Understanding The Science Of Focus

Please don’t worry – we are not going to use a lot of medical jargon in this article. But we do believe that it is important for you to know how focus works in your brain. So, we will explain the different processes that take place in the simplest terms for you.

 

When you Focus you Increase Neurotransmitters

 

When you focus there are a lot of things happening in your brain. You will create a lot more neurotransmitters such as acetylcholine, dopamine and norepinephrine. These will change your state and put your memory on alert.

 

The neurotransmitters that you produce while focusing are similar to those that you will produce if you are in a state of “fight or flight”. This is a good thing as they will make you feel a lot more alert and engaged with what you are doing. Your memory will be on alert and you should be able to remember more things.

 

It’s all going on in your Prefrontal Cortex

 

A number of neurotransmitters will form in the prefrontal cortex area of your brain when you focus. This is essential as it is the area of your brain which has access to such things as deep thought, planning, remembering things and other higher cognitive functions. These areas are collectively known as your “attention network”.

 

The attention network is very important and as you focus you change the brain waves there. Focusing hard on something produces beta waves in your prefrontal cortex. Determining what is important for you to focus on is the job of the “salience network”. This area of your brain includes the anterior cingulate cortex or ACC.

 

Salience Network

 

Your salience network is responsible for determining what is really important for you to focus on. When the salience network makes this decision, it will direct the attention network to increase your level of focus for this particular thing.

 

One of the great things about the salience network is that it has a strong connection to your motivation. This in turn will help you to keep focusing on a task as your motivation levels increase. There have been a number of experiments with animals where the salience network was removed. The result was that the animals gave up very easily even when hunting for food.

 

As soon as your salience network decides what you need to focus on it will release a flood of dopamine and norepinephrine and this will excite your limbic system and reach the hippocampus area of your brain. The result of this is that you will commit more of what you are experiencing to your long-term memory.

 

Your Attention can be Directed by Internal or External Factors

 

There have been a number of scientific studies that have proven that both internal and external factors can direct your attention. When you make a decision to focus on something important, this is called a “top down” attention direction. This is activated in the dorsal area of your brain.

 

It is also possible to direct your attention through an external factor such as a loud noise or some other distraction in your environment. This results in a switch in your attention through reflex process. Your ventral network will then direct your attention using a “bottom up” process.