The Maximum Concentration Time Of Children According To Their Age
Attention is a fundamental mental capacity for survival by allowing us to attend to various environmental stimuli. Human beings are capable of fixating on specific stimuli for more or less prolonged periods of time, so that they can capture the information relevant to said stimulation with greater precision and extract the maximum possible data from it.
But The period we can spend paying attention to something is not always the same, but it depends on the state of brain development. And the different mental faculties develop and expand throughout growth, as happens with concentration.
In this article we will see approximately what it is the maximum concentration time of children according to their age in children up to eight years old.
Attention is, as we have said, a basic and essential capacity since it enables focus cognitive resources on external stimulation and activate the body to act accordingly. It is the ability to direct, maintain or shift consciousness towards one or a group of stimuli.
There are numerous aspects that can be explored regarding the concept of attention, since it includes a wide variety of different aspects and processes such as the capacity for alertness and activation or orientation towards stimuli Among these different aspects we can find concentration.
Concentration is understood as the aspect of attention dedicated to maintain attention fixed on a specific stimulus, ignoring the existence of distractors (other possible stimuli that could interfere with the focused element). We are therefore faced with the ability to focus sustained attention on the part of the individual.
Concentrating on something allows you to be able to visualize and obtain as much information as possible regarding the element in question and the application of our voluntary cognitive resources in the service of contemplating, understanding, processing or working on the stimulus in question. Thus, we can study something or remain engaged in a specific activity for more or less long periods of time.
Evolution of concentration in children: maximum times according to age
The ability to concentrate is not something that remains unchanged. There may be different types of elements that allow a given person to remain more or less aware of a stimulation.
Strong distractions, the existence or absence of motivation, the emotional connection with the stimulus in question or the degree of novelty or routine it entails are elements to take into account. But apart from that, The maximum capacity for concentration varies throughout life whether due to evolutionary development or due to environmental or acquired aspects.
Regarding development, in order to concentrate it is necessary that our brain has reached a level of adequate maturation. Throughout our childhood the brain continues to grow and develop, gradually allowing different cognitive abilities to appear and expand. In this way, little by little the time that a child is able to focus his attention on something will vary and grow as his brain develops. The ability to concentrate tends to increase between three and five minutes per year of age until it stabilizes in adulthood.
Below we indicate an approximate calculation of the time that children up to eight years old can maintain concentration. These times establish an average interval since each person develops at their own pace and there may be subjects who may have greater or lesser performance when it comes to concentrating.
It is estimated that throughout the first year of life a baby’s ability to concentrate can grow little by little until it can be maintained between two and five minutes. At this age, children They do not stop observing everything and changing their focus of attention quickly unable to concentrate for more than a few minutes.
2. Second year of life
In the second year of life, children continue to develop their ability to concentrate, practically doubling the time compared to the previous year. Thus, They can keep it between four and eight or even ten minutes
3. Third year of life
At three years of age, the ability to concentrate can reach a quarter of an hour, and it is common for it to reach or exceed ten minutes. Until this age, concentration is maintained practically as long as the topic being discussed causes real interest, generally losing it in the presence of distracting stimuli. Voluntary attention would begin to emerge and to train from the age of three or four.
4. Fourth year of life
More or less from this age, the attention span can increase to twenty minutes, although even children whose capacity is around eight minutes would be average.
5. Fifth year of life
Studies show that during the fifth year of life concentration can be maintained between approximately ten and twenty-five minutes
6. Sixth year of life
Concentrating at six years of age is possible, specifically between twelve and thirty minutes due to the greater evolutionary development of the brain.
7. Seventh year of life
Seven-year-old children have a capacity for attention and concentration that is estimated to last on average. between twelve to thirty-five minutes
8. Eighth year of life
At eight years of age, it has been observed that the majority of the population can focus their attention between sixteen and forty minutes of time
The data previously reflected allow us to see in an approximate way (remember that each child will have his own maturation rate, so that the previous data are only an average of what would be expected) the attention capacity that infants can have throughout the life of the child. throughout its development period.
This can serve as a reference when establish different educational guidelines and not overexert minors an attention that they may not yet be able to provide because they require greater brain maturation. In this way, breaks or changes in activity can be established that break the attention focus and direct it to another aspect or activity (whether or not it focuses on the same topic).
For example, during a class the teacher can present a topic and then have them do exercises, so that attention moves from the presentation to the activity. The ability to concentrate, in this sense, would allow for more or less adequate monitoring depending on the age of the subject.
It must be taken into account, however, that the aforementioned times refer to sustained attention or continuous concentration on a single element over time, without factors such as emotion or motivation coming into play. More interactive elements that attract your interest such as games or movies They can be attended to more easily and mean that children concentrate more and for longer on them. This can also be used to promote learning.
Furthermore, concentration can be trained with different types of exercises, but care must be taken not to overload or overexert children since this can cause that they feel unmotivated, insecure and lower your self-esteem.
