Author Topic: Brain concentrates on one thing at a time, researchers say  (Read 107 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline agate

  • Administrator
  • *****
  • Posts: 9821
  • MS diagnosed 1980
  • Location: Pacific Northwest
Brain concentrates on one thing at a time, researchers say
« on: September 08, 2016, 09:08:49 pm »
Multitasking gets harder and harder for me as time goes on, and it may be the way many people are.

From Medical News Today, September 9, 2016:

Quote
Driving or talking? The brain concentrates on one thing at a time


When we are busy with something that requires the use of sight, the brain reduces hearing to make it easy for us. This is the conclusion of a study conducted by researchers from Linköping University in collaboration with others. The results give researchers a deeper understanding of what happens in the brain when we concentrate on something.

"The brain is really clever, and helps us to concentrate on what we need to do. At the same time, it screens out distractions that are extraneous to the task. But the brain can't cope with too many tasks: only one sense at a time can perform at its peak. This is why it's not a good idea to talk on the phone while driving," says Jerker Rönnberg of Linköping University, professor of psychology with a focus on disability research.

He and his colleagues have investigated what happens in our brains when we are occupied by a visual task. One example is a student is taking an exam, while another is a person driving a car. The researchers also wanted to see how concentration changes when the background noise increases.

Thirty-two students from Linköping University took part in the study, which has been published in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. The students were given a visual task to work on, some of them in calm surroundings and others with distracting background noise. Images of their brains were taken with an fMRI camera while they worked. The researchers also tested the function of the students' short-term memory using a memory test with letters.

The results show that brain activity in the auditory cortex continues without any problems, as long as we are subjected to sound alone. But when the brain instead is given a visual task, such as a written exam, the response of the nerves in the auditory cortex decreases, and hearing becomes impaired. As the difficulty of the task increases, the nerves' response to sound decreases even further. A high cognitive load in the form of a visual task thus impairs the brain's response to sound not only in the cortex, but also in the parts of the brain that deal with emotions. This is information that is not involved with solving the task.

"This is basic research into how the brain works, and the results suggest many possible paths for further work. The knowledge gained may be important in the future design of hearing aids. Another possibility is that our research will form the basis for work looking into how impaired hearing influences the way in which we solve visual tasks," says Jerker Rönnberg.

Article: Concentration: The Neural Underpinnings of How Cognitive Load Shields Against Distraction, Patrik Sörqvist, Orjan Dahlström, Thomas Karlsson, Jerker Rönnberg, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2016.00221, published online 18 May 2016.
MS Speaks--online for 17 years

SPMS, diagnosed 1980. Avonex 2001-2004. Copaxone 2007-2010. Glatopa (glatiramer acetate 40mg 3 times/week) since 12/16/20.

Offline agate

  • Administrator
  • *****
  • Posts: 9821
  • MS diagnosed 1980
  • Location: Pacific Northwest
Drivers on phones and even texting while driving make me nervous.

This article points out some of the ways in which these activities are dangerous.

Another that doesn't get much attention is the very real possibility that a phone call might be bringing the driver information that will come as a terrible shock. It's been known to happen. You just might get a call that starts out: "This is the medical examiner's office. Your wife [husband, mother, son, etc.] has been found dead at home today."

Think you could still drive along steadily with your eye on the road and the traffic? Think again. You might be so shocked that you'd lose control of the vehicle.

You never know what's going to come at you through that phone.

From Berkeley Wellness, August 3, 2016:

Quote
It Can Wait: Don’t Text While Driving

by JOHN SWARTZBERG, M.D.

It may sound crazy (and it is), but lots of people text while driving. Even if you don’t, you’ve probably seen other drivers doing it. In 2006, Reggie Shaw, a 19-year-old living in rural Utah, texted while driving. As a result, two rocket scientists were killed in a flash as his car crossed the yellow line while he was driving to work on a mountain road.

Driver distrac­tion, which accounts for at least 10 percent of all fatal motor vehicle crashes, killed an estimated 3,200 people in the U.S. and injured another 430,000 in 2014 alone. Though it’s unclear how many of such accidents result from texting, in particular, preliminary research sug­gests that it increases crash risk by at least four-fold.

Reggie’s plight—and the lives he irrevocably affected, including his own—is recounted in A Deadly Wandering, written by the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Matt Richtel. Interweaving the story of the deadly crash with chapters on the neuroscience behind texting and other “addictive” technologies, the book should be mandatory in high school driver education courses but read by drivers of all ages. (Tex­ting is not just a teen obsession.)

You may think you are able to text without it impairing your ability to drive—that you can multitask. After all, you’ve probably never had an accident yourself while multitasking. Perhaps you think Reggie was different from you—that he must have been especially careless or that he lacked the skills that a more experienced driver would have had.

But as A Deadly Wandering explains, when we are “connected” to our devices, we are disconnected from the world—and it is impossible for our brains to efficiently switch back and forth, no matter how much we believe we can. Studies using driving simulators and special brain imaging tests have proven this beyond a doubt. “To ignore this science is to engage in self-deception, to tell ourselves a lie,” Richtel warns.

I’m not a big texter myself and so have never texted while driving. But I do often talk on my speakerphone—and I think I’m fairly typical. After reading this book, I won’t anymore. That’s because it’s not just texting while driving that is dangerous. All forms of cellphone use are distracting. Talking on a cellphone—even a hands-free one—is differ­ent from talking to a passenger because the person on the other end of the line cannot provide feedback (about road hazards, for instance) or monitor the conversation according to circumstances, as can some­one seated next to you. The technology takes your mind off the task at hand.

Texting is even more hazardous because it also takes your hands off the wheel and your eyes off the road. A study in Traffic Injury Prevention in 2013 suggested that texting while driving is as risky as driving drunk.

Too often, the buzz, flash, or ring of an incoming text or call is impos­sible to ignore. But driving requires our complete focus. If you can’t resist, turn off your phone—or at least the notification functions— when you get in the car. If you urgently need to text or engage in a phone conversation, wait until you have stopped. Technologies are being developed that can disable the ability to text or use other cell­phone functions while driving, or can prevent the car from moving unless the phone is in a docking station. There are also apps that block texting while driving.
MS Speaks--online for 17 years

SPMS, diagnosed 1980. Avonex 2001-2004. Copaxone 2007-2010. Glatopa (glatiramer acetate 40mg 3 times/week) since 12/16/20.

 

Related Topics

  Subject / Started by Replies Last post
0 Replies
105 Views
Last post April 28, 2017, 02:53:29 pm
by agate
0 Replies
61 Views
Last post December 09, 2019, 08:48:14 pm
by agate
0 Replies
37 Views
Last post August 01, 2020, 03:29:16 pm
by agate
0 Replies
24 Views
Last post December 13, 2021, 09:09:17 pm
by agate
0 Replies
19 Views
Last post July 05, 2023, 09:48:58 pm
by agate