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. The human being is capable of fixing it on specific stimuli for more or less prolonged periods of time, so that can capture the information pertinent to said stimulation with greater precision and extract the maximum possible data from she.

But the amount of time we can spend paying attention to something is not always the same, but it depends on the state of development of the brain. And it is that the different mental faculties develop and expand throughout growth, as occurs with concentration.

In this article we will see approximately what is the maximum concentration time of children according to their agein children up to eight years of age.

• Related article: "The 6 stages of childhood (physical and mental development)"

Attention and concentration

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 to it. 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 care, since it includes a great variety of different aspects and processes such as alertness and activation capacity or orientation towards stimuli. Among these different aspects we can find concentration.

Concentration is understood as the aspect of attention devoted to keep attention fixed on a specific stimulus, ignoring the existence of distractors (other possible stimuli that could interfere with the focused element). Thus, we are faced with the ability to sustainably fix the attention of the individual.

Concentrating on something allows one to be able to visualize and obtain as much information as possible about 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 doing a specific activity for more or less long periods of time.

• Related article: "The 8 superior psychological processes"

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 make a given person spend more or less time pending stimulation.

Strong distractions, the existence or absence of motivation, the emotional connection with the stimulus in question or the degree of novelty or routine that it supposes are elements to take into account. But apart from that, the maximum capacity for concentration varies throughout life, either due to evolutionary development or due to environmental or acquired aspects.

As far as development is concerned, in order to concentrate, it is necessary for our brain to have reached an adequate level of maturation. Throughout our childhood, the brain continues to grow and develop., gradually allowing the different cognitive abilities to appear and expand. In this way, little by little the time that a child is able to focus 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 is a rough estimate of how long children up to eight years of age can maintain concentration. These times establish a mean interval, because each person develops at their own pace and there may be subjects who may have a higher or lower performance when it comes to concentrating.

1. first year of life

It is estimated that throughout the first year of life a baby's ability to concentrate can gradually grow until it can be maintained for between two and five minutes. At this age the children they do not stop observing everything and change 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 maintain it between four and eight or even ten minutes.

3. third year of life

With three years of life, the ability to concentrate can reach a quarter of an hour, and it is common for it to reach or exceed ten minutes. Up to this age, concentration is practically maintained as long as the subject to be 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 up to twenty minutes, although even children whose capacity is around eight minutes would enter the average.

5. fifth year of life

Studies show that during the fifth year of life concentration can be maintained approximately ten to twenty-five minutes.

6. sixth year of life

Concentrating with 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.

Factors to consider from the approximate data

The previously reflected data makes us see in an approximate way (remember that each child will have their own maturational rhythm, so that the previous data are only an average of what would be expected) the capacity of attention that infants can have throughout their period of development.

This can serve as a reference when establish different educational guidelines and not overextend minors an attention that they may not yet be able to provide because they need greater brain maturation. In this way, breaks or changes in activity can be established that break the attentional focus and refer it to another aspect or activity (whether or not it focuses on the same theme).

For example, during a class the teacher can present a topic and then have them do exercises, so that the attention goes from the presentation to the activity. The ability to concentrate, in this sense, would allow a more or less adequate follow-up 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. More interactive elements that call your interest such as games or movies They can be attended to more easily and suppose that children concentrate more and for a longer time on them. This can also be used to promote learning.

In addition, 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 decrease your self-esteem.

Bibliographic references:

• Caraballo, A. (s.f.). Children's concentration time according to their age [Online]. Available in: https://www.guiainfantil.com/blog/educacion/aprendizaje/el-tiempo-de-concentracion-de-los-ninos-segun-su-edad/

• Santos, J. L. (2012). Psychopathology. CEDE PIR Preparation Manual, 01. YIELD. Madrid.