Brief Diversions Vastly Improve Focus

A new study in the 2011 journal Cognition overturns a decades-old theory about the nature of attention and demonstrates that even brief diversions from a task can dramatically improve one's ability to focus on that task for prolonged periods. The brain gradually stops registering a sight, sound or feeling if that stimulus remains constant over time. For example, most people are not aware of the sensation of clothing touching their skin. The body becomes "habituated" to the feeling and the stimulus no longer registers in any meaningful way in the brain. University of Illinois psychology professor Alejandro Lleras and postdoctoral fellow Atsunori Ariga tested participants' ability to focus on a repetitive computerized task for about an hour under various conditions. Simply having subjects take two brief breaks from their main task allowed them to stay focused during the entire experiment. Those who did not take a break had declining performance over time. Those who took even two brief breaks saw no drop in their performance over time. "Constant stimulation is registered by our brains as unimportant, to the point that the brain erases it from our awareness," Lleras said. Prolonged attention to a single task actually hinders performance "We propose that deactivating and reactivating your goals allows you to stay focused," he said. "From a practical standpoint, our research suggests that, when faced with long tasks (such as studying before a final exam or doing your taxes), it is best to impose brief breaks on yourself. Brief mental breaks will actually help you stay focused on your task!" My comment is that your brain functions best at work and school when you take periodic brief breaks. I call these microbreaks and suggest you perform an open focus exercise where you concentrate on everything at the same time but not single anything out. Its taking in all sensory information simultaneously without separating any of it. Its opening up your awareness to all inputs at the same time. This places the brain in an alpha state, recharges, refreshing, and making it ready to return to narrow focus again after a few moments. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110208131529.htm