Brain Science: Focus–Can You Pay Attention?

I have thepleasure of working with a lot of instructional designers and some of the mostcommon questions that come up involve the capability of the human brain. Theywant to know how much people can learn, and for how long people can payattention.

The attentionspan of the adult learner

“Attention span” refers to the amount of time an individualcan remain focused on a task without becoming distracted. This is an importantvariable since people with longer attention spans are able to be more creative,make fewer errors, and are more likely to achieve their goals.

Current researchers argue that the average attention span ofAmerican adults has dropped and it is limited to 20, 10, or even five minutes. Ifthis is true, the numbers are troubling since we clearly need more bandwidth toprovide them with important information. The interesting question is “why?”

Brain changes and short attention spans

The late educator Neil Postman believed that moderntechnologies such as television and the Internet are actually reducing people’sattention span. He proposed that our frantic world has somehow rewired thehuman brain, making us less able to attend to things for long periods. In factthere is precedent for such a view. For example, the human eyeball, which is asensory outgrowth of the brain, actually changes shape because of early visualexperience. For instance, if a child engages in close-up activities likereading or playing computer games for prolonged periods, the human eyeballdevelops into a more oval shape to better accommodate these close up images.The downside of this reshaping, however, is that the children then becomemyopic (nearsighted) and have difficulty focusing on distant objects.

Researchers propose a similar process to explain theshortening of adults’ attention spans (and perhaps the epidemic of attentiondeficit disorders in children). The theory states that because of exposure toour frantic world with its persistent thrills, challenges, and competition, aperson’s brain somehow rewires itself to better accommodate this rapid pace.The downside is that same brain has difficulty focusing on the more mundaneexperiences of everyday life.

Delivering information as-needed

But brain changes can’t completely explain the shortening ofour attention spans. Although many learners lose interest in our trainingsafter only five minutes, these same people are capable of focusing for twohours listening to a celebrity lecture, or watching a National Geographicspecial. As a result, we know their brains are capable of paying attention. It’sjust that they don’t pay attention to our trainings.

Another explanation for short attention spans is that thecontent we are teaching people is inherently uninteresting. According to thistheory, learners, especially Millennials, are accustomed to seeking informationon an as-needed basis and therefore they are unwilling to attend to materialthat is not immediately interesting and valuable. Again, there may be sometruth in this. The advent of instant information has made people impatient withtraditional spoon-fed training. Instead, they want to guzzle knowledge when,but only when, they need it.

Again, I expect that this is part of the answer, but only apart. The content we deliver isimportant and it helps people be more successful in their careers. So theremust be another factor explaining why people lose interest in our material soquickly.

Is it our fault?

A third factor that contributes to people’s short attentionspan comes much closer to home: perhaps the training materials we deliver are,quite frankly, not very engaging. Perhaps we are under so much time pressure todeliver content that we ignore the basic lessons to teach in ways that areinteractive, meaningful, and engaging. Anecdotal evidence supports this idea.At a recent conference, I asked a room of 400 instructional designers how manyof them would enjoy taking online training that was developed by theircolleagues. Only about 50 hands went up. Fifty! That is disappointing, and ithas to be a call to action: We need to find ways to continue to improve ourinstructional techniques.

Teaching is an aerobic sport, and if done well, you can make anymaterial engaging. On the other hand, if you do teaching poorly, any materialcan be made dull. At my university, we have one faculty member who makes herbasic accounting class into an engaging and even exciting learning experience. Wehave another faculty member who manages to make his human sexuality coursedull.

There is not a lot we can do to change the wiring of people’sbrains. But we can learn more about how the brain works, and use that knowledgemore effectively. Next month we will look at a powerful cognitive functioncalled the a priori gap.

Digging deeper

To learn more about how our lifestyle may affect our attentionspan, start by reading Neil Postman’s book, AmusingOurselves to Death.

If you would like to have your memory of this article boosted,send an email to [email protected].You willautomatically receive a series of boosters on this series of three articles.The boosters take only seconds to complete, and they will profoundly increaseyour ability to recall the content of these article.

Reference

Postman, Neil and Andrew Postman. AmusingOurselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (RevisedEdition). New York: Penguin Books, 2005. (Editor’s Note: The 1985 original edition is still available inpaperback and hardcover from various booksellers on the web. The 2005 revisededition is available in paperback and as an electronic book.)