attention

8 Stories

App to Improve Attention May Help People With Depression

Novel approach targets related issues instead of the symptoms of depression

(Newser) - Video games have become so pervasive that clinicians have moved from simply studying how they affect our bodies and brains to designing them with specific outcomes in mind. Such is the case with an app called Project: Evo, an app-based game that was designed ostensibly to improve attention. Science Daily...

An Overlooked Aspect of ADHD: Exceptional Focus

'Maldistribution' of attention

(Newser) - There's a largely unexamined component of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, a disorder most commonly characterized as a pattern of either inattention or hyperactivity/impulsivity, reports the National Institute of Mental Health . But those with ADHD often also experience "hyperfocus," and there is now a growing call for more...

Playing With Babies Helps Them Learn to Pay Attention

The longer a parent pays attention to something, the longer baby does: study

(Newser) - Want your child to have a good attention span? You can help them to develop it starting at a young age, researchers say. A new study published in Current Biology finds that "when parents play with objects with their children," they help their children learn to sustain attention,...

Our Attention Span Worse Than That of a Goldfish
Our Attention Span Now Worse Than Goldfish's
study says
May 13, 2015 5:20 PM CDT

Our Attention Span Now Worse Than Goldfish's

Microsoft study says people concentrate for just 8 seconds

(Newser) - Your attention span is, uh... well... whatever, but it probably can't beat that of your average goldfish, a new study says. Microsoft reached this conclusion after surveying more than 2,000 Canadians and monitoring the brain activity of 112 people, Yahoo! Canada reports. In our age of buzzing phones...

Distracted Doodling Helps Us Focus, Study Shows

(Newser) - Doodling while listening actually increases retention of memory, LiveScience reports. A new study shows that subjects who “mindlessly” sketched while listening to a not-so-interesting phone message remembered key facts 29% more than others instructed to just listen. “It helps to keep us on track with a boring task,...

Color Me Productive: Red Boosts Focus, Study Finds

Blue, meanwhile, looks to enhance our creativity

(Newser) - The color red boosts performance on detail-oriented work, while blue enhances creativity, Wired reports. A new study primed subjects with the colors before assigning them different tasks, and the results appear to confirm previous research that links red to caution and attention. “Think about red, and what comes to...

Legal or Not, Bottled Smarts Are Here to Stay
Legal or Not, Bottled Smarts Are Here to Stay
GLOSSIES
Jan 7, 2009 6:52 AM CST

Legal or Not, Bottled Smarts Are Here to Stay

Safer, cheaper drugs will quell dissidents, scientists argue

(Newser) - The case is stacking up in favor of "smart pills," memory- and alertness-boosting prescription drugs already used by fighter pilots, corporate execs, and students for a cognitive edge, writes Maia Szalavitz in Time. Proponents say legalization debates are moot at this point—"the genie is already out...

What Was I Writing?
What Was   
I Writing?
OPINION
Jul 23, 2008 4:39 PM CDT

What Was I Writing?

Chronic distraction —a self-inflicted malady—may seem comic, but it's deadly

(Newser) - We all complain about the myriad distractions in the wired world, but Bryan Appleyard goes further in the Guardian: Distraction is not just annoying, it can kill you, and will be the downfall of democracy. “Chronic, long-term distraction” may be as deadly as smoking, and the habits of the...

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