Tested To Distraction
A scientific indicator of how easily you can be distracted has been designed by a psychologist at University College London. People who are more easily distracted are at greater risk of being involved in accidents. Professor Nilli Lavie, who led the research, said: “When you are easily distracted, you are more liable to do things like put your keys in the fridge or call out ‘come in’ when answering the phone.” You are also more likely to spear a child with a forklift truck.
Some jobs, such as bus driver or pilot, put the employee in situations where the potential for distraction is very high and yet focused attention is crucial. Lavie’s computer-based tests measure people’s accuracy and reaction times when they are exposed to distractions. The test is objective and there’s no way of doctoring the results.
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The test involves finding the odd-one-out in a circular display of letters, for example, having to find the letter X amongst a collection of similar letters such as H, M, K and Zs or, in the easier task, a letter X or N among Os. At the same time, letters flashed up outside the circle of letters to distract the participant from their task.
Subjects were asked to ignore the distracter letters and focus on the odd-one-out in the circle of letters. They had to rapidly press the relevant key on a keyboard when they located the odd-one-out. This measures reaction times and the effects of distracters on performance.
The second finding in the paper published today in the journal Psychological Science, showed that all people – whether they are generally easily distracted or not – were far less distracted when they were performing the more difficult task.
Since the brain was loaded with information that was relevant to the task, there was no extra brain capacity for processing distracting information and so even people who are more easily distracted are able to focus all their attention on the task in hand.
Professor Lavie said, “This second finding shows that, even if you are more easily distracted than others, you can decrease your susceptibility to being distracted.” That’s small comfort for those of us who have just been turned down for a job as a forklift truck driver having failed the distraction test. We’ll just have to go and be a writer or a great scientist. That’ll be easy.
If you need a few more distractions then try these links:
- Strange - Love at first fright
- Wit & Wisdom - Who goes to conferences?
- Strange - Mozart in the workplace
Image: sxc
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