, he kept his word. In response, I received a letter of gratitude, in which it was reported that she “hung the face of Vasenka to the images and prays to God for his reassurance.” “A good five or six years have passed, and even now the image of a little old woman with her small face, cut with wrinkles, with a rag on her head and with hardened hands, but with a great soul, often flashes before me.” So Perov ends the story connected with his immortal Troika.

T. Ivanova // Agro-industrial complex of Russia.-1988.-No. 2.