 The word attention, as it is used in the psychological literature, generally has two basic concepts associated with it. One idea relates attention to processing capacity and arousal (e.g. Kahneman, 1973; Saunders, 1983),The other idea equates attention with a discrete mental process .(e.g. Treisman & Gormican, 1988 ) .For example, in Treisman and Gormican's model, attention comes after rapid initial parallel processing, and in their model attention chooses what specific information will be processed further. The concepts of attention as a mental process and attention as capacity are usually used as alternative and opposing explanations. |
| The understanding of attention as capacity and attention as a stage in mental processing are integrated in Maharishi¹s Vedic Psychology model of the Levels of the Mind. Maharishi's Vedic Psychology is a new paradigm that explains psychological processes, not as isolated events, but as fluctuations of the field of consciousness. This model proposes that mental processing is hierarchically organized in levels of functioning, where the deeper levels, such as the feelings, mind, intellect and ego, guide and organize the more expressed levels, the senses Alexander et. al., 1990). The deepest level of the internal mental structure is defined as a field of creativity and intelligence that is expressed in individual thought and action. In Maharishi's (1963 ) descriptions, this field of creativity and intelligence is the source of thought energy. For instance, one of the assumptions inherent in Maharishi's Vedic Psychology is that it is possible to increase mental capacity by contacting and enlivening the source of creativity and intelligence. This model also links with information processing theories by showing how mental processing relates to the way each level of the internal structure guides the direction of attention and the sequential unfoldment of a thought. |
| Maharishi's model of the Level's of the Mind suggests that there is a vertical or hierarchical structure in mental functioning. According to Maharishi (1963, pg. 54 ): "A thought starts from the deepest level of consciousness and rises through the whole depth of the ocean of the mind until it finally appears as a conscious thought at the surface. Thus we find that every thought stirs the whole range of the depth of consciousness but is consciously appreciated only when it reaches the conscious level; all its earlier stages of development are not appreciated. That is why we say that, for all practical purposes, the deeper levels of the ocean of consciousness are as though silent. |
| "Referring to the illustration (figure 1), the bubble of thought rising from level A grows in size. By the time it reaches the surface level B, it has developed sufficiently to be appreciated as a thought. This is the level of the conscious mind. The subtle states of the thought-bubble below this conscious level are not appreciated. If the thought-bubble could be consciously appreciated at the level below B, and at all levels of subtlety from B to A, it should then be possible to bring the level A within the range of the conscious mind. In this way the depth of the conscious mind (represented by W1) would become greater (as represented by W2), and the power of the conscious mind would be increased enormously." |
| Capacity Theory: One of the first modern theories in the area of mental capacity was developed by Kahneman (1973 ) In his conception, all mental processes gather their resources from a common energy source. For example, with electricity, "the concept of a limited capacity has a precise meaning. The generator can only supply a certain amount of power. When the demands exceed that amount, the addition of one more toaster or air conditioner to the circuit no longer results in a corresponding increase of electrical output" (Kahneman, 1973, pg. 15 ). "A capacity theory of attention provides an alternative to theories which explain man's limitations by assuming the existence of structural bottlenecks. Instead of such bottlenecks, a capacity theory assumes that there is a general limit on man's ability to perform mental work. It also assumes that this limited capacity can be allocated with considerable freedom among concurrent activities" ( Kahneman, 1973, pg. 15 ). Kahneman's (1973 ). reservoir of mental energy has its source in arousal. In Maharishi¹s Vedic Psychology , all thoughts are considered fluctuations of the field of pure consciousness: they motivate change (creativity) in a purposeful, intellectually guided direction. This reservoir of creativity and intelligence has two qualities- a silent state of pure consciousness, and an active flowing or expressed quality, which is often called attention. Pure consciousness is a state of awareness where the excitations of the mind have settled down into a quiet unbroken field. Maharishi's Vedic Psychology differs from Kahneman's theory in that it relates this source of mental energy to the deepest levels of the mind, and connects it directly with pure consciousness. Thoughts, and all mental phenomena are fluctuations of the field of pure consciousness, and the characteristics of the fluctuations of consciousness determines thought energy and mental capacity. While arousal and consciousness have some connection, these two sources of mental energy differ in many important ways. The differences between waking, sleeping, and dreaming, contain both a change in arousal and a change in consciousness. However, it is within the waking state that consciousness and arousal diverge. Increasing activation does not necessarily relate with increasing consciousness. |
| Saunders(1983 ) also developed a capacity model based on arousal. He tried to integrate the two separate areas of attentional research, linear stage models of human information processing, and capacity models by looking at different processing stages and to see how they react to stress. He felt that if resource theory is seen in terms of attentional energy supplied to information processing structures, then stage theory and resource theory converge. The idea of attentional energy supplied to processing stages is similar to the model proposed by Maharishi's Vedic Psychology. Capacity allocation then means how ready and activated computational structures are. Generally, when stress and fatigue are taken into account, as they are in Saunders model, they are seen as a lessening of performance from the individual's normal state of performance. |
| As it is usually formulated, resource capacity is assumed to be static, individual trait. Bundesen (1960 ) used the idea of capacity to analyze the data from many of the classic experiments in the attentional literature. One of these was Sperling¹s (1990 ) partial and whole report. Bundesen was able to account for 99.4% of the variance in the observed individual scores, however, he had to assume that processing capacity was different between different individuals. For Sperling¹s 5 subjects the speed of sensory processing varied from a low of 5.9 to a high of 29.4. These intersubject differences appear to be quite large. One of the things that a complete model of the mind needs to do is to account for individual differences. |
| One way to extend Kahneman's analogy of electrical generators, is to note that different electrical generators have different capacities for work. In order to explain individual differences in IQ and other measures of mental ability it is possible to assume that different individuals have different sized mental generators. Then, of course, the question comes about whether this difference is a biological given, or a changeable quantity. One of the assumptions inherent in Maharishi's Vedic Psychology is that it is possible to increase the size of the generator by contacting and enlivening the source of creativity and intelligence. Maharishi¹s theory locates a reservoir of creativity and intelligence at the source of thought and predicts that contact with this reservoir of creativity and intelligence enhances all mental processes (Maharishi, 1963 ). Maharishi¹s Vedic Psychology also delineates a specific technique, the Transcendental Meditation program (TM) for individual awareness to directly contact this field of creativity and intelligence and so enrich subsequent though and action. Previous research has indicated that this is the case (Orme-Johnson & Farrow, 1977 ). TM is a technique for systematically experiencing finer levels of a thought until the thought is transcended and the source of thought is experienced. The idea that different individuals operate at different levels allows Maharishi's Vedic Psychology to not only link the concept of mental energy with cognitive models of human information processing, but it also has the capability to explain individual differences. |
| With this in mind it is possible to explain in one encompassing theory all of the improvements in mental functioning that researchers have seen with the practice of the TM technique. These are: increased IQ (Dillbeck, Raimondi, Assimakis, Rowe, & Orme-Johnson, 1991 ), improved academic performance (Kember, 1985 ), increased learning ability (Alexander, Chandler, Langer, Newman & Davies, 1989 ), improved memory (Dillbeck, & Szal, 1991 ) , increases in comprehension (Nataraj & Radhamani, 1991 ), increased mental clarity (Weiss, 1991 ), increased intellectual performance (Shector, 1978 ), and increased creativity (Ref 5, Date 5 )Travis, 1979. This holistic model has the ability to integrate many of the findings on the Transcendental Meditation program into the mainstream of psychological theorizing by linking them to changes in attentional capacity, which is a concept that psychologists have discussed extensively. |
