Twisted Lines Technique: The Best Way to Test Concentration

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

The Intertwined Lines Technique was developed in order to assess the degree of stability of attention and concentration as accurately as possible. For this, special forms are used with twenty-five intertwined winding lines, which are numbered on both sides. The numbering goes from top to bottom. It is necessary, without touching a foreign object or a finger, to trace the path of the lines and name the corresponding numbers of their endings.

The essence of the technique

What is attention span? This is the ability to focus on one subject without getting distracted by others. And stability is a temporary indicator, it determines how long a person can remain concentrated. André Rey guessed in 1958 to check the concentration and stability of attention with the help of intertwined lines. In his test, there were sixteen broken lines with a fairly complex weave.

Mr. Ray timed the time it took the test taker to follow the lines from start to finish. He counted the number of mistakes made and based on this he drew conclusions.

Methodtangled lines has existed for more than fifty years, and during this time it has proven itself perfectly. It has been modified many times and is now used in many countries around the world. It is also used in our country. The technique of confused lines for preschoolers can generally be called a godsend. After all, children perceive it as a game.

Domestic professional psychologists most often prefer the modified method of "Confused Lines", which was proposed by the doctor of psychological sciences K. K. Platonov. In his version, the number of lines increases to twenty-five, and the broken lines turn into curves. Platonov also found an opportunity to determine the effect of fatigue on passing the test. But this method of "Confused Lines" is for younger and older students. For kids, it's hard. The option proposed by M. N. Ilyina is more suitable for them. Everything is much simpler here. For example, there are only ten lines, and the study time is five minutes.

Test for middle and high school

First of all, you need to create the right conditions. It implies high-quality lighting and complete silence. Until the end of the test, the environment of the child should not be irritating factors.

For the test, you must have a form with lines, a stopwatch, a pencil, a sheet of paper. The Mixed Lines technique for teenagers has two options for forms.

In the first variant, mixed lines are shown on the sheet. They allstart on the left and end on the right. It is necessary to trace all the lines, starting with the first in order. In the cell where the line ends, you must put its serial number, which is indicated at its beginning. In no case should you help yourself with your fingers or other third-party objects. You need to pass the test as quickly as possible and with a minimum number of errors.

The second version of the principle is the same, but still slightly different. All the same twenty-five lines, only now there is a numbering on the right side. It is also necessary to trace the progress of each line with the eyes, but now the result is written on a separate sheet with two numbers, the first is the number of the cell where the line began, the second is the number of the cell with its “tail”.

How results are handled

If no time limit has been set, the indicator is calculated using the following formula:

P=t25 / n,

• where P is an indicator of performance;
• t – number of seconds spent on the test;
• n are correct answers.

The resulting coefficients must be compared with the following values:

• 861 and above - very low level of concentration;
• 455-860 - this indicator refers to the average;
• 454 or less - high attention span.

If time was limited, then you just need to convert the correct answers into points. Below is the table.

Number of correct answers	Points
25 24 23 22 21, 20 19-17 16-14 13, 12 11-8 7 or less	10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Here, with the conclusions, everything is clear, the lower the score, the worse the concentration.

Testing young children

In order to use the "Messed up lines" technique with preschoolers and first graders, you need to create the same conditions. Only the tests themselves have a simplified form. The task before the child will be the same. He needs to trace the lines with his eyes from beginning to end. In the same way, you cannot help yourself with a finger or a pencil.

Of course, you need to follow the baby more closely, monitor the speed, the correctness of actions, listen carefully to the comments that he makes. Few of the children of five or six years old will complete the task with great enthusiasm. It is unlikely that the baby will be interested in black lines.

In such a situation, you can arrange everything in the form of a game. For example, you can say that the hero of your favorite cartoon urgently needs numbers from the ends of the tracks in order to defeat the villain.

Evaluation of results

If the baby easily and correctly copes with the task in one or two minutes - this is fine, then the stability of his attention is at the highest level. If a little more time was spent and allowedsome inaccuracies that the child himself corrected, then his level of concentration is above average. The average result is if the kid began to make mistakes towards the end of the work, tried to help himself with his finger. If too many mistakes were made, then the result is below average.

It is also worth noting that the "Tangled Lines" technique was created not only to test the level of concentration, but also to stimulate it.