ATTENTION, PERCEPTION AND MEMORY

Attention is taking cognizance of things around. To some extent children are influenced by their attentional bias (what they are interested in). these interests are governed by their curiosity, previous knowledge and ability to focus attention. Perception presupposes some attentional abilities. It is the process by which children detect, recognize and interpret information from the large number of things around. Perception helps to understand voice. He sees people on the road running and also runs because he concludes that there must be some danger. And when he hears the whistle of a train, he assumes that there is a train in the vicinity. These abilities strengthen in the course of normal development and can be improved and directed specifically to gain required knowledge. Memory is registering an event, keeping it stored and alive in the consciousness, and recalling it when needed. There are two main types of memory – recognition and recall. It is easier to recognize than to recall for most of us as there are sensory cues which aid recognition. The ability to remember accurately over a long time is governed by many factors. The first is superior mental ability, the second is ‘association’, that is, the contest in which the event occurred, the third is how important the event was and the last is the kind of repercussions the event generated. A child will not for get the day his teacher praised him during assembly.