Understanding the Structure of Attention and Trance

Before diving into how we can think about attention, let’s clarify a few concepts.

Assembly

There’s an interesting feature of perception: 99% of what we see, hear, and feel is the work of the brain. The brain completes what we see into a whole based on experience. For example, when you look at a chair, you know it has four legs, even if you only see two. The rest is filled in by your brain, which assembles the pieces you see into the concept of a “chair” based on past experience.

This is easier to explain with the Necker Cube. When you look at it, you see a three-dimensional cube, but on paper (or a screen), it’s just a set of lines. The brain turns these lines into a 3D object. Interestingly, the Necker Cube can be perceived in several ways: with the front face lower or higher than the back, as a strange figure with a central rectangle and surrounding shapes, or simply as a set of lines. These are different ways the brain “assembles” the image. The first two are easy to perceive, but the others are more challenging, especially trying to see just the lines as they are drawn.

This process is what’s called a gestalt—a whole that is more than the sum of its parts.

Gestalt (from German “Gestalt” – form, structure) is a key concept in gestalt psychology, referring to holistic formations in consciousness that can’t be reduced to the sum of their parts (like apparent motion, insight, or melody perception).

Seven Plus or Minus Two

If attention is single-tasked, what does the formula “seven plus or minus two objects in attention” describe? Attention is tricky. The focus of attention is indeed single-tasked, but it can shift rapidly. To do this, it needs to remember several previous “assemblies” or gestalts. So, attention has its own kind of memory—about seven different “assemblies” can be stored. There’s also short-term memory (for interesting things noticed) and long-term memory (for things worth remembering for a long time).

Think of it like a digital tuner in a stereo or TV: there are a limited number of preset stations. If you want to add more, you have to overwrite an old one. In computer terms, the memory for seven (plus or minus two) settings is like the processor’s cache; short-term memory is RAM, and long-term memory is the hard drive.

Figure and Ground

Next is the concept of Figure and Ground. The Figure is what’s highlighted by attention and assembled by the brain; the Ground is everything else. For example, in the classic image, you can see either a white vase or two black profiles. If you see the vase, it’s the Figure; if you see the profiles, they are. You can only see one at a time as the Figure.

This term also comes from gestalt psychology, though with a slightly different interpretation.

The Structure of Attention

It all started with a simple question: how is attention organized? If a person has attention, it must have some structure and organization. For example, if attention jumps from one object to another, something is happening inside—some play of submodalities?

How does a person organize the Figure/Ground distinction and manage it? Is attention only able to work with the Figure, or can it also address the Ground? Can attention focus on the Ground so that it remains the Ground and doesn’t become the Figure?

Understanding the mechanics of attention could help us manage it in new ways, beyond just training through repetition. Below are some ideas and exercises for developing and managing attention.

Critical Submodalities of Figure/Ground

Let’s first figure out how people distinguish between Figure and Ground. There must be some submodal difference between the two. For me, it’s like a focus: what I pay attention to is sharper, brighter, and more colorful. It appears more three-dimensional against a flatter Ground, which is grayer, blurrier, and less dynamic.

This is also true for external images. The Figure is much clearer and sharper, while the Ground is gray, blurry, and still. You can divide perception into two areas: the Figure area (First Attention, or Conscious Attention) and the Ground area (Second Attention, or Unconscious Attention). This can be a good metaphor for the difference between consciousness and the subconscious: consciousness is the Figure—bright, clear, and small compared to the whole; the subconscious is the Ground—blurry, gray, and large.

In group work, most people highlighted Figures in a similar way: as a spot on a less noticeable Ground. The most common critical submodalities for the visual channel were:

• Sharpness
• Brightness
• Contrast

Other critical submodalities included:

• Direction
• Volume
• Size (distortion of actual size)
• Distance

Expanding Perception

Choose an area with several similar objects (a bookshelf, a stack of CDs, a box of pencils, a page of text, or a parking lot). Look at it so your gaze is centered. Shift your attention from object to object without moving your eyes—first to the right, then back to the center, then to the left. Hold your attention on each object for 3-4 seconds, examining it in detail. This is difficult in peripheral vision at first.

Remember, your eyes stay in the same place during this exercise; only your focus of attention shifts. At first, your attention may spread out, covering several objects, and some may be hard to notice or “assemble.” Try to consciously enhance the critical submodality of your focus.

Changing the Intensity of Critical Submodalities

Another version of the exercise: after shifting your focus, change the intensity of the critical submodality from minimum to maximum. For example, if brightness is your critical submodality, make the object as bright as possible, then dim it until your attention jumps to the next object.

As you increase the intensity, your focus narrows. For me, brightness is the key submodality. If I make one book on a shelf brighter, the others become darker, and my focus shifts to that book. As I decrease brightness, my focus widens, and I notice more books. At some point, all visible books become the Figure, though with less detail.

Sometimes, when trying to read a book title, the text separates from the cover and becomes the Figure, while the cover becomes the Ground. To link the text back to the book, you have to make the whole book the Figure again, making the title unreadable.

Displacement

Do the opposite: after 3-4 seconds on an object, gradually decrease the intensity of the critical submodality until your attention jumps to the next object in your chosen sequence.

Organizing Attention: Auditory Channel

So far, we’ve worked with the visual channel. How does this work with sound? The principle is the same: the brain assembles meaningful things from sounds. For example, you can talk to someone in a noisy subway by making their voice the Figure and the rest the Ground. To hear your conversation partner, you make their voice the Figure and everything else the Ground.

Size of Focus

You can also play with the size of your focus. Look at the palm of your hand and notice both large and tiny lines. Then look at the back of your hand and try to see the whole hand at once. Like a microscope, you can see lots of detail in a small area, but to see a larger area, you have to reduce magnification and lose detail. Our perception works the same way: to see details, you narrow your focus; to see the big picture, you widen it.

You can see the forest or the trees—but only one at a time. In the auditory channel, you can hear the general noise of a room or focus on one person’s words.

Contrast

Explaining focus size is easy, but intensity is more complex. Here, you need to consider the critical submodality and its intensity. There’s always a difference in intensity (contrast) between Figure and Ground. When we concentrate, we increase the intensity of the Figure’s critical submodality (like brightness or volume).

In electronics, this is called the signal-to-noise ratio. The higher it is, the better the device. You can achieve this difference by increasing the signal or decreasing the noise—or both. For example, in a noisy subway, you can focus on your friend’s voice and make it louder in your mind, while the background noise fades. But if you reduce the Ground’s intensity too much, you might miss important information happening there.

Obsessions work similarly: the contrast between the obsession and the Ground is very high, and sometimes the Ground disappears entirely. All attention is on the obsession, and nothing else is in focus.

If the Figure’s intensity matches the Ground, something else becomes the Figure, or you switch to another sensory channel. You can also widen your focus or lower the Figure’s intensity until it matches the Ground, causing attention to jump elsewhere.

Intensity and Focus Size

When attention is scattered, it jumps from object to object, and the contrast between Figure and Ground is low. But if you’re searching for something, your attention also jumps, but the overall intensity is higher. For example, when listening carefully in a quiet forest, the overall volume is high, and your focus is wide. In a noisy subway, you can tune in to one voice or all conversations—this is playing with focus size.

Trance and Attention

Attention is the focus of our brain’s perception. We can’t perceive everything—there’s a limit to how much information can get in. There are two areas: conscious (first attention) and unconscious (second attention).

Attention works like a flashlight: a bright spot in the center where everything is clear, and a dimmer, wider area around it. This is typical for a “normal state.” Sometimes, only the bright center remains, or only the wide, dim area—both are forms of trance.

Attention can be directed inward or outward. In a normal state, it jumps back and forth. If it’s only outward (UpTime) or only inward (DownTime), that’s also a trance. So, attention can move along axes: narrow–wide focus, low–high contrast, outward–inward. Only the central area is the “normal” state; everything else is a type of trance.

“Normal” is when different ways of perceiving are balanced. Trance happens when one way dominates. There’s also the channel space: with a narrow focus, you concentrate on one channel; with a wide focus, you can access several at once (synesthesia).

Managing Attention and Trance

All attention training and conscious trance management comes down to managing the focus of attention. By practicing transitions along all three axes, you get a broader picture of perception than the classic DownTime–Normal–UpTime line. So, practice! The effects are quite interesting.

Exercises

Scaling UpTime–DownTime

1. Scale. Imagine a scale on the floor, from UpTime (+10) on one end to DownTime (–10) on the other, with Normal (0) in the middle. The scale should be 10–15 feet long so you can walk along it.
2. Extreme States. Stand at one end and fully immerse yourself in that state:
   • UpTime (+10): Trance where your attention is fully outward. No inner dialogue or hallucinations—everything is outside. Examples: alert attention, watching an exciting movie, playing a video game.
   • DownTime (–10): Trance where your attention is fully inward. You’re focused on internal processes: remembering, inventing, calculating. Examples: sleep, mental calculations, recalling situations, focusing on internal sensations.
   • Normal (0): Your attention jumps in and out, like it does most of the time.
3. Smooth Transition. Walk back and forth along the scale several times, making sure your state changes smoothly and proportionally to the numbers on the scale.
4. Check the Scale. Now, walk along the scale without effort and notice how your state changes automatically. This is a property of spatial anchors in human psychology.
5. Moving the Scale Mentally. You can also imagine the scale moving instead of walking on it. Place it wherever is most comfortable—through your chest, in front of you, or even as a circular scale with a pointer. Adjust as needed.
6. Practice. Practice moving through a series of states: +2, +4, –3, –5, +3, 0, +10, –1, –10, etc. Do 10–15 transitions, increasing the range as you get better.

You can also do this exercise entirely in your mind, but walking on the floor is often easier. Alternatively, use a metaphorical regulator inside you to adjust your state.

Summary Steps

1. Imagine a scale from –10 to +10, 10–15 feet long.
2. Fully immerse yourself in the extreme states at each end:
   • +10 UpTime: fully outward attention (alert, watching a movie, gaming).
   • –10 DownTime: fully inward attention (sleep, mental calculations, recalling).
   • 0 Normal: attention jumps in and out.
3. Walk the scale 2–4 times, achieving a smooth transition from –10 to +10.
4. Check that your state changes as you move along the scale.
5. Try moving the scale mentally instead of physically.
6. Go through a series of states: +2, +4, –3, –5, +3, 0, +10, –1, –10, etc.

Scaling: Wide–Narrow Focus

This is similar to the previous exercise, but now you work with focus size. Only the second step—calling up the state—changes:

• Wide Focus (+10): You defocus your vision and try to keep everything in your field of view in focus. In sound, you hear the general noise of a group. In kinesthetics, you feel your whole body as one.
• Narrow Focus (–10): You pick a small object and concentrate fully on it (a spot on the ceiling, one person’s voice, the tip of your finger).
• Normal (0): Medium focus size—most is perceived unconsciously, but a noticeable part is in conscious attention.

Scaling Contrast

• Low Contrast (–10): Scattered attention. What you observe isn’t important and doesn’t attract focus. Attention jumps from object to object, with little difference between Figure and Ground. Similar to some meditation practices.
• High Contrast (+10): Highly concentrated attention, almost obsessive. You’re fully tuned to one object, and the Ground almost disappears. Examples: watching an exciting movie, focusing on a stopwatch, listening intently to a voice. Similar to meditations focused on a single object.
• Normal (0): Attention is not too concentrated or too scattered. There’s something important, but you’re also distracted by other things.