Namita Education & Welfare Society

Siddharth B.Ed. College

Boradpada, Badlapur.

Course Name:
LEARNING AND TEACHING

Task 1:
EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY:
DIVISION OF ATTENTION

Name of the Student:

Class: FY B.Ed. 2021-22

Experiment 1
Title: Division of Attention

Introduction:
Attention is always present in conscious life and is common to all types of
mental activity. We must attend before we know, feel and act. To attend to an
object means to be aware of it more keenly and intensely than of anything else, to
hold it in the focus of consciousness. Generally it is found that in the simultaneous
performance both tasks suffer. The mental energy, instead of flowing in one
channel is flowing in two and the supply available for each is less.

Objective:

1) To find out the possibility of division of attention between two muscular task,
two mental task and one muscular and one mental task.

Materials: A stopwatch, paper and pencil

Procedure:

Part 1: Two muscular tasks

 S is asked to draw with his right hand, horizontal dashes on the paper as
quickly as possible for a period of one minute.
 Count the total number of dashes and denote it by S1.
 He is asked to draw with his left hand, vertical dashes as quickly as possible
for a period of one minute.
 Count the total number of vertical dashes and denote it by S2
 Then S is asked to do the two tow then S is asked to do the two tasks
simultaneously, namely, drawing horizontal dashes with the right hand and
vertical dashes with the left-hand for a period of one minute
 Count the number of horizontal and vertical dashes separately and denote
them by D1 and D2

Part 2: Two mental tasks

 S should count aloud every third number 1,4,7,10,13,16……. As fast as he

can; when he reaches 100 he is to begin again with one.
 Note the number correctly counted and denoted it by S1
 S should write down the letters of the alphabet for one minute. When he gets
to Z he should again begin with A.
 Count the number of letters correctly written and denote it by S2
 S should then try to perform both operations simultaneously, namely,
counting the number and at the same time writing down the letters for one
minute.
 Note the number correctly counted and the letters correctly written. Denote
them by D1 and D2.

Part 3: One mental and one muscular task

 The same procedure should be followed, one of the tasks will be drawing
vertical dashes and the other will be counting the numbers first-time
individually and second time simultaneously for one minute.
 Observations:

I II III
Two muscular task Two mental task One muscular +one
mental
S1 213 62 333
S2 130 156 146
D1 51 26 19
D2 51 26 19
D1+D2 51+51 26+26 19+19
S1+S2 213+130 62+156 333+146

Analysis:

 It was found that the multitasking required more time and efforts in

comparison to individual task.

 Since there was a diversion in concentration multi-tasking required more

focus.

 An individual task could be done more precisely as the entire attention was

on one task.

 Doing things with the right hand was more comfortable for the right handed

person.

 But such task makes no difference to a person who is Ambidextrous.

 Conclusion:

 Muscular task does not need too much attention.

 An individual task requires less time and energy than multitask.

 Multitasking is difficult which leads to clumsiness.

 A muscular task does not need a lot of attention.

 When we do the same task it will take less time and the product result would
be more.

 During the first task we had a lot of anxiety.

 Introspection:

 The tasks conducted were inclusive which reminded us to use both mental
and muscular energy.

 Some of the tasks were easy but using both the hands in a time frame was
difficult.

 It shows that it's easy to do an individual task but multiple tasking is difficult
saying that in the world like this we have to learn to multitask.

 Time management is essential and the need of the hour.

 Education implications

1) In the early stages, children find it difficult to write down while listening to the
teacher. Hence the teacher should first explain the matter and then write on the
blackboard.

2) In the lower classes if the teacher expects children to write a good hand and
also to write fast. Children find it difficult to achieve both.

3) When it is not essential, a teacher should not mix up issues such as time factor
and efficiency work.

4) The activities should be done one at a time.

5) The concepts should be related to the new concept.

6) The concept shouldn't be the de license of the teacher.

7) It should be effective.

8) The difficulty level of the content should be seen (simple to Complex Maxim).

9) We should give sufficient time to the exercises.

10) The priority should be time management.

Experiment:
Stage I- Two Muscular Tasks

Stage II- Two Mental Tasks

Stage III- One Muscular & One Mental Task
For Example: