Imagine a busy street. Our brains can selectively suppress the flashing lights and honking horns, allowing us to focus on crossing safely. This remarkable ability is goal-driven, meaning we can choose where to “tune out” distractions.
However, this superpower has limitations. Reliable clues about where distractions are most likely are key. If these cues are weak or change frequently, our brains switch to a different strategy, like ignoring familiar sounds, according to a research study taken up by Vaishnavi Mohite, a Ph. D student at the Action Control and Cognition Lab (ACCL) at the University of Hyderabad (UoH).
Think of attention as a limited resource. Using this control takes brain power, and if the task isn’t important enough, our brains might decide to conserve that energy for other things. But the good news is, we can adapt. If the task changes over time, our brains can gradually adjust their “distraction filter” to match the new situation, she said, in a press release on Wednesday.
The research scholar said that by understanding how our brains manage distractions, better learning environments can be designed, work places can be optimised and even improve our personal productivity. Her work focuses on studying the role of consciousness in distractor suppression.
She has been collaborating with Seema Prasad, Maria Reiche Post-doctoral Fellow, TU Dresden, Germany with Head of the Centre for Cognitive Sciences (CNCS) Ramesh Kumar Mishra supervising the research and actively pursuing brainy issues at ACCL. This research, published in a significant journal in cognitive science and attention research, ‘Attention, Perception & Psychophysics’ of the Psychonomic Society USA, underscores the power of clear instructions and consistent expectations in helping us focus, the release added.
