Electronic Media Use, Reading, and Academic Distractibility in College Youth

Abstract

Activities that require focused attention, such as reading, are declining among American youth, while activities that depend on multitasking, such as instant messaging (IMing), are increasing. We hypothesized that more time spent IMing would relate to greater difficulty in concentrating on less externally stimulating tasks (e.g., academic reading). As hypothesized, the amount of time that young people spent IMing was significantly related to higher ratings of distractibility for academic tasks, while amount of time spent reading books was negatively related to distractibility. The distracting nature and the context of IMing in this population are described.

Working memory, fluid intelligence, and impulsiveness in heavy media multitaskers

“…Recent work has demonstrated that distraction while new information is learned leads to poorer retention and may even alter the neural systems involved (Foerde, Knowlton & Poldrack, 2006). Studies of real-world behaviors such as driving while using cell phones (Strayer & Johnston, 2001), the effects of instant messaging on academic performance (Levine, Waite, & Bowman, 2007), or the effects of students using laptops (Fried, 2008) or texting during a lecture (Ellis, Daniels, & Jauregui, 2010) are not encouraging for the efficacy of media multitasking. Ophir, Nass, and Wagner (2009) studied the question of whether individuals who report engaging in heavy media multitasking are systematically different from those who do not.…”

Tradução e adaptação cultural da Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11) para aplicação em adultos brasileiros

“…Ela tem se mostrado útil na identificação de diferentes padrões de impulsividade em diversas patologias, como o transtorno do déficit de atenção e hiperatividade 3 , o transtorno afetivo bipolar 17 , a esquizofrenia 18 , o transtorno por uso de substância 19 , o jogo patológico 3 , entre outras. Além disso, tem sido bastante útil em estudos em neurobiologia da impulsividade 20 , bem como em estudos sobre outros construtos neuropsicológicos relacionados à impulsividade, tais como funções executivas 21 , atenção 22 e sensibilidade ao reforço 23 . Deve ser salientado ainda que o modelo proposto por Barratt apresenta importante relação com outros modelos em neurociências sobre impulsividade [2][3] e sobre aspectos anatomofuncionais dos circuitos pré-frontais, como no modelo proposto por Fuster 24 .…”

Train Listening: Music in the Spaces of the 21st Century

“…The same is true if the brain is unable to properly distinguish a task due to insufficient data, or conflicting messages being received through the senses. Multitasking studies have reported similar results when investigating how the brain operates and learns in multiple stimulus situations (Salvucci and Taatgen, 2010, Wasson, 2004, Rosen, 2008, Levine et al, 2007. Music under such conditions, with its high demands on emotions that individuals for the most part have no conscious control over is likely to drop down this hierarchical list and lose some of the elements that make it music in the perception of the individual.…”