Test Your Concentration

Attention and concentration are closely linked. You have to pay attention to achieve real concentration. So attention always precedes concentration.

Concentration span, like attention span varies from one person to another. Habits on concentration play a part as well. If you are used to concentrating in a noisy environments then you may have trouble in paying attention in a quiet room.

Everyone can improve their ability to concentrate by spending a little time each day exercising their mind.

Try the following three exercises. Concentrate hard and try to play as quickly as possible. At the end, find out which one you found hardest and why.

Game One

Say the colours of these fruit drops aloud as rapidly as possible.

Game Two

Read the following words aloud-quickly!

Game Three

Say aloud what colour the following words are and NOT the actual colour.

The Results

You probably found the last exercise particularly difficult. This is because it brings together two contradictory kinds of information: one from reading the words and the other from recognising the colours.

The left side of the brain processes the first piece of information, while the latter is processed by the right side of the brain. Reading can happen automatically, as advertisers understand only too well.

So, you will first read the word (red) before perceiving and verbalising the colour of the font (green). And you have to make a great effort of concentration and attention to stop the first item of ‘read’ information from imposing itself.

If you really concentrate you will be able to perform this exercise more and more quickly.