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"Discovery Files" Features from the National Science Foundation
"Random Access Memories"
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READER SCRIPT
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BRAIN OFF THE TRACK... THE "DISCOVERY FILES": NEW ADVANCES IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, FROM THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION. FOCUS: YOU'RE TRYING TO GET SOMETHING DONE, IN THE MIDST OF DISTRACTIONS--CO-WORKERS' VOICES, SOMEBODY'S PHONE, FLASHING LIGHTS, THAT NOISE THAT YOUR STOMACH MAKES. HOW GOOD ARE YOU--AND HOW GOOD IS YOUR BRAIN--AT STAYING ON-TASK? BASED ON NEW RESEARCH OUT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OREGON, THAT DEPENDS ON JUST HOW MUCH "RANDOM-ACCESS MEMORY" YOU'VE GOT--WELL, NOT LITERALLY. BUT, THE RESEARCHERS DO COMPARE PEOPLE'S WORKING-MEMORY CAPACITY TO A COMPUTER'S "RAM". THE STUDY USED ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAMS, OR "E-E-G'S"--CREATING IMAGES OF THE BRAINS OF STUDENT VOLUNTEERS, WHO WERE ASSIGNED SIMPLE TASKS ON A COMPUTER. VARIOUS DISTRACTIONS WERE ADDED IN, TO THROW THEM OFF. BY GENERATING A 50-MILLISECOND FLASH OF LIGHT, THE RESEARCHERS COULD DETERMINE EXACTLY WHERE PARTICIPANTS' ATTENTION WAS FOCUSED. SOME OF THE STUDENTS WERE EASILY DISTRACTED--AND SLIPPED, IN DOING THE ASSIGNED TASK. OTHERS WERE ABLE TO "TUNE OUT" THE IRRELEVANT STUFF, AND FOCUS ON REACHING THE GOAL. THE RESEARCHERS BELIEVE THAT THESE PEOPLE SEEM TO HAVE MORE WORKING-MEMORY CAPACITY--WHICH, JUST LIKE MORE "RAM", GIVES THEM BETTER PROCESSING-ABILITY--AND WORKS TO THEIR ADVANTAGE IN THINGS LIKE ACHIEVEMENT-TESTS, MATH, OR LANGUAGE-LEARNING. IF YOU'RE AMONG THE "EASILY DISTRACTED", TAKE HEART: THE RESEARCHERS ARE LOOKING TO SEE IF THERE'S A POSITIVE SIDE TO THAT KIND OF BRAIN-FUNCTION, AS WELL--THINGS LIKE MAYBE ENHANCED CREATIVITY, OR IMAGINATION. THE "DISCOVERY FILES" COVERS PROJECTS FUNDED BY THE GOVERNMENT'S NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION: FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH BROUGHT TO YOU BY YOU! LEARN MORE AT "N-S-F"-DOT-GOV--OR ON THEIR PODCAST.
For additional "Discovery Files" features from the National Science Foundation, click here.
