Easily Distracted People May Have 'Too Much Brain'

fysdt writes with this excerpt from New Scientist: "Those who are easily distracted from the task in hand may have 'too much brain.' So says Ryota Kanai and his colleagues at University College London, who found larger than average volumes of grey matter in certain brain regions in those whose attention is readily diverted. To investigate distractibility, the team compared the brains of easy and difficult-to-distract individuals. [Abstract] They assessed each person's distractibility by quizzing them about how often they fail to notice road signs, or go into a supermarket and become sidetracked to the point that they forget what they came in to buy. The most distractible individuals received the highest score."

Comments

Flamebait Summary

[TaoPhoenix]

With only a brief glance at TFA this is a Flamebait summary.

It's the age-old distinction between a low-grade machine that is resistant to abuse and a high-grade machine that is vulnerable to abuse.

The summary unfairly rewards low-grade abuse-resistant machines/brains.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[Anonymous Coward]

The summary unfairly rewards low-grade abuse-resistant machines/brains.

It should've been "Focused, Productive People May Have 'Not Enough Brain'.

BTW:

FIRST POST!

Re:Flamebait Summary

[somersault]

Hah, indeed. I used to not notice my teacher calling my name in early primary school because I was so focused on my schoolwork. She encouragingly gave me the nickname "cloth ears". I can still be oblivious to things happening around me when I'm focused, though I am more likely to notice if someone says my name at least. I'd rather be able to focus like that than have everything distract me. Especially if I'm reading a book at home or something like that.

I was working in a busy office for the last couple of years with people often trying to get my attention, and my ability to focus on work dropped drastically even when they were being quiet. Now that I'm in a quieter office, things are improving again, because I'm no longer anticipating distractions.

With stuff like observing road signs, you can train yourself to be more attentive to them too. There's not that much point reading them every time on roads you know well, though being aware of possible new signs is useful.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[hyperquantization]

The summary unfairly rewards low-grade abuse-resistant machines/brains.

It should've been "Focused, Productive People May Have 'Not Enough Brain'.

The article reconciles what you see as a discrepancy with the line:

...the brain's grey matter is pruned of neurons in order to work more efficiently.

He suggests that a greater volume of grey matter may indicate a less mature brain, perhaps reflecting a mild developmental malfunction.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[Strange Ranger]

That's not a reconciliation. That's an unfair theory that assumes the extra grey matter is unwanted. He could just as easily theorize that "Some mechanism is helping these brains keep more of their flexibility and childlike wonder and curiosity." OR "This extra grey matter might allow mature brains to better function in a chaotic environment, whereas a normal adult brain tends to get "flustered" when routines change."

  Of course I just made all that up, but you get the point. He begins his theory-making by assuming part of the brain is unwanted. Try again without the bias buddy.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[Austerity Empowers]

It should've been "Focused, Productive

Oooh, Shiny!

Re:Flamebait Summary

[jd]

This is something that has been known for a very long time. The NAGC (National Association for Gifted Children) was pretty much founded on the premise that intelligent kids become disruptive in schools because they're bored witless (ie: become easily distracted) with the humdrum that is necessary for everyone else.

What this article (and summary) should be focussing on is not the fact that intelligent people can be distracted but on why society is under-utilizing their capabilities to such an extent that boredom is possible. Once a problem has been identified and a solution worked on for a specific sector (in this case kids) for 4 decades or more, it is surely not acceptable for the problem to be allowed to fester in all other parts of society. It is surely even less acceptable for researchers to not be aware that solutions already exist but aren't being used.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[Pf0tzenpfritz]

You're probably right ...whatever it was, that you wrote. -- /** @todo: make signature */

Re:Flamebait Summary

[chebucto]

I don't really follow your reasoning.

The summary describes the test and gives the results. I didn't see any strong value judgment in there, and I certainly didn't see any 'reward' (whatever that would be) for 'low-grade brains'.

A study found that there is a positive correlation between larger brains and distraction. Take from that what you will.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[Jaime2]

The summary might lean towards flame bait, but the article suggests that "more brain" is the result of a developmental disorder, not an indication of a smarter person. They suggest that the natural developmental process is to start with a lot of neuron and to gradually prune the unnecessary ones.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[ardle]

What this article (and summary) should be focussing on is not the fact that intelligent people can be distracted but on why society is under-utilizing their capabilities to such an extent that boredom is possible

Society under-utilizes gifted people because otherwise gifted people would become some kind of "elite" ;-)

Re:Flamebait Summary

[Jaime2]

The article doesn't say that more intelligent people are more easily distracted. It says that a specific region of the brain has more grey matter in children than in adults. When some adults fail to prune the extra grey matter, they tend be more more easily distracted than those who develop normally.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[Anonymous Coward]

What do you expect from a guy that posts from monkey.org?

Re:Flamebait Summary

[Low Ranked Craig]

Society for the most part has always punished intelligent people unless that intelligence is coupled with wealth or power.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[Anonymous Coward]

And what about bumps on the skull?

Re:Flamebait Summary

[Kjella]

This is something that has been known for a very long time. The NAGC (National Association for Gifted Children) was pretty much founded on the premise that intelligent kids become disruptive in schools because they're bored witless (ie: become easily distracted) with the humdrum that is necessary for everyone else.

A bored mind is an easily distracted mind, that you really don't need a scientist to tell you. But if you gave them challenges relative to their intelligence or a different kind of challenge where intelligence wouldn't matter much, are the intelligent more easily distracted than the others? The answer to that is not obvious.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[Anonymous Coward]

This must be why children learn about the world around them at a rate that's nearly unmeasurable. This along with gaining the ability to develop language, gross and fine motor skills, along with the ability to comprehend so much that surrounds them.

Does this 'pruning' as a child ages thus carried/pushed through the system reveal to us that mundane, rote, and repetitive learning produces easily controllable individuals? I believe so.

Speaking for myself: I have a attention span of a knat when it comes to things that are mundane. I want no part of it. Engage me in something that includes discovery, imagination, and the freedom to ask questions at will-as they arise in my thinking process-. I have the ability to retain vast amounts of information. This to the point of when the freedom is there to ask questions, I always receive the response of ' I don't know the answer to that'. It never fails.

I may be 'labeled' as a person of ADD. I laugh at this prospect. I become board easily. I need the constant stimulation, I crave information overload, and I can't stand to sit in one place doing things a trained monkey can do. No thank you.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[Anonymous Coward]

Neurological pruning....LOL!

Sounds more like Droids in the making. Everyone put on their white Star Wars costume.

Now pay attention to what are Darth is telling us to do! Our brains MUST be PRUNED and PROGRAMED to complete mind control.

If you try to think on your own, you will be taken to the MRI and scanned to see if you grey matter is to high for total control yet. If it is-you shall be punished with megar jobs as not to threaten the ones in charge.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[hyperquantization]

That's not bias. It's called context and the Scientific Method: the theory that the article is basing its conclusions off is as the article states. Our understanding of the human brain is rather pitiful, so claiming a theory here as "unfair" is unfair to the theory itself.

Don't assume bias simply because a theoretical conclusion that is made doesn't agree with your own hypotheses. Science is full of opinions that evolve and shift, and this may be no exception. However, taking insult based upon a theory is exactly what ruins Science as a field; ignoring models because they violate "political correctness" is just bad Science. Maybe PC needs to step it up and join ranks for a paradigm shift.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[Anonymous Coward]

It's sounds like the U.K. is providing an excellent program with the NAGC.

Not to be outdone, the U.S. has its own NAGC. Some argue that the National Association of Government Contractors doesn't make kids productive, but maybe if one looks at their incomes? No word on brain size.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[Daniel Phillips]

The article doesn't say that more intelligent people are more easily distracted. It says that a specific region of the brain has more grey matter in children than in adults. When some adults fail to prune the extra grey matter, they tend be more more easily distracted than those who develop normally.

To paraphrase: if your brain doesn't rot in the usual way, you won't become a perfect cog.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[Jawnn]

Society under-utilizes gifted people because otherwise gifted people would become some kind of "elite" ;-)

You say that as if some people might think "gifted or elite" might be a bad thing. Oh, wait...., we're talking about Texas again, aren't we.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[Anonymous Coward]

As this whole page (TFA,TFS,TFC[omments]) seems to be idiots bashing idiots bashing idiots, here's some professional opinion:

The reason smart people are distracted by tasks, is because they are BORED by the simplicity.

As a friend of me said: "King Leonidas did not die. He fell asleep from being bored to death from the weakness of his enemies." ;)

I know because get that (being underchallenged) a lot. Not much below writing some hardcore Haskell or trying serious mental hackery can challenge me enough. And I never get distracted by those things, while otherwise always being easily distractable.

One thing I noticed though: You can still challenge your brain by doing things that require other parts of the brain that you're not that "smart" at.
For me, that's sports. And I'm not talking about lifting weight. I'm talking about high-speed downhill offroad mountainbike racing. Somehow this creates so much traffic in the stem, that much of the "higher" levels get cut off and can go to standby without being bored. At least that's my attempt at an explanation. :)

Re:Flamebait Summary

[Anonymous Coward]

Once a problem has been identified and a solution worked on for a specific sector (in this case kids) for 4 decades or more, it is surely not acceptable for the problem to be allowed to fester in all other parts of society

There is a solution: its called give the little bastards as much methylphenadate, amphetamine salts, etc as they can stand. Its been working for 2 decades. Unfortunately once the little bastards aren't kids anymore, we have a new problem that needs fixing: what do we do with all these drug addicts?

Re:Flamebait Summary

[grcumb]

Society under-utilizes gifted people because otherwise gifted people would become some kind of "elite" ;-)

Elite has everything to do with privilege and nothing whatsoever to do with being gifted (in the sense of higher intelligence, anyway).

I went to high school in a neighbourhood that had one of my city's most elite neighbourhoods on one side and a working class ghetto (home to a number of mafia families and one motorcycle gang) on the other. The 'elite' students were better fed, better dressed, better spoken and better behaved, for the most part, but if they were smarter, they hid it well.

Education and opportunity may give you a head start in life, but don't for a second try to pretend that these advantages somehow make you smarter or better than anyone else. Harvard may demand you work at a higher level, but its cachet is that you can make friends with rich people, and with luck some of that rich will rub off on you.

The highly intelligent are usually the opposite of elite: They are so caught up with ideas, and so desperate for the company of people who actually understand them, that they are willing to overlook most of the social markers (accent, clothing, income, residence) that most people use to grade each other.

Whenever I hear the term 'intellectual elite', I wonder if such a thing is even possible, because anyone stupid enough to hang that term on a group has to be lying.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[TaoPhoenix]

Hiya!

Here's the simple version!

1. Hammers are fun! You can bang on things all day with them and fix a lot of problems.
2. Seismographs are not hammers. If you bang on things ... with a machine *designed to measure the earth banging on stuff*, you'll get a 14 on the Richter scale followed by the machine breaking... after you fixed your loose screw problem.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[pspahn]

why society is under-utilizing their capabilities to such an extent that boredom is possible.

From my own experience, public schools simply do not have the resources available to foster academic growth for these kids. A disproportionate amount of money, personnel, and time are spent dealing with the opposite type of student.

Basically, less SPED, more GATE.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[Anonymous Coward]

Just out of curiosity, how can you claim first post if you are replying to something?

Re:Flamebait Summary

[Anonymous Coward]

> "but on why society is under-utilizing their capabilities to such an extent that boredom is possible."

Sweetheart, if it wasn't illegal, society would just *SHOOT* the intelligent people. There *IS* no use for intelligence in society, unless the intelligent themselves invent one. Which they can't do because they don't seek out positions of authority very often.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[turing_m]

The summary unfairly rewards low-grade abuse-resistant machines/brains.

In lots of ways, real life rewards the high-grade machine that is vulnerable to abuse. e.g. if I can make sound investment decisions or find interesting and well enough paid work, I'm happy to forget what I came to the supermarket for. That's what shopping lists are for, and why I write them. To be someone who can't tell when the talking heads on the financial channels are full of s***, or condemned to flip burgers for the term of my natural life.. no thanks.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[jd]

The evidence gathered by the NAGC (and as a former teacher for them I can say I saw this in person) is that certainly for hyper-intelligent children if you give them challenges relative to their intelligence they are NOT more easily distracted. In fact, I observed the opposite. They demonstrate a focus that is awe-inspiring. The evidence for adults is much slimmer, but I'd argue that there's no reason to assume that adult brains would be significantly different.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[oliverthered]

it's like and ant looking at God.

unfortunately God is not stimulated enough by the little boxes all made out of ticky tacky.

looks pretty, content lacking.

Also I wonder if people would stop thinking that the TV is magical if they where 'shown' how it worked... Oh yeh, the news people get stuff from the government who make up stories about aliens (on encourage them) magically send it through the stuff you can't see and it starts talking to you and showing you pretty pictures.. sending messages and stuff. my mistake. too ignorant.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[oliverthered]

should be...

people who think they are focused and productive may be ignorant and not have enough brain.

They may also have empathy difficulties and malfunctioning mirror neurons, a blunt instrument effect.

Can make things look pretty to them and convince 'some' other people, but content lacking.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[oliverthered]

citations: make up your own mind.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20453-easily-distracted-people-may-have-too-much-brain.html

http://www.power2u.org/articles/recovery/revisiting_schizophrenia.html

http://www.soterianetwork.org.uk/books/books.html#booklet

http://www.nature.com/npp/journal/v27/n4/full/1395954a.html

http://www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/article/PIIS0006322311000126/fulltext

http://www.ted.com/talks/vs_ramachandran_the_neurons_that_shaped_civilization.html

http://www.aspenacademy.com/add.html

http://people.wku.edu/charles.smith/MALVINA/mr094.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4poWiKfg1MU

(you have to follow back on this one to the original stuff)
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-28/broken-heart-burns-like-hot-coffee-study-of-ex-lovers-shows.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12661646

Where's that bloody Ayn Rand woman...
Ahh here she is:
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ayn+rand&hl=en&safe=off&prmd=ivnsuobl&source=univ&tbm=vid&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=8TfHTbuhGMbBswbW--yGDw&ved=0CIUBEKsE

Re:Flamebait Summary

[oliverthered]

forgot to add:
(yuk wikipedia!!!.. anti social personality disorder....(the psychopaths) the one they always miss out.... horrible man, if only he went away it would all be perfect, ahh there's another one)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontal_lobe_disorder

http://www.elyrics.net/read/j/johnny-cash-lyrics/hurt-lyrics.html

s/I/Ayn/ Ayn hurt myself today... the need all etc....

Re:Flamebait Summary

[oliverthered]

fortunately, evolution stepped in and ensured that the wisdom of the species was balanced between those who did not seek the content in nature, those who where ignorant but lacking brains and dependent on authority and making things look pretty, but never content enough and those who didn't ignore the ignorance of either phenotype.

Knowledge is power, wisdom divine, the search for salvation is to be stuck in time.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[oliverthered]

ahh.s/who did not seek the content in nature/who sort the content in nature/,

Re:Flamebait Summary

[oliverthered]

more wilderness <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEeqHj3Nj2c">less concrete urban jungle</a>.

<a href="http://dictionary.reverso.net/french-english/pourquoi">pourquoi?<a/>

<a href="http://www.google.co.uk/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=wilderness+ADD%2FADHD">google wilderness ADD/ADHD.</a>

see not as dumb as I am cloth eared looking.

Said I liked climbing trees!

Re:Flamebait Summary

[oliverthered]

With stuff like observing road signs, you can train yourself to be more attentive to them too.

I found having some music for rhythm or extra noise helps.... YMMV. (I find the 'noise' and 'rhythm' of country roads with trees much easier than the choppy-ness of urban roads)

Re:Flamebait Summary

[smitty97]

With only a brief glance at TFA ...

Were you distracted from reading the whole thing?

Re:Flamebait Summary

[evought]

I think the PP's point is that the approach in the article assumes one particular outcome is "desirable" without recognizing that the "too much brain/too distractable" state has distinct situational and evolutionary advantages. Ability to focus to the exclusion of other activity is desirable in a cubicle environment but less so in forest with things trying to eat you. By that measure, the "un-pruned brain" may be the default, "correct" state and the pruned brain the "abnormality". It all depends on what type of environment the brain is trying to work in.

My boss when I worked with the Air Force was an ex-Navy SEAL with ADHD. When someone emptied empty pop-cans into the recycle bin in the nearby break room, he could tell you exactly how many had been dumped. ADHD was a hideous problem in such a busy, noisy place, but it allowed him to actually function better in the field. Since then, I have developed a marked distractability as a result of a neural-muscular condition affecting me in a similar manner. When my condition is bad, I cannot focus on writing or other task work or very long. Sometimes I cannot even follow conversations if I have activity going on other sides (I have to move to line the speaker up with the other noises). Every dog bark, fly buzz, music from the neighbor down-the-road, etc., breaks my focus. But if I walk out into the pasture, I can quickly identify every animal moving in the brush. I can notice and pick out wild-harvestable edible and medicinal herbs as I walk through an area. My nephew is going through ADD-like problems as well, and I have been working with my sister to introduce him to activities where his condition is an advantage so he can deal better, psychologically, with the downsides.

So, anyway, we assume a lot of things are 'defects' --- and in some ways they are--- without taking into account that what humans are typically called on to do has changed dramatically over the last couple-of-hundred years.

Something odd I have noticed, and this bears out with other "afflicted" I have spoken to, is that there is some kind of olfactory cross-wiring. A strong odor, such as from an essential oil, will distract the other parts of the brain sometimes to allow task work. This is sometimes used to help ADD students be able to sit and complete homework, for instance. I have also noticed that certain things are easier to multitask than others. I cannot read with a conversation going on nearby, but sketching is easier and may actually help me focus on the conversation. These things probably have some connection, even if incidental/accidental, to tasks people have been traditionally required to perform for survival.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[Jaime2]

Of course that's because formation and/or elimination of synapses is the perfect definition of "brain rot", rather than a normal part of maturing, and the ability to pay attention is strongly correlated with being a "perfect cog". If anything, I'd say the opposite is true; easily distracted people should be far more pliable than those who have the ability to focus their attention on something.

It's interesting how many people react emotionally to this article. It looks to me like pretty boring science that may someday help in diagnosing a particular form of ADHD. However, a lot of people seem to want to link the "too much brain" statement to intelligence (the article literally meant grey matter volume in one region of the brain, not intelligence).

Re:Flamebait Summary

[Anonymous Coward]

I never thought it was "gifted" as much as a product of our American history. Extremely regimented education and work is genetic new thing. Even 150 years ago an average child could read and write.. But also birth animals, lead a horse to plow, hunt small animals in several ways, butcher and prepare meat, etc, etc. A child 150 years ago (and a long time before that) was expected to learn ad much as they could.. Even "play" consisted of emulating what adults did.. Building things or learning about their land.

It's only in the last 90 years that more people have lived in cities where wandering is "bad". As far as biology goes it's not even a diversion yet. We just have a lot of kids stuck in places they are not "evolved" to be in. It's a uniquely American issue heightened because the driving force for 400 years here was collecting all the"misfits" from everywhere else. What we consider "average" individuality is in fact considerably "rogue" for the rest of the world.. Which is why our higher institutions (university, business, medicine, law) are designed to stamp it out because they tried for 100 years to be taken "seriously" by the same stuffed shirt previous generations left.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[somersault]

Much better video. You need to learn some balance in your life, and stop pushing your own anti-learning agenda.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[hyperquantization]

Aye, but my point is, although the article proposes only that one theory, it never claims that it's the only one.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[tehcyder]

the premise that intelligent kids become disruptive in schools because they're bored witless

Then they need to fucking learn to get along with other people in the real world, and not be pampered by their twatty parents indulging them because they're precious snowflakes.

Bunching together a bunch of equally indulged selfish little fuckwads. together just makes them worse.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[tehcyder]

If you're that fucking intelligent/super-intelligent, you don't need a school to keep you occupied, you make your own activities up. Intelligence without imagination is almost perfectly useless.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[Anonymous Coward]

You may have been exhibiting "hyper focus" which is a "benefit" of ADD. Your experience ties in with the unproven hunter/farmer theory where by in primitive times you could at times (e.g when hunting prey) ignore all external noises and then at other times (e.g when vying for resources etc.) turn your focus to all external stimuli. In modern times being easily distracted is generally a negative. For instance my comments are mostly modded as troll because I rush to take a risky contrary position before considering all options.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[somersault]

That's pretty cool :)

For instance my comments are mostly modded as troll because I rush to take a risky contrary position before considering all options.

I think a lot of Slashdotters do this, myself included :) It's fun to try to pick little holes in people's logic even when you basically agree with them..

Re:Flamebait Summary

[malkavian]

I'd read Lord of the Rings by the time I was 6. And still the school forced me to read the "Peter and Jane" books..
It's the way they force you to go through the steps you went through ages ago, just to prove you can. Which workplace still takes you through handwriting, and phonetic spelling for a couple of hours a day, just so you can spell 'cat' in an email to someone?
If people can forge ahead, they should be supported in doing so..

Re:Flamebait Summary

[d3ac0n]

And Slashdotters wonder why so many of them can't get/keep women.

There's a word for people who continually pick at other people's statements regardless of whether they agree with them or not: "Asshole".

(Note: I am NOT calling you an asshole. Just saying that people will frequently think that of those who are constantly contrary.)

My suggestion? Leave the logic picking for Debate class. Some of us just want to have a conversation that doesn't devolve into arguments over pointless minutiae.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[somersault]

I can definitely be an asshole at times. I have matured a bit with regards to always pointing out flaws (used to be really bad for pointing out spelling mistakes in stuff, now I just try to chill), but I also can't stand people that act like their view of the world is the only valid/reasonable one, I like to make people think.

I still notice flaws far too easily though, it's actually kept me from even wanting to have a girlfriend recently. I'd rather just not go out with anyone right now really - I'm pretty happy alone, hormones aside.

I seem to be at least slightly autistic - it doesn't really help me to be an interesting conversationalist.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[drinkypoo]

Obviously a lot of people, myself included, are feeling the sting.

However, "too much brain" ... WTF? Are they seriously proposing that the only result of having more brain cells is that you are more easily distracted? Can there not be some benefit? The thing making people defensive is the offensive nature of the statement.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[turtledawn]

There was another recently published study that demonstrated that autistic children (and not just Aspies, the sitting in the corner rocking types as well) have a significantly higher brain volume around age two than their neurotypical cohorts due to more convoluted cortical folding and a slightly larger head to match, though the circumference was only greater by perhaps a third of an inch. So taking these two studies together, there could be a convincing argument made that having too many brain cells is in fact of greater detriment than benefit.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[turtledawn]

That's what the teenage years are for: refining social development. It helps to have the basics down in grade school, but why in the world wouldn't you want to take advantage of a time period when the peers of gifted kids haven't yet figured out that it's easier to bash the smart kids than to do the work in order to give the gifted kids the broadest, deepest base you can manage? In my (limited) experience, a group of gifted kids is no more indulged than any other group of well-loved children and they are certainly not selfish; they'll often try to arrange charity projects well beyond their reach and love to help other kids with their school work, as long as the other kids are putting in a sincere effort.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[Anonymous Coward]

I think you've summed that up perfectly. I've never quite been able to put it so succinctly.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[jd]

No, it could equally well prove the claim that retension of grey matter is a product of how much you learn. Autistic people lack filters to select what they learn, so learn far far more. The volume of information is overwhelming. Thus more grey matter. The grey matter is thus a mere side-effect and not causal of the condition or any other condition.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[skids]

Coming from a long line of "absent minded professor" types, I had to learn concentration. I suspect there is not a single scalar metric at work here, but of there were, I could see it working like this:

1) too dumb to be distracted
2) smart enough to be distracted but not to retain trains of thought
3) smart enough to be distracted but also smart enough to manage reminders
4) smart enough to be distracted, then magically back on track right when it matters
5) smart enough to not only retain virtual concentration, but to bias distractions topically for enhanced effect

This is obviously a grossly simplified distortion, though. And the headline was obviously dumbed down to cater to the not-easily-distracted.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[Scrameustache]

However, "too much brain" ... WTF?

Easily fixed with a routine lobotomy...

Re:Flamebait Summary

[jd]

Brain rot has already been demonstrated to always apply to unused parts of the brain. If these people don't rot as much brain, it's because they're using more of it. This requires some link to learning skills requiring different parts of the brain and that is something uniquely done by the intelligent.

Far as I'm concerned, case closed.

I would regard the ideal as to have no brain rot at all. Indeed, I've posted a few times on that subject on Slashdot. It should be possible to teach someone such a range of skills that all the brain is utilized and nothing is there to decay.

Would this be useful? Those with less brain rot are proven already to delay dementia in direct proportion to the reduction in decay. That, alone, should be sufficient.

However, I'll also throw in that some neurological conditions, such as the speech loss suffered by Scott Adams, can be treated by bypassing the affected area. This is only possible when there's some spare capacity somewhere you can bypass through.

For good measure, I'll add that those with less decayed brains will be able to learn better (albiet not by a vast amount) than those with "normal" brains in adulthood. The adult brain forms connections, but far fewer of them and far more slowly. The latency of the neural connections won't change, but the number that can be formed will increase. Greater bandwidth, rather than lower latency.

And finally, if the NAGC had been teaching ADHD kids, I'd have noticed as ADHD couldn't have been solved by merely making the challenges harder. If anything, you'd expect the results to be far worse. This was not the realirt of the situation. Ergo, ADHD is not involved, by proof of absence.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[turtledawn]

Nah, that's schizophrenia.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7448474

Re:Flamebait Summary

[cyberchondriac]

I've always sort of equated "intellectual elite" with "pseudo-intellectual". After all, the smarter someone really is, the more they should realize how little they actually know compared with how much there is to know. Even a rocket scientist can't do brain surgery and a neurosurgeon isn't likely to successfully design a working rocket.
Keyword though is "should".. there is a difference between knowledge and wisdom.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[evought]

OK, Granted. The summary was quite a bit more slanted.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[oliverthered]

how was that anti-learning? your the one who seems to have the 'anti-learning' stick.. I'm pro-learning. {+} >= !{+}

so does the wilderness help with your concentration? (better than the pharmaceutics?)

Re:Flamebait Summary

[oliverthered]

You need to learn some balance ... [command, things people are stupid... no idea where that idea came from?, has experience of being unballanced]
in your life, [we are all one... lack of understanding of empathy. objectifying]
stop [command] pushing [physical] your own[possessive, objectifying, selfish] anti-learning [as opposed to brain washing?] agenda[objectifying].

Re:Flamebait Summary

[oliverthered]

assert self < noun < verb < adjective.

in order of selfish....
self = proper noun.
noun = object
verb = noun on noun
adjective = property of noun.

assume, likes authoritative things, knowledge is power.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[somersault]

That wasn't anti-learning, but you seem to have something against science, which is all about learning. It's important to enjoy life, though I think it's also important to keep learning and advancing science so that we can do more and more amazing things.

Yes, learning how to use my body to fulfil its natural potential to move is much better than being strung out on chemicals :p

Re:Flamebait Summary

[Anonymous Coward]

It should've been "Focused, Productive... Oooh, Shiny!"

Hilarious!

Re:Flamebait Summary

[oliverthered]

I don't have anything against religion.... that's somewhat different to having something against science.... but on that original debate it was that someone who is religious (I'm not) doesn't accept a juxtaposed position and side steps etc...

Easily Distracted People May Have 'Too Much Brain'

could have been written:
people who are piss board cos some arse-holes cut down all the bloody trees don't get enough stimulation to fill their brain capacity and so we give them psychotropic drugs instead, for a chemical imbalance that doesn't exist.

but it went for the 'Too Much Brain'...

If you take the schizophrenia article the other day...

Normal people are ignorant and haven't evolved enough brains to compensate, so we drug everyone else.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[oliverthered]

thank God! The internet isn't a human, right?

Re:Flamebait Summary

[oliverthered]

{+} >= !{+}
some thing are more equal than others.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[somersault]

You were criticising scientists and what they do with science, so I assumed you were anti-science.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[oliverthered]

You were criticising scientists [some yes]
and what they do with science [pretend it's the answer not the question?].. like religious people do... yes some do.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[oliverthered]

can you tell me which way left and right is?

(I think they did get some stuff from the LHC... though haven't seen much mention of it yet...

Can you tell me how to work out how much a kilogram is?

I was just taking the juxta opinion to it's ultimate conclusion.

Can you write Set theory in the style of the holy trinity?

[]                ""
       [""]"[]"

         !=

I like doing it like God is smoking a spliff out the side of his mouth.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[Anonymous Coward]

To be honest, if that's the only typo I made in a foreign language after not having slept the night before, I'm nearly OK with it. :)
Hmm I thought it was pronounced "distractuhbl”

Re:Flamebait Summary

[ImprovOmega]

"First you get your bachelor's degree and think you know something.
Then you get your master's degree and realize you know nothing.
Then you get your doctorate and realize no one else knows anything either, but you realize that's okay, and we all muddle on together."
-Source unknown

Re:Flamebait Summary

[jd]

There are believed to be links between autism and schizophrenia, you may well have made a discovery of what such links involve. I'm serious. Regardless, we see retention in grey matter, or even a sudden surge of growth, in any occupation requiring fantastic amounts of knowledge (such as London cab drivers, who have been studied extensively). I'm quite convinced the brain matter is harmless at worst, beneficial at best.

Re:Flamebait Summary

[idlehanz]

Squirrel!

Re:Flamebait Summary

[Anonymous Coward]

If more mature brains are to have less grey matter, then perfection exists within a two neuron system!

Re:Flamebait Summary

[Anonymous Coward]

I went to high school in a neighbourhood that had one of my city's most elite neighbourhoods on one side and a working class ghetto (home to a number of mafia families and one motorcycle gang) on the other. The 'elite' students were better fed, better dressed, better spoken and better behaved, for the most part, but if they were smarter, they hid it well.

You could tell who the smart kids were. They were the ones not flaunting their intelligence around mafia families and motorcycle gangs.

Easily...

[Anonymous Coward]

What?

I forgot

[Anonymous Coward]

I forgot why I clicked on this link.

great excuse

[roman_mir]

Wonderful excuse - my brain, it's just too big, that's why I can't concentrate on anything, the tasks are too small and insignificant, what can you do? Get me a real problem to solve - like world peace or something, then maybe it'll keep me focused for a while.

Re:great excuse

[roman_mir]

What do you mean 'women works'? It's easy, all you do is take one apart, so that it stops working (if it ever had previously) and then you put it back together piece by piece, until it restarts. Narrow down to the precise moment that makes her work again, and you are half way there, from then on it's trivial.

Re:great excuse

[Anonymous Coward]

Flawless victory

Re:great excuse

[tsa]

World peace is a theoretically simple problem, It only requires people to be friendly to each other. I was gonna post a real problem but I was distracted by a butterfly.

Re:great excuse

[roman_mir]

I can be totally friendly with you while still waging a war against you to take your resources, try again.

Re:great excuse

[Anonymous Coward]

If you're waging war against me, you're not being 'totally friendly', are you?

Re:great excuse

[roman_mir]

Oh, that's not a contradiction at all, it's been done all the time. People behave in a totally friendly manner (and if all you have to judge by is the behavior, then you can't really conclude it's unfriendly,) while preparing a knife behind their back.

Re:great excuse

[Anonymous Coward]

x^n+y^n = z^n solve for n>2 where x,y, z, and n are positive integers - or prove the problem has no solution.

Re:great excuse

[roman_mir]

Too easy, solved it long time ago, but I still can't find the stupid napkin, who can keep up with things like that?

Re:great excuse

[Anonymous Coward]

misspelled chocolate
-grammar nazi

Re:great excuse

[xMrFishx]

Yes, they're called Politicians.

Re:great excuse

[roman_mir]

Yeah, and some times they are your spouses or your colleagues at work or your boss or your neighbor or anybody, where do you think politicians come from? Space?

Re:great excuse

[ffreeloader]

So, what you're really saying is that being a two-faced, backstabbing jerk is being friendly. Methinks you have a problem with understanding the meaning of friend, as the root word of friendly is friend.

Here is Merriam-Websters definition of friendly in the context you used the word:

Definition of FRIENDLY
: of, relating to, or befitting a friend: as
a : showing kindly interest and goodwill

Someone who stabs you in the back is not your friend, and therefore cannot considered to be friendly by definition. You seem to equate someone playing con games with friendship, friendliness, and being friendly.

Re:great excuse

[roman_mir]

Oh, you can definitely go by the definition, until the moment you are stubbed in the eye, and then the definition changes, but you are out an eye.

Re:great excuse

[Shemmie]

Ha, easy! The solution is... ooooo, a shiny thing.

Re:great excuse

[Austerity Empowers]

It's a very simple problem, peace will be achieved in the world when there is only one person left.

In the end, there can be only one.

Re:great excuse

[ColdWetDog]

Yeah, and some times they are your spouses or your colleagues at work or your boss or your neighbor or anybody, where do you think politicians come from? Space?

It does explain a few things. However, the theory that politicians form spontaneously from poorly composted horse manure fits the data better.

Re:great excuse

[tsa]

Nah. He will fight himself to death.

Re:great excuse

[plopez]

Nah, that's not ADHD or ADD. It's more like a manic episode.

Re:great excuse

[GrumblyStuff]

You work in customer service, don't you?

Re:great excuse

[$0.02]

my brain is bigger than your hey did i forget to post as anon coward what's for dinner, a yes some hot grits never mind the point was a what a hot chick just past by sorry the point was my brain is bigger than hey what the green thing over there

Re:great excuse

[roman_mir]

Sort of, I am doing my own stuff.

Re:great excuse

[roman_mir]

how does your head fit into that small room?

Re:great excuse

[Anonymous Coward]

Um, "preparing a knife behind their back." is NOT behaving "in a totally friendly manner".

Re:great excuse

[Larryish]

Men come from Mars.

Women come from Venus.

Politicians come from Uranus.

Re:great excuse

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh, I see you've heard about Tyler Durden

Re:great excuse

[Anonymous Coward]

I would start by mass executions of trolls and slashdotters.

Re:great excuse

[lennier]

Gaius Julius, is that you? Quit messing around with your Mediterranean anti-piracy campaign and that Egyptian girlfriend of yours and get back to being Vice President of Marketing with the Seventh Sales Legion in Paris.

And don't you dare try to bill that surprise visit to the head office in Rome as "travel expenses".

Re:great excuse

[Anonymous Coward]

good one!

Re:great excuse

[Anonymous Coward]

Here's a problem for you, try to figure out how women works.
That should keep you busy/distracted for a while.

http://roissy.wordpress.com/

Re:great excuse

[ffreeloader]

So, you do consider con games and planning to do you harm as friendly behavior. I have to say, you have the most warped definitions of friend and friendly I have ever seen. I guess you've never really had a friend, or have someone treat you in a friendly manner, in the true sense of the words.

Re:great excuse

[Culture20]

Men come from Mars.

Women come from Venus.

Politicians come from Uranus.

I'm sorry world. I promise I'll never poo again.

Re:great excuse

[gmhowell]

x^n+y^n = z^n solve for n>2 where x,y, z, and n are positive integers - or prove the problem has no solution.

The solution is easy. But the only thing I had to write it on was the margin of this piece of paper, and I ran out of room.

Re:great excuse

[Culture20]

how does your head fit into that small room?

[sean connery voice]I take a dip in a cold pool first[/sean connery voice]

Re:great excuse

[kaizokuace]

there are space politicians? fuck, we don't need to go to space anymore. fuck that background noise.

Re:great excuse

[kaizokuace]

I think that is what a friend is to a sociopath.

Re:great excuse

[Anonymous Coward]

the nicest people in the world are the quiet ones.
dead people are the quietest ones.

current methods of killing people are not peaceful.
so what we need is a peaceful way of killing everyone.

cool aid cults fail because someone always has to drink last and no one would be around to verify they drank it.
so what we need is a peaceful way of killing everyone while giving those that go first the ability to verify no one cheats

Those that go first need the strength and desire to enforce the will of peace on those that go last.
so what we need is a peaceful way of killing everyone while giving those that go first the ability to verify no one cheats and a keen sense of the living and a hunger for their flesh.

Those that go last are probably easily distracted and therefore have larger portions of grey matter.
so what we need is a peaceful way of killing everyone while giving those that go first the ability to verify no one cheats and a keen sense of the living and a hunger for their brains

If the big brains knew what we were planning then they would stop us.
so what we need is a peaceful way of killing everyone while giving those that go first the ability to verify no one cheats and a keen sense of the living and a hunger for their brains. I really doubt they're capable of following us this far without loosing interest. What could go wrong?

Re:great excuse

[roman_mir]

Ha ha ha ha, you are not ready for the real world yet, son.

Re:great excuse

[Thing 1]

Reminds me of the great quote, "Diplomacy is saying 'nice doggy' until you find a rock."

Re:great excuse

[Thing 1]

No, he is perfectly defining his terms: being "friendly" is not the same as being "a friend." I've been on the receiving end of both; the first has a determined purpose to use you and benefit from it; the second may take advantage of you but there is also give and take. You tend to learn who your true friends are when you run out of resources (well, either "true friends" or simply "people who aren't that good at calculating" :).

Re:great excuse

[headLITE]

Horrible excuse really. Anything else gets to big and we call it a tumor ;-)

Re:great excuse

[eriqk]

Thinking everyone around you is scheming to stab you in the back isn't called "ready for the real world". It's called "paranoia".

Re:great excuse

[roman_mir]

Expecting everybody who is seemingly nice to you to be your friend is called a 'mark'.

Re:great excuse

[dontbgay]

Yeah, and some times they are your spouses or your colleagues at work or your boss or your neighbor or anybody, where do you think politicians come from? Space?

I thought they came from Fox News?

Of course *we* do!

[Anonymous Coward]

And another thing, ...

Hey, what's that! Gotta go!

Yes

[fragfoo]

I allways had a feeling this was true, i was reading some papers about desktop grids and got distracted by this slashstory.

Say what?

[Anonymous Coward]

They assessed each person's distractibility by quizzing them about how often they fail to notice road signs, or go into a supermarket and become sidetracked to the point that they forget what they came in to buy. The most distractible individuals received the highest score

Huh? The most distractible individuals scored highest in a quiz about how distractible they are? No shit Sherlock. In other news, people who speak French score highest at French oral tests.

There is a cure

[Captain Kirk]

Osama bin Ladin used have that problem but its been solved.

Re:There is a cure

[DigiShaman]

Two shots and a splash of water. Yup, drinking is the cure-all for everything.

Re:There is a cure

[plopez]

I think you'd like this site then:

http://www.drunkard.com/

maybe so...

[cranil]

But the real question is what does this mean for zombies?

Re:maybe so...

[Sulphur]

But the real question is what does this mean for zombies?

Zoombies!

Just think of all that wheel spinning power not going anywhere.

And...?

[symes]

While I am all in favour of a decent bit of brain research, I'm kind of left wodering what the use of this work is. It niether seems to offer any great theoretical insight and nor does it seem to have practical application. Unless we are about to start shaving off a bit of gray matter from those who... oh look at that over...

Re:And...?

[jd]

The practical application, IMHO, is for society to utilize intelligent people more for tasks that demand high intelligence. Distractability == boredom. In the Age of Enlightenment, this involved funding the highly intelligent to go make use of that intelligence. In the modern era, serious research is often confined to those who stay in academia - and, even then, with universities increasingly funded by corporations to perform all the menial work, the condition of research is pathetic.

What we need are dedicated facilities for the highly intelligent to push them to the limits of their mental capacity, funded not to produce specific results but to see what happens. "Blue sky" from an outside perspective, but not necessarily to the researchers themselves who would be free to do what they wanted. I absolutely guarantee the rewards of such a venture for society would vastly outstrip the costs, and the rewards for the intelligent to be in a meaningful environment rather than a mundane one would be beyond price.

Re:And...?

[Anonymous Coward]

"...nor does it seem to have practical application."

From TFA:
"..., Kanai's team has begun to test ways to improve levels of attention by stimulating the left SPL using a technique called transcranial direct current stimulation. This involves placing electrodes on the head to deliver an unnoticeable electrical current to the immediate area.

"There are some signs that we can modulate attention" using transcranial direct current stimulation near to the left SPL, Kanai says."

Wire an electrode to your brain and you'll work at the computer all day with not a bit of distraction. The ideal corporate drone. I'd say this is a gold mine for large bureaucratic institutions.

Re:And...?

[Cassander]

What we need are dedicated facilities for the highly intelligent to push them to the limits of their mental capacity, funded not to produce specific results but to see what happens.

You mean like google?

Re:And...?

[Kjella]

The reason you don't hear about all the day jobs and side jobs those people had is that it's not very interesting that they shuffled horse manure at the stables. Those that didn't were mostly in academia, with only some rare exceptions having patrons or own wealth - that was mostly in art, not science. Even if a lot of what the universities do is applied research for corporations, just look at how many take a degree these days. There was few that could spend years training a skill before even starting to work, most people just had general education and on-the-job training. Every generation it becomes a little longer to just catch up with what the last generation knew, before you even can start to research. I've spent 17 of my years in school and still I feel I've almost only done learning, not researching. Unless you find some field that hasn't already been researched, chances are your think tank will only rediscover the same basics someone else already has.

Re:And...?

[nog_lorp]

Thank you! Dull witted folks running the world continue to fuck over the more intelligent students. How about we respond by NOT FUCKING DOING THAT ANYMORE?

Re:And...?

[lennier]

In the Age of Enlightenment, this involved funding the highly intelligent to go make use of that intelligence.

Yes, and after the Manhattan Project, it involved funding the highly intelligent to not make use of that intelligence.

Re:And...?

[Culture20]

with universities increasingly funded by corporations to perform all the menial work, the condition of research is pathetic

The worst part is that researchers spend so much time filing for grant money. It's like politicians who spend half of their term campaigning for the next term.

Re:And...?

[Anonymous Coward]

google 20%?

Re:And...?

[donscarletti]

In the Age of Enlightenment, this involved funding the highly intelligent to go make use of that intelligence.

Provided they were born to the aristocracy or at least the landowning class, otherwise they are to stay in the fields with their turnips. Even the son of a craftsman could not expect a chance to become literate and would be destined to be treated as a simpleton for his life, let alone a daughter of such family.

Re:And...?

[jd]

Yes, but how is that important? The question is not whether they had everyone, or even a majority, in positions of Total R&D. The question is surely whether those in such positions exhibited normal (or better) levels of distractability. The claim I'm arguing against states that it is the amount of grey matter, not the upbringing, social status, or wealth, that determines distractability, which means that those we do know about and are recorded should have exhibited this behaviour.

If, on the other hand, I am correct that restlessness is directly proportional to the difference between what brain power is available and what brain power is utilized, without regard to whether that is more than normal, less than normal, or purple, then you will find NO examples of those with Total R&D who showed the claimed restlessness. You will ALSO find examples of underemployed people, in all of history, who DO exhibit the claimed restlessness no matter what their intelligence or brain structure.

The idea that there's some unknown number of people who never got a chance to shine, whilst depressing, is so not the point. The point is whether the brain structure is a symptom of illness or whether it is society itself that is sick. Treating the wrong one could be disastrous.

Excuses

[Usually Unlucky]

This is what I will be telling my boss from now on

I must be a genius

[garompeta]

because I...

Re:I must be a genius

[DJRumpy]

Squirrel!

Re:I must be a genius

[magarity]

Cows!

ADD in the modern era

[DigiShaman]

Evolutionary speaking, having ADD would be a fantastic asset to have. It would allow to be more in-tuned with your environment for survival. The acute ability to become the hunter rather than the hunted. Now, having ADD in the office is a disability. It sucks :(

Re:ADD in the modern era

[SomePgmr]

"Honey you came back without food again? That's the fourth time this week, what happened?"

"Me see butterfly, me sorr.. ooo fire!"

Re:ADD in the modern era

[Anonymous Coward]

went hunting for buffalo, chased squirrels for five hours instead. sorry.

Re:ADD in the modern era

[kitsunewarlock]

That's a little unfair. When hunting what one would consider a "distraction from the task at hand" becomes an advantage. People with ADD/ADHD are simply able to focus more quickly on whatever piques their interest. Noticing a low-hanging branch or an easier prey or a sharp rock in the path i.e. sudden obstacles and potential opportunities in a world full of organized chaos that would be missed by those focused on just "getting that one animal". "Can't see the trees for the forest" is another way of putting it.

Re:ADD in the modern era

[adolf]

That's a little unfair. When hunting what one would consider a "distraction from the task at hand" becomes an advantage. People with ADD/ADHD are simply able to focus more quickly on whatever piques their interest. Noticing a low-hanging branch or an easier prey or a sharp rock in the path i.e. sudden obstacles and potential opportunities in a world full of organized chaos that would be missed by those focused on just "getting that one animal".

So, with ADD: You're running after the wildebeest, get distracted by assessing a fast-moving ground squirrel, then smash your head on the low-hanging branch, and break a leg on the sharp rock. The worst parts of this would've never happened to those focused on just "getting that one animal," because they'd never have been distracted by the squirrel and would have been able to better observe the obstacles in their path.

Did I miss anything?

Re:ADD in the modern era

[PPH]

Now, having ADD in the office is a disability.

Not necessarily. If you can compartmentalize your job, keeping an eye or ear on your surroundings, an open news web page, Usenet feed, etc. can help you pick up some interesting information.

Its called multi-tasking. I do it all the time. I can read or think about something sitting in the coffee shop while subconsciously(?) watching people coming and going or picking up snippets of conversations (I've generated some useful investment ideas this way and spotted some hot looking babes worthy of further attention). I've picked up on some interesting stuff around the office from people who were hanging around yakking, thinking I had my nose planted firmly inn my work.

What I have probably isn't considered to be ADD, as I can budget my attention to my primary task as well as the peripheral stuff.

Re:ADD in the modern era

[Anonymous Coward]

I have to wonder if you actually know anyone with ADD.

A meticulous and disciplined mentality would likely be of greater benefit as it would allow for patient stalking of prey, thorough checking and setting of traps, calculations and preparations to survive harsh seasons. All things that would likely be a struggle for someone with an accurate ADD diagnosis.

Re:ADD in the modern era

[ub3r n3u7r4l1st]

That is why most stalkers does not have ADD, and people with ADD cannot be a stalker.

Re:ADD in the modern era

[0-until-pink]

Amen to that. Hyper focus does not happen all the time. In fact I have some genuinely interesting work to do right now and yet here I am posting on /.

Re:ADD in the modern era

[eriqk]

Its called multi-tasking. I do it all the time.

When you can actually process the information, it's multitasking. When it becomes noise, it's ADD.

This is what

[Anonymous Coward]

keeps people in line.

See, think about it this way: the successful people are usually the most dysfunctional ones. Those who are squared away are usually marginalized and end up being fired from their jobs. Who really wants someone that can get the job done?

Having a brain that is too f'ing big for your head is clearly an indication of competence in this modern world. Likewise, an inability to complete even the most simple of tasks is a sign of higher intelligence. ...and this is why nobody takes the USA seriously anymore.

Experimental Proof Needed

[Anonymous Coward]

Find a large group of people who are easily distracted and remove 50% of their brain. Report if they get less distracted after that.

I KNEW it!

[Deaths Proxy]

All I need now is an article on how spending work hours reading Slashdot is good for professional development and my day-to-day goofing off will be fully justified.

Too much mental noise

[Anonymous Coward]

Most people have a constant stream of self talk (which they may attempt to dignify as thought) going on. They are self-distracted from whatever is going on around them.

Zen masters meditate for many thousands of hours just to turn down the volume on the monkey chatter so they can begin to actually experience the lives they are living.

A brain that is 'educated' may be larger than one that has not been 'educated'. In this case, that isn't a good thing. People build these amazing logical castles in the sky and miss the obvious stuff in front of them.

It is too much to deal with here but I suggest that people check out The Master and his Emissary by Iain McGilchrist. He examines our thought process in light of modern neurophysiology. He makes a pretty convincing case that our habit of over-thinking things has some quite bad effects (driving through a red light is a good example).

High as fuck

[MrQuacker]

or go into a supermarket and become sidetracked to the point that they forget what they came in to buy

Smoke a few bowls, and you too can forget what you went into the supermarket to get.

Re:High as fuck

[Anonymous Coward]

Aaahhh yeah, this ceramic is some good shit. The glaze is high grade -- you get me.

Re:High as fuck

[stms]

I smoked a few bowls and now I forgot what I was going to post.

Re:High as fuck

[Anonymous Coward]

or go into a supermarket and become sidetracked to the point that they forget what they came in to buy

Smoke a few bowls, and you too can forget what you went into the supermarket to get.

I'm for anything that says we should lobotomize hippies.

Re:High as fuck

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, so you just meander down all the aisles thinking "Ooooh, that looks good I think I'll get some." You may have forgotten why you went in, but you increase your chances of buying it anyway.

Re:High as fuck

[L4t3r4lu5]

As I understand it, however, higher brain function remains unaffected. It's a simple process:

- I am in a supermarket.
- I am high, and hungry.
- Supermarkets sell a wide variety of savoury and sweet snacks.
- I am here to buy savoury and sweet snacks.
- Absolutely £20 of Doritto's and chocolate Hobnobs doesn't look suspicious! That clerk is just giggling at a funny joke... Maybe... Oh crap he knows... Maaaaaaan that security guard is watching me! I probably reek of the stuff! Act cool man, act cool... Grab a pack of gum from the end of the counter, it's all good... CRAP go back and pay for the gum. Say "Goodnight" on the way out to that total stranger, that's the normal thing to do...

I agree

[Anonymous Coward]

Too much brain, yeah, that explains why my dogs are so easily distracted.

Stoner logic

[betterunixthanunix]

Marijuana makes my brain bigger.

a new excuse for feckless behavior.

[dotmax]

This will inevitably devolve into "I can't pay attention because I'm so smart", much like "i can only eat mac n' cheese because i'm a supertaster". Time to charge-up the taser ...

Re:a new excuse for feckless behavior.

[nog_lorp]

Fuck off. How about "I can't pay attention because I learned this 4 years ago and am thinking about much more advanced topics?" It's been 'an excuse' forever. Now it is backed by science, and you 'conventional thinkers' can SHOVE IT and go dig a ditch.

Re:a new excuse for feckless behavior.

[dotmax]

Funny you should mention digging ditches. I dug a nice one across my property a couple of years ago when my employer furloughed its staff for a few days. I won't bother dicksizing what i do for money, but you can figure it out from my previous posts. You're not the only intellectually gifted snowflake in the room, son. Man-up and take responsibility for your bullshit.

The quiz lumps different things into one class

[Attila Dimedici]

Failing to see road signs is a completely different phenomena than forgetting why you went into the store. I rarely miss a street sign, but with significant frequency I forget why I went to the store.

Re:The quiz lumps different things into one class

[Anonymous Coward]

Is it only me or do you also happen to have your mind automatically correct errors when you are reading or interpreting stuff? For example, I'm incapable of spotting typos because I actually interpret/visualize the correct word instead of the incorrectly typed one. It really pissed me off during classes not being able to spot errors made by teachers because my mind always sees the exercises in their correct form!! I also suck a proof reading for the same reason, if there is a missing character in a word, chances are high that I visualize in my mind the complete the word including the missing character.

Re:The quiz lumps different things into one class

[Ptraci]

I have the opposite problem. I find typos and grammatical errors so distracting at times that I can't concentrate on the actual content of whatever I'm reading.

Re:The quiz lumps different things into one class

[nog_lorp]

Actually they seem like indicators of opposite behaviors. Being preoccupied so as to fail to see your surroundings is the opposite of what one usually thinks of in the case of ADD.

Re:The quiz lumps different things into one class

[Attila Dimedici]

That was kind of what I was getting at. I am glad to see someone else agrees.

ADHD

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, having ADHD is pretty cool sometimes, however, sometimes it's a very big obstacle that prevents you from having a normal social life. School, collage, work even at home :(

Re:ADHD

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, having ADHD is pretty cool sometimes, however, sometimes it's a very big obstacle that prevents you from having a normal social life. School, collage, work even at home :(

yeah, but i think ADHD is not really a disorder caused by a disease, its more that our brain is adapting to internet, tv and distractions, which makes us less capable of focusing to a certain task.

Re:ADHD

[Locke2005]

Actually, ADHD is normal. It would be required to survive in a jungle environment, where virtually anything could be a threat to you, so you need to keep flitting your attention from one thing to another to survive. The ability to stay focused on one thing to the exclusion of all others for a significant period of time is a relatively recent development in humans which is only useful in an academic environment where what you learn and when you learn it is dictated by others. In an ideal society, it shouldn't be necessary for everyone to have exactly the same executive function capabilities.

Re:ADHD

[hey!]

Actually, people with ADHD often have *above* normal ability to focus on one thing to the exclusion of all others for a significant period of time. It's called "hyperfocus". That ability has many advantages, but that *propensity* has serious disadvantages as they fail to switch tasks at the appropriate time.

ADHD is not really about a deficit of *attention*. It's about a lack of voluntary control over attention. Imagine you are starving. You'd have a hard time concentrating on a tedious task if there was food nearby. ADHD brains behave like they're starved for stimulation. They have a hard time sticking to a boring task when a more stimulating one is at hand. That's why stimulant medication helps; they take the edge off a brain's hunger for stimulation so its owner can choose what he wants to use the brain for.

But it is absolutely true that ADHD is part of the normal behavioral spectrum for our species. In primitive societies, people at the ADHD end of the spectrum were good at the vital high stimulation tasks the group needed performed. Things that involved seeking novelty or tolerating danger. In frightening situations it's the people on the non-ADHD end of the scale that have difficulty focusing. People with ADHD can often perform better. In fact for some of those people high stress situations may be the only ones where they feel "normal". That's why people with untreated ADHD can develop the habit of seeking out conflict, or letting problems build to near crisis levels. Those people are misplaced in their work, but in the modern economy it may be hard for them to find a suitable place for their talents.

Re:ADHD

[ZeRu]

tl; dr

Re:ADHD

[Xacid]

"That's why people with untreated ADHD can develop the habit of seeking out conflict, or letting problems build to near crisis levels."

This actually explains a LOT if this does indeed apply to me. I've been debating for years if I should go talk to a doctor and see if I am/have ADD/ADHD. Thing is - I don't feel like "Oooh butterfly!". It's more that I just get bored with a lot of projects easily. I do often like to wait til there's enough pressure to create a high enough "density" of work for me to do though. I very much procrastinate and also have one hell of a time studying - I normally reserve that for the day of the test.

However, a psychology teacher I had once quipped "the best way to remain mentally fit is to remain undiagnosed" - due to people's ability/desire to manifest problems from nothing.

Re:ADHD

[hey!]

You already know whether or not you have a problem and whether or not you should do something about it. Imagine you were called upon to advise somebody who was in your position. What would you in good faith and benevolence advise that person to do? That is what *you* should do.

This is not to say that none of the many critiques of clinical psychology and psychiatry have any validity whatsoever. But as valid as many of these critiques are in certain circumstances, they tend to carry a big emotional stick. They may seem to imply that you are a lazy, undisciplined person who wants to take advantage of a fad so he can evade personal responsibility for his failures. In your role as impartial advisor it's easier to weigh such notions dispassionately.

No

[Grindalf]

No, read it! This kid's schizo or something. There is no science here at all, something nasty has taken over the New Scientist if they printed this ...

I just want to point out that

[Tablizer]

Hey look at the ad, Rackmount has a 40% discount in HP servers!

Too much brain

[tverbeek]

People who die of brain tumors or swelling have the same problem.

Not too much brain, but not enough nutrition.

[Anonymous Coward]

Inability to concentrate is a classic symptom of poor nutrition. Try an ION Panel from Metametrex Labs to figure out exactly what is going on with your biochemistry.

Nerd sniping

[RDW]

"With stuff like observing road signs, you can train yourself to be more attentive to them too. There's not that much point reading them every time on roads you know well, though being aware of possible new signs is useful."

It's probably worth checking the traffic, though:

http://xkcd.com/356/

Re:Nerd sniping

[kanweg]

Mwah, with my speeds is close to standing still.

Bert

Easily what?

[PopeRatzo]

I think I may have this prob...

um, what were we talking about?

And???

[lennier1]

That's supposed to explain marketing/sales people whose attention span ins measured in seconds?

Sorry about looking at the woman's butt, honey....

[ibsteve2u]

"It was totally unintentional; my superabundance of grey matter causes me to be easily distracted." (Likely followed by the sound of frying pan meeting grey matter.)

Motorcycle riders?

[OverkillTASF]

If he's examining the grey matter of easily distracted people, I assume he's doing this post-mortem... and it would make sense that these easily distracted people were then motorcycle riders who should have perhaps taken the bus.

Easily Corrected

[kelemvor4]

It's easy to correct the situation where someone has "too much brain" and it's not even a new invention: lobotomy.

Cannabis increases brain size!

[RKBA]

Marijuana must truly be a "mind expanding" drug then, because the more stoned I am the more easily distracted and forgetful I am. :-|

Re:Cannabis increases brain size!

[Anonymous Coward]

Faggot.

Looks like maybe bad science

[DoctorNathaniel]

Apparently my cheap-ass university doesn't have download rights to the original article in Neuroscience, but my guess is that the weak point is in the paper-and-pencil questionarre. The problem is that they aren't asking people how often they get distracted... they're asking people how often they _remember_ getting distracted.

An equally valid hypothesis is that big-brained people remember getting distracted more than small-brained people.

Again, I haven't RTFA so maybe they deal with it. They talk about inheritability of the 'distraction' scores, but that just means that it's something either genetic or social. In fact, there could instead be a correlation between 'big brained' and 'more honest'.

Finally

[Locke2005]

Oh, so that explains... wait, what were we talking about?

New Annoying Geek Meme

[Seumas]

I just spent the past five years listening to every geek tell me he has Asperger's. Now I get to spend the next five listening to everyone tell me they have "too much brain".

Re:New Annoying Geek Meme

[dominious]

I just spent the past five years listening to every geek tell me he has Asp

sorry, can't read further... too much brain dude... too much brain.

God's joke

[Anonymous Coward]

I will accept your request and give you a larger brain but it will increase your distraction so you can't get anything done.

BRAAAINS

[Anonymous Coward]

Obviously this is wonderful news for zombies.

people aren't wearing enough hats

[Anonymous Coward]

Can I just ask, with reference to your second point, when you say souls don’t develop because people become distracted

Has anyone noticed that building there before?

Grey Matter = Unmyelinated Neurons

[Anonymous Coward]

So these researchers have discovered a probably valid correspondence between unmyelinated neurons and behavior that happens to be one of the more obvious logical consequences of Anatomy and Physiology 101? Cool.

Re:Grey Matter = Unmyelinated Neurons

[turtledawn]

well you know, someone has to go confirm these things..

Too much brain...

[Anonymous Coward]

...not enough Pinky.

Great...

[Locke2005]

I was going to comment on this, but then I got distracted by reading the introduction to The Master and His Emissary, and by another reference to XKCD, and now I forgot what I was going to say...

Road Signs?

[stewbacca]

In the US, we have far too many meaningless road signs. So if I don't notice one, it's because I've prioritized and chosen to pay attention to something else in stead. That doesn't make me distracted, it makes me discriminate.

Re:Road Signs?

[Anonymous Coward]

how is one supposed to know how many road signs they didn't see,
people who go around counting all the crap they don't see have 'Too Much Brain'.

Re:Road Signs?

[PPH]

I agree. They have "traffic fines double" in school zones, in work zones, near emergency vehicles, etc. I think they could save money and visual clutter by just doubling all the traffic fines and skip those signs. Then, in the few remaining areas where this doesn't apply, put up signs that say, "Traffic fines half price here".

SQUIRREL!!

[oDDmON oUT]

If you need a reference.

I think

[anonymous9991]

well I think that is

The irony is delicious! (^_^)

[Anonymous Coward]

With only a brief glance at TFA

Lemme guess, you started reading it, but you got distracted...

Re:The irony is delicious! (^_^)

[TaoPhoenix]

The delicious irony cake is a lie.

The more brain you're using the worse you're doing

[Sarusa]

This is one reason the 'only using 10% of the brain!1' thing completely misses the point.

Put someone who is totally in the zone, producing great, doing brilliant work, in an active MRI and what will you see? They're using tiny focused (no pun here) portions of their brain. The worse they're doing, the more they're flailing, the more of the brain is lit up. After a certain point, having more less capable brain doesn't seem to be a great thing.

Looking through the eyes of a child?

[SleepyJohn]

Is this not about inquisitiveness rather than intelligence? It seems to me that many folk who are easily distracted are simply looking at the world 'through the eyes of a child' - a wonderful quality for an artist or philosopher, but disastrous for an accountant with a family to feed. Chacun a son gout, as the French might say.

Re:"More Brain"

[TaoPhoenix]

Even that is not so simple!

Moar Brainz!

There are articles wondering if Ashkenazi Jews strengthen the processes which ""correlate" to higher intelligence. In a fantastically confusing mix of Nature vs Nurture vs Old Boys Clubs, comes the hypothesis that five hundred years of "greater world neglect" produced a rare risky genetic gamble of extra neurons for certain types of processing, paired with a culture that valued learning and study.

http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/culture/features/1478/

The article is some 25% provocation, but clearly too long to be a mere troll.

Re:bored

[TaoPhoenix]

Too bad you had to post as AC!

I basically agree with you, and so does Nick Bilton of the NY Times. That's why I called it a Flamebait summary. They picked a disastrous phrase in "too much brain leads to distraction".

I'm clever but you're still ahead of me. I agree, we need a "no genius left behind" program but that's too much to ask of 2011 America. Maybe we'll have it by 2020.

One day if you feel bored again I could use someone who craves mental challenges because I have a couple hard questions to ask. Email me. It's not even obfuscated.

I have way too much brain

[GameboyRMH]

I'm so distractable (sp?) it's ridiculous. I think way faster than most people. When people are talking to me about something that doesn't require a lot of attention, I think I listen with a "sub-process" in my brain and daydream for a few seconds, then catch up with the "sub process," then repeat until they're finished talking. One of the few people I've met who thinks and talks at the same speed as me is my company's CEO. I have to remember not to slow myself down for him because when I do I can tell he's getting frustrated like I do with other people.

Ugh

[Anonymous Coward]

If I was alone on a straight road and I didn't notice a sign, how would I answer the survey? Recall assessment is a poor way to gather data.

http://www.happyshopping100.com

[irisuuuu]

our website: http://www.happyshopping100.com/ watches price 75$ Air jordan(1-24)shoes $30 Nike shox(R4,NZ,OZ,TL1,TL2,TL3) $35 Hndbags(Coach lv fendi d&g) $35 Tshirts (Polo ,ed hardy,lacoste) $16 Jean(True Religion,ed hardy,coogi) $30 Sunglasses(Oakey,coach,gucci,Armaini) $15 New era cap $10 Bikini (Ed hardy,polo) $25 FREE SHIPPING,accept paypal free shipping accept paypal credit card lower price fast shippment with higher quality BEST QUALITY GUARANTEE!! SAFTY & HONESTY GUARANTEE!! FAST & PROMPT DELIVERY GUARANTEE!! **** http://www.happyshopping100.com/ ***

What was I going to say...

[Anonymous Coward]

What is this blinky thing on this light box? Toe nails need cutting? 14 miles before bus arrives. ...

Less developed brains??

[Anonymous Coward]

The article claimed that neurons are trimmed as you grow, thus distractable types with larger brains were less mature and under developed. But it then claims the area which was larger is the same are that helps you focus. I always thought that as you grew, the neurons which were trimmed were those you used the least. As in, use it or lose it? Thus it would make sense that the people who needed extra help to focus would use that part more often, so it wouldn't be trimmed. Just saying... just because a brain develops differently, doesn't mean it hasn't developed as much.

Pruning - this why we should worry about kids

[cavebison]

From TFA:

Quite why SPL size works this way is unclear, but Kanai speculates that it may be linked to that fact that as we mature, the brain's grey matter is pruned of neurons in order to work more efficiently.

If kids learn to harness attention properly, I assume pruning occurs in a way which makes it easier to do so in future. Conversely, with so many distracting demands on attention these days (entertainment, internet & devices), pruning may occur to make focussing much harder in future.

"Multitasking" is a great ability, and noticing the snap of a twig is a good survival skill. But over-emphasise it and we may end up with adults who can't focus enough for long-term tasks like research.

Worse, kids don't go into research because they prefer to do something more immediately gratifying. However this "conscious preference" really comes from how their brain grew up, so that focussing feels "too hard".

Marvin, the depressed robot:

[Anonymous Coward]

Here I am, brain the size of a planet...

RTFA?

[Hoi Polloi]

I was going to read the whole article but I got distracted by a moth in my room. Ooooh, look!

I'd sign up to be a cog

[SpaghettiPattern]

I'd sign up to be a cog. I really would.

More often than not my mind wanders as soon as an issue gets boring. I can't stand people banging on about impossibilities when the solution to a problem is so bleeding obvious to me. I'm used to getting dismissed and I'm fed up of proving my point with actions whilst others sit back and reap benefits.

I'm not a genius but my intelligence is well above average. I'm not particularly successful in my professional life but I do OK. I'd sign up to become more compatible to the masses but that's an impossibility.

The up side of being distracted with a decent sense of irony is that you almost always see the funny side of even the most dreadful situations.

Still I don't blame society for not fully accepting me. When a hammer suits for almost any job you do -even handling screws- you just can't be arsed to appreciate some fancy tool that can become anything you want.

Sex-bias is evident in study...

[lpq]

Reading the original article, it's obvious that the researchers didn't control for brain-sex differences.

While what they are saying may be true -- about specific loci in the brain controlling specific functions, for men, it's less true in women, where similar functions tend to be less localized and dispersed over multiple areas -- often including areas on the other side of the brain!

This has been tied to men showing faster results in arriving at decisions, with women showing a consideration of more factors.

Considering more 'factors' could easily be considered 'distractability' in the eye of a overly-focused researcher!

tl;dr

[Eunuchswear]

Filter, schmilter.

You're kidding?

[Anonymous Coward]

Alzheimer's denial.

wrong end of the stick

[Anonymous Coward]

So now rather than assess potential impacts and vbenefits against so called 'standards', the typical, overly regimented disciplinarians are trying to find out how to make them less distracted. Maybe this is a brain type of higher evolution or better process viewed from the narrow minded, afeared washed idiots that want everyone to be exactly the same. Communists and socialists are the ideologies that are always dwelling on the "norm", no matter how inadequate it is and strive to make the same.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

It does not address seniors, who have distraction

[lsatenstein]

I am a senior, and thus far, I am only slightly distracted by other more interesting things that cross my path. Its just a question though, of priorities. If the thing is important to me, I will not be distracted, If it is a task that I really don't want to do, then I will be distracted, until I have no choice and have to address it.

Where was I?

[hardware1949]

Thank goodness my genius has finally been acknowledged. Now if I would just stop leaving my camera's, laptop's, and PDA laying around and forgetting where I left them. Ohhhh, what's that shinny object over there?

Interesting

[Anonymous Coward]

Too much brain causes easy distraction, I wonder if this is my

much brain circuitry is "inhibitory"

[peter303]

So the irony is when some is missing or non-functional, some remaining parts may be overactive. This may be the case with some idiot savants. Or people like Reagan's press secretary Jim Brady who had a traumatic lobodemy and lost emotional control for several years.

The Oncoming Storm

[HTH NE1]

The Doctor: Ah. Yes. Blimey. Sorry. Christmas Eve on a rooftop, saw a chimney, my whole brain went, "What the hell?" Don't worry, fat fellow will be doing the rounds later. I'm just scoping out the general chimneyness. Nice size, good traction. [burns his hand on the mantle] Bit thick. Eric: Fat fella? The Doctor: Father Christmas. Santa Claus. Or, as I've always known him, "Jeff." Boy: There's no such person as Father Christmas! The Doctor: Oh yeah? [whips out a photo] Me and Father Christmas, Frank Sinatra's hunting lodge, 1952. See him in the back with the blonde. Albert Einstein, the three of us together. Vroom! Watch out! Okay? Keep the faith. Stay off the naughty list. Oo! Now what's this, then? I love this. Big flashy lighty thing. That's what brought me here. Big flashy lighty things have got me written all over them. Not actually. Give me time and a crayon. Now! This big flashy lighty thing is connected to the spire on your dome, yeah? And it controls the sky. Well, technically it controls the clouds. Which technically aren't clouds at all. Well they're clouds of tiny particles of ice. Ice clouds. Love that. Who's she? Sardick: Nobody important. The Doctor: "Nobody important"? Blimey, that's amazing. D'you know, in 900 years of time and space I've never met anyone who wasn't important before? Now, this console is the key to saving that ship, or I'll eat my hat. If I had a hat. I'll eat someone's hat. Not someone who's using their hat; I don't want to shock a nun, or something. Sorry, rambling, cos... cos this isn't working! Sardick: The controls are isomorphic - one to one - they respond only to me. The Doctor: Oh, you fibber. Isomorphic! There's no such thing. [Sardick demonstrates. The Doctor attempts to repeat the demonstration.] The Doctor: These controls are isomorphic! Sardick: The skies of this entire world are mine. My family tamed them, and now I own them. The Doctor: Tamed the sky? What does that mean? Sardick: It means I'm Kazran Sardick. How can you possibly not know who I am? The Doctor: Well, just easily bored, I suppose. So, I need your help, then. Sardick: Make an appointment.

Thing is, all this distraction and mental gymnastics ends up gathering everything he needs to know in order to do what he's come to do. People who lack and disdain such an ability are Sardicks.

The Doctor: I think you'll find I'm universally recognised as a mature and responsible adult. [shows him the psychic paper] Young Kazran: It's just a lot of wavy lines. The Doctor: Yeah, shorted out. Finally, a lie too big.

dreamers vs doers

[Anonymous Coward]

There is an ever growing body of literature to suggest the so called "dreamers" intake a much broader scope of things, organize their intake in vastly different kinds of categories than the high speed, quick to memorize, never forget, always score high on the exam guys. The dreamer performs poorly on IQ, competitive recall, questions responding to an article just read, and memory tests. The dreamer has trouble learning computer programming and math, not because it is difficult, but because the dreamer refuses to memorize the basics and to follow what to others seems to be an order made simple by years of experience]. But the dreamers are sometimes very creative, they don't like [usually refuse to] memorizing, they ignore the details required in reading comprehension tests and defer details until a time of task immediate need [if they must they will work to get the detail], they do poorly on vocabulary building, but they express vast arrays of long range, broad scope, time perspective thinking.. They are the sense and direction of things people, not the competitive doers of things other people do.

Distraction is good for me

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, I guess I don't have much to comment on this because I am always surrounded by nerds who distract me like always. So how this distraction is being taken by you. Oh! yes, I love it and want to be distracted. Because this is also a factor of your efficiency in your personal enterprise.

could this be

[KingBenny]

one of those we-always-find-the-info-we-want-to-read-these-days or it-must-be-true-cos-i-like-it- type of articles?

Was this research team easily-distracted?

[Anonymous Coward]

How were test subjects supposed to recall whether they failed to notice something?