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factor.Intenseandlonglastingstimulifacilitate simply due to the problem of attention. Box sustained attention and result in better 4.3 presents some interesting information performance. Temporal uncertainty is a about a disorder of attention. third factor. When stimuli appear at regular intervals of time they are attended better than when they appear at irregular intervals. PERCEPTUAL P ROCESSES Spatial uncertainty is a fourth factor. Stimuli In the previous section we have examined that that appear at a fixed place are readily the stimulation of sensory organs leads us to attended,whereasthosethatappearatrandom experience something such as, a flash of light locations are difficult to attend. or a sound, or a smell. This elementary Attentionhasseveralpracticalimplications. experience, called sensation, does not provide The number of objects one can readily attend us with any understanding of the stimulus to in a single glance is used to design the that stimulated the sense organ. For example, number plates of motorbikes and cars so that it does not inform us about the source of the the traffic police can easily notice them in the light, sound or fragrance. In order to make case of traffic rule violations (Box 4.2). A sense out of the raw material provided by the sensory system, we process it further. In doing numberofchildrenfailtoperformwellinschool Box 4.3 Attention Deficit H yperactivity Disorder (AD HD) This is a very common behavioural disorder found found to account for ADHD more reliably than other among children of the primary school age. It is factors.CurrentlyADHDisconsideredtohavemultiple characterised by impulsivity, excessive motor causes and effects. activity, and an inability to attend. The disorder isDisagreement remains over the most effective more prevalent among boys than among girls. If method of treatment of ADHD. A drug, called Ritalin, is notmanagedproperly,theattentiondifficultiesmay widely used, which decreases children’s over-activity persist into adolescence or adult years. Difficultyddistractibility,andatthesametimeincreasestheir insustainingattentionisthecentralfeature of this attention and ability to concentrate. However, it does not “cure” the problem, and often also results in such disorder, which gets reflected in several other domains of the child. For example, such children negative side-effects as the suppression in normal are highly distractible; they do not follow growth of height and weight. On the other hand, instructions, have difficulty in getting along withhavioural management programmes, featuring parents, and are negatively viewed by their peers.ositive reinforcement and structuring learning They do poorly in school, and show difficulties inaterialsandtasksinsuchawaythatminimiseserrors reading or learning basic subjects in schools in and maximises immediate feedback and success, have been found quite useful. Successful modification of spite of the fact that there is no deficit in their intelligence. ADHD is claimed with cognitive behavioural training Studies generally do not provide evidence forprogramme in which rewards for desired behaviours a biological basis of the disorder, whereas some are combined with training in the use of verbal self- relationship of the disorder with dietary factors,nstructions (stop, think, and then do). With this particularly food colouring, has been documented.procedure, the ADHD children learn to shift their Ontheotherhand,social-psychologicalfactors(e.g., attention less frequently and to behave reflectively — home environment, family pathology) have been a learning that is relatively stable over time. 66 Psychology Reprint 2026-27