Preserving Focus in an Age of Distractions

Posted on in Brain and memory by Graham TaylorLeave a Comment

Researchers are still uncovering the implications of a study suggesting that memory and learning are impaired by over-use of technologies like the internet, TV, social media and computer games.

The landmark study, conducted by Stanford researchers in 2009, overturned the standard assumption that the internet sharpened cognitive abilities and improved users’ ability to multi-task.

Researchers discovered that those who engaged in regularly media-multitasking scored worse than the control group in the ability to focus on and remember information. It was much harder for these people to distinguish important information from trivia. Ironically, media-multitaskers scored worse than the control group in multitasking itself.

“They couldn’t help thinking about the task they weren’t doing,” said Eyal Ophir, one of the authors of the study. “The high multitaskers are always drawing from all the information in front of them. They can’t keep things separate in their minds.”

The results of this study have been confirmed in a myriad of subsequent research, with profound implications for those intent on staying focused in college and in the office. In short, the more we allow our brains to be distracted from the task at hand, the more we are literally weakening the prefrontal cortex, the part of our brain that controls our executive functions like concentrating, planning, and synthesizing.

Focus expert Daniel Goleman explains that “Attention works much like a muscle—use it poorly and it can wither; work it well and it grows.”

Further Reading

 

Remembering Oliver Sacks

Posted on in Psychology News by Graham TaylorLeave a Comment

Oliver Sacks died last month, following an amazing career as a neuroscientist and author.

More than a million copies of Dr. Sacks’ books are in print in the United States, in addition to being translated into over 25 languages and made into feature movies. His vivid accounts of his neurological patients had an incalculable impact on the public’s understanding of the brain.

The 82-year old author died at his Manhattan home following a battle with cancer, leaving behind thirteen books and countless articles, which opened up the complex and daunting world of neuroscience to ordinary people.

Dr. Sacks was the embodiment of focus, a theme we explore quite a bit at TSM. “I am very tenacious, for better or worse,” he wrote in A Leg to Stand On. “If my attention is engaged, I cannot disengage it. This may be a great strength, or weakness. It makes me an investigator. It makes me an obsessional.”

How to Succeed at the EPPP Without Ruining Your Life

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For many would-be psychologists, the experience of studying to pass the EPPP is as near to being tortured as anything they’ve ever experienced.

If that sounds familiar, and if your EPPP exam preparation is making you miserable, ruining your life and alienating you from those you love, then you should periodically run through the following checklist. Addressing the 10 items in this list could make the difference between an EPPP study experience that is enriching and rewarding vs. one that ruins your life.
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EPPP Study Schedule

Posted on in EPPP Preparation Materials by TSM AdminLeave a Comment

The following advice on developing an EPPP study schedule is taken from Dr. Graham Taylor’s post ‘How to Develop an EPPP Study Schedule (and other advice after a two-time fail‘

…be proactive and deliberate in creating an effective EPPP study schedule. If you try to just study whenever life allows you to, without a clear schedule and plan, the chances are you will constantly be alternating between exhaustion and frustration. Because everyone’s life is different, no two person’s study schedule will look the same. But there are some general principles that can guide us in creating a study schedule. One principle is that little and often is preferable to long periods of concentrated study. This is called the “Spacing Effect” and has a lot of research to back it up. Of course, everyone needs to make their study fit their schedule, but in general we should keep in mind that research shows that spreading out your study generates a greater likelihood for effective learning then trying to do it all at once.

In an earlier article I explained the principle of spaced learning by comparing it to watering a plant. Imagine there is a plant you’re taking care of for a month, but you only have one gallon of water. Would it be more effective to use up the entire gallon of water at the beginning to give the plant a big drenching, or what it be better to water the plant little and often throughout the entire month? Obviously the second would be preferable. The human brain is like that plant. Just as spaced watering, interspersed with periods of dryness, is the most effective watering strategy, so spaced learning is the most effective strategy for cementing long-term memories in the brain.

Another principle that should guide your EPPP study schedule is something called the Principle of Neurotransmitter Depletion. I have explained about this in my blog post on the EPPP study break, but in general what it means is that your study schedule should include within it regular structured breaks to prevent mental fatigue.

You May be Spending Too Much Time on EPPP Study Materials

Posted on in Brain and memory, EPPP Preparation Materials, EPPP Study Tips by Graham Taylor1 Comment on You May be Spending Too Much Time on EPPP Study Materials

Last year we shared the results of a surprising study which found that it really is possible to spend too much time studying for the EPPP.

Researchers discovered that those studying to pass the EPPP stopped improving after 200 hours of study.

What about those who spent beyond 400 hours on their EPPP study materials? This group of people not only failed to improve, but were less likely to pass the exam.

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When You’re Not Studying Guard Yourself From Digital Distractions

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Anyone who has tried to apply herself to prolonged periods of study will know that our greatest enemy is distractions. If this was true for conventional study, it is even more the case when our studying takes place on the computer, which in the last ten years has become a veritable ecosystem of distraction technologies.

If people studying in the past suffered from an inability to locate the needle in the haystack (“situational overload”), the digital overload we suffer from today (what might also be called “ambient overload”) comes from facing a haystack-size-pile-of-needles. (Read more about the difference between situation overload and ambient overload here). The result is that it takes a Herculean effort to stay focused.

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Ed Cooke’s Talk on Memory and Learning

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Grand Master of memory, Ed Cooke, spoke at the Wired 2012 conference about some of the ways anyone can improve their memory using basic techniques. Mr. Cooke walked the audience through some memory exercises that anyone can do. These exercises build on the principle that new memories stick in our brains to the degree that they embed themselves in the pre-existing constellation of memories we already possess. This video is a must-see for anyone who believes they were simply born with a bad memory.

Psychology Experiments Called Into Question

Posted on in Psychology News by Graham TaylorLeave a Comment

The world of academic psychology was sent into a tailspin earlier today after it emerged that over half of psychological experiments could not be replicated.

The disturbing findings, which were published in the journal Science, concluded a year-long process of reviewing 100 studies that had been previously published in academic journals. These studies formed part of the core knowledge by which psychologists understand people and their relationship to the world. Continue reading →

Multitasking and Your EPPP Exam Prep (Part 2)

Posted on in Brain and memory, EPPP Study Tips by Graham TaylorLeave a Comment

In our previous post ‘Multitasking and Your EPPP Exam Prep (Part 1)’, we talked about the importance of achieving the right work-life-study balance. Most students studying to pass their EPPP inevitably have several projects on the go at once, such as employment, family and internship work. Because this type of multitasking is an inevitable and natural part of life, it is important to learn to do it effectively.

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