The Distracted mind.

The Distracted Mind – Adam Gazzeley and Larry Rosen

The question is Multitasking is good or bad? Should we? Or should we not?

We pride ourselves in our ability to multitask. We reply WhatsApp messages and at the same time listen to Mom’s comments on the neighbors reaction. Watch TV and read Newspaper simultaneously. Have family dinner with the glowing smartphone beside our plates. Never mind the errors in the email, the near miss on the road and the half heard conversation at the table.

As far as the state of mind is concerned, Matt Killingsworth, a happiness researcher in his Ted talk suggested to be in the moment. According to him, ‘A wandering mind is unhappy mind’

The human brain is the most amazing thing in the universe. The other species are nowhere near Human brain. The human brain has got us to the Moon, built pyramids, cured smallpox and the same brain can’t stay away from the mobile for more than 6 minutes. Focusing on the task in hand for long time is of bygone age for most of us. The interesting thing is that everyone knows this, most of us do this and almost all feel it’s not me, it’s ‘People’!.

The author narrates an experiment where the students under lab conditions were able to stay focused on the given particular work only for a short period of time – three to five minutes, before most students self-interrupted their studying to switch to another task. The shocking part was that the students got distracted even when they were told that they are observed for their focus span.

Our attention spans are evaporating. Focus is a lost art. Research shows most of us check our phones up to 150 times a day- every six to seven minutes that we are awake. In fact we’re so distracted that we’re walking into things.

Adam wants us to stop blaming the technology. He says it’s not the fault of the technology it’s the fault of our brain. Technology just makes it worse. Our brains are designed to always be seeking novel information.

The role of Dopamine system has actually been shown to relate directly to the information-seeking behavior in Monkeys. Monkeys respond to receiving information similarly to the way they respond to the basic rewards such as food or water. Moreover, “single Dopamine” neurons processes both basic and the cognitive rewards and suggest that the current theories of reward- seeking must be revised to include information-seeking.

So the question is, if our brain is so good at seeking new information why  is it terrible at follow through. Because the information-seeking part is way stronger than the ‘cognitive-control’ part that allows us to complete a task.

From an evolutionary stand point, realizing that there was a lion behind you was much more important than sticking to the task on hand. Our cognitive control abilities that are necessary for the enactment of our goals, have not evolved to the same degree as executive functions required for goal setting. Indeed, the fundamental limitations in our cognitive control abilities do not differ much from those in the monkeys, with whom we shared common ancestors, tens of millions years ago.

Ignoring irrelevant stimuli is not a passive process. Just like noise cancelling headphones require battery, our brain needs to expend precious resources in order to filter distractions around us. So doing the same task is harder in environment with more distracting or tempting stimuli.

Our brain has allowed us to achieve great feats from flying planes to composing symphonies and yet, we still forget to pick up milk on our way back. We don’t have intelligence mechanism that gives pop-up message when we come closer to the milk store. The more engrossed we are in other thoughts the more are the chances of forgetting the things that the brain feels are trivial.

Stop Multitasking.

Juggling multiple activities not only divides our attention, but also pays a mental penalty to manage the switching. If two goals require cognitive control to enact them, like thinking of complex details in mind and at the same time searching for your key, that needs selective attention, then the two acts will surely compete for the limited prefrontal cortex resources. The process of neural network switching is associated with a decrease in accuracy, often for both the tasks and a time delay compared to doing one task at a time.

Here Adam puts forth a point that most of us shall disagree with the biological functioning of the brains inability to perform well in multitasking. The common belief is, ‘Lethargic people do one activity at a time whereas the ones who multi-task are sharp, smart and efficient.’ It has been shown that the people who feel they are good at multitasking are actually the ones who are worst in the lab tests of multitasking. Yes! We really feel good when we multitask, but feeling good and doing the work with better efficiency with lesser mental fatigue are two different things. Multitasking meets the emotional need to do something new and exciting but it slows down brain and increases errors.

So what’s the way to increase the attention span? The answer is ‘Exercise’. Adam says, “strengthen your body to strengthen your brain.’ Also good sleep makes the brain healthy. Even a single bad night’s sleep can impair cognitive control

Exercise is hard and meditation is harder. So a better way to improve cognitive control as passively as possible is by calling our Mother Nature. Exercise and meditation both strengthen our attention muscles. Spending time in nature recharges those muscles when they’ve been exhausted. The effect is so powerful that merely looking at a picture of nature has restorative effects.

A 2008 paper described a significant improvement in the working memory performance after the nature walk, (but not the urban walk)

Whenever we get to the end of a day and think, “I don’t want to make any more decisions” go to Google and search for ‘Nature’.

So one of the way to improve attention span is to get into exercise and meditation. The other way is to enjoy mother Earth. The third way is by Reducing Interference.

When trying to focus, make your surrounding as boring as possible. Research says even having a phone around you can be distracting. Research by prof. Bill Thornton at the University of Southern Maine demonstrated that when performing complex tasks that need full attention, even the presence of someone else’s phone cause distractions. Results indicated that community adults and the students who checked the mobile only thrice a day had far lesser stress than those who couldn’t.

And of course, taking breaks is not only OK but also beneficial.

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Disclaimer:

 The summary written by me is just an attempt to preserve the good points stated by Adam Gazzeley and Larry Rosen.

In this article I have mixed my experiences, observations, foresights and my perceptions.

Vinay Wagh

Bulls Eye, Nasik