Chapter 7 - Attention and Distraction Online

Chapter Summary

Studying in a multitasking environment

What are the effects of multitasking and what strategies can students employ to manage information overload?

Using technology while studying at home

• The average time on task was less than six minutes before participants switched their focus, most often to a technological distraction such as social media or texting.

Using technology during class time

• Similar tasks do not add up to as high cognitive load as tasks that are very different.

How do high multitaskers compare to light multitaskers?

Ability to ignore irrelevant information

• Heavy multitaskers were unable to ignore the distractions.

Working memory capacity

• The results showed that high multitaskers performed badly compared to the light multitaskers.

Skill in switching from one thing to another

• The results showed that the light multitaskers did better than the high multitaskers in this measure of ability to switch focus.

Impact on depth of learning

• The group who multitasked were less able to apply their knowledge to new situations.

Why do people multitask?

• Results showed that students who multitasked reported feeling more emotionally satisfied than those who studied without additional media.

Attention

• Attention is ‘the taking possession by the mind, in clear and vivid form, of one out of what seem several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought’, wrote psychologist and philosopher, William James.

Alerting

• The alerting system activates and maintains a wakeful state. This is related to a feeling of ‘readiness’.

Orienting

• Orienting allows us to perceive something new and determine its importance. It focuses our senses on relevant information.

Executive

• The executive system can be compared to air traffic control where multiple planes are managed arriving and departing.

Attention Network Test

• Posner developed the Attention Network Test, a computer-based measure of efficiency in each of these three networks.

Training attention using mindfulness meditation

• Mindfulness training can modify attention first by sharpening focus (orienting) and then promoting a broader wakeful awareness (alerting).
• Carry-over effect: the training in mindful breathing led to enhanced performance on computer-based tasks.
• Posner et al. (2013) developed exercises to help children develop executive attention skills such as self-control, planning and observation. Six-year-olds showed significant increases in executive attention.

Developing self-control

• Students are faced with the challenge of having to regulate their emotions and impulses if they want to master certain disciplines.

The marshmallow test: self-control and delayed gratification

• Mischel’s marshmallow test.
• When compared to those children who ate the first marshmallow straight away, children who delayed gratification went on to higher educational achievement and ability to cope with stress as adults.

A digital marshmallow test: the Academic Diligence Task

• The diligence task has a split screen which presents students with a choice: do maths problems versus watch short entertaining videos or play games.
• School children were instructed to answer as many problems as they wanted, as fast as they could.
• Scores on the maths skills were correlated with academic success and personality variables such as conscientiousness and grit.
• Unlike IQ, the researchers believe that self-control in school work is a skill that can be nurtured and taught.

Strategies for improving focus and handling distraction

Turning study into a game

• Some students resisted the distractions by turning the maths problem-solving into a game.

Technology breaks

• This procedure asks students to silence their smartphones for a study period before an alert informs them when they can check in next.

Listening to music

• Listening to familiar music while studying is one option than may not have the downsides of other technology choices.

Setting up an intention to wait to check technology

• An intention to wait until the end of a study period/lecture and ignore the marshmallow of incoming text messages.

Taking a break from media: walking outside in a natural environment

• The participants who walked in nature showed a 20 per cent improvement in measures of attention and memory while those who walked in the urban centre did not.

Using technology to block distractions

• Several programs have been developed that allow a person to block the Internet (or certain sites) for set periods of time.

Value of time unplugged

• Value of time ‘unplugged’ either through getting outside, meditating or just day-dreaming.

Conclusion

• The typical student now has access to a proliferation of devices for connecting with new media and the Web at the click of a finger.
• The research on the effects of attention, distraction and learning point to no discernible benefits for multitasking.
• Attention is a limited resource, although it can be trained and some tasks fit together easier than others.
• Certain strategies can be applied to enhance focus and reduce distractions.
• Successful strategies often have an element of enjoyment, either through scheduling breaks for fun, or through transforming periods of focus into a game.
• Time unplugged from input can be important for learning and memory.