| THE BRAINSCIENCEAttention
PHONES BUZZING with text messages, Facebook
notifications and news alerts continually tempt
the world to distraction. Many experts believe
that this incessant bombardment, and the need
for instant answers, has eroded our ability to focus.
A 2015 study by Microsoft surveyed 2,000
Canadians and used electroencephalograms (EEGs)
to watch the brain activity of a further 112 people.
Their analysis found that the average human
attention span had dropped from 12 seconds in
the year 2000 to just eight seconds. Goldfish are
thought to posses a impressive nine-second
attention span.
This wasn’t just a company chasing a catchy
headline. The research in the area is mostly
anecdotal, but a number of surveys do back up
the idea that attention spans are shrinking. In a
2012 Pew Research Center survey of more than
2,000 teachers in the US and Puerto Rico, 87 per
cent reported that their students had short attention
spans and were easily distracted. The same year,
a UK poll from the learning company Pearson
reached the same conclusion. Of 400 UK EnglishGETTY X3, ALAMY
Is internet
addiction real,
and should we
be worried?
IN A FAMOUS test, rats given a lever to
activate their nucleus accumbens
(the brain’s pleasure centre, responsible
for dopamine production) pressed it
continuously until they died of starvation
or exhaustion. The same brain structure
lights up when addicts score a fix.
Reports have emerged of young men
dying following excessive bouts of video
game playing: like the rats, they forgot
to eat, sleep or move. In one well-known
case, a South Korean man died after
50 hours of non-stop gaming.
Studies suggest that brain activity
seen in excessive internet users
resembles that of drug addicts, with
less grey matter volume in parts of the
prefrontal cortex linked to willpower.
But cause and effect is not clear:
the difference could be a precondition
for, rather than a result of, excessive
internet use.teachers questioned, and 2,000 parents of
preschool and primary-aged children, seven out of
10 said that children’s attention spans were shorter
than they used to be.
Meanwhile, in the USA, the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention has reported that 11 per
cent of school-age children have, at some point,
been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder. Before 1990, the figure was less than
5 per cent.
These studies shine a spotlight on our
diminishing attention spans, with modern
technology in the crosshairs as the culprit.
More research is needed if we’re to be sure of
a causal relationship, but experts feel certain
they’ll find one. “I am personally convinced that
technology has led to a decreased ability to focus
and wait, and an increased need for immediate
information,” says neuroscientist Prof Russell
Poldrack, of Stanford University.Verdict: Yes, the information age has shortened
our attention span.| THE BRAINSCIENCE42 February 2017