All Sressed Out

The last week of classes is upon me. I have less than seven days until my final exams, and the stress is beginning to rise much like this early-summer Rochester heat. On a given day, I have no less than twenty dozen separate things on my mind. Okay, so maybe twenty dozen is a bit much, but I do have a lot on my mind. This week, for example, I had an Electromagnetic Fields project due on Monday, and both a lab, and a test in the same class on Wednesday.  I had a Linear Systems quiz on Thursday, an Electronics lab on Wednesday, two previous lab reports due, and on top of all that my drivers licence expires in less than a week. Phew.

Having this much on my mind makes it hard to concentrate and pay attention in class, which is a big problem considering this is the most important time of the quarter. With finals fast approaching, I need to be like a sponge and soak up any detail that might help me on a final exam. 

A study published in The Journal of Neuroscience sheds some light on the reasons why stressed individuals find it so hard to pay attention. The key lies in the effect stress has on neurons in two different areas of the brain. Prolonged exposure to stress leads to decreased performance in tasks that require attention and the ability to shift focus, as well as the ability to learn and unlearn new material. 

The actual experimentation in the study was performed on rats. The rat-stress was produced by keeping the rodents in painless restraints for six hours a day. After three weeks, the researchers used a series of tests which measured how quickly the rats learned to make associations between different "cues" and the location of food. A Rockefeller University report on the study outlines the different tests as follows:

"First, the researchers provided two different materials for the rats to dig in, such as sand and sawdust, and buried food consistently under only one. Next, food was left in the same material, but it was scented with strong spices (like cumin or nutmeg) that were unrelated to the foods location. Then food was buried according to scent, teaching the rats to use odor as the location cue - in other words, it could be buried in either sawdust or sand, as long as it smelled like cumin. Finally, the scent cues were flip-flopped, so that the rats had to unlearn the prior scent association and remember a new one."

The study ultimately concluded that stressed and non-stressed rats performed the same on all of the tests but the last one, in which they had to unlearn an old behavior, and learn a new one. The medical reason for this is that neurons in the medial prefrontal cortex were shortened by the extended exposure to stress.

This is a scary finding, because it points to the fact that prolonged exposure to high stress can actually physically alter the make-up of your brain. 

The value of a study such as this is that it brings to light that being exposed to stress for prolonged periods does more than make you frazzled. It actually affects your attention, and your ability to learn and unlearn information. This is specifically alarming for a college student such as myself, in the middle of my last week of classes before exams when learning takes on a new importance. 

Taking steps to reduce your stress can lead to the disappearance of these symptoms, so the best course of action is to take a page from the playbook of 80's pop band Frankie Goes to Hollywood and "relax."

Baby Eintsteins

While flipping through the stations on a Tuesday afternoon, I found my way to Nick Jr. My channel surfing was halted by a combination of vibrant colors, giant hairy puppets, and repetitive music. "Who in their right mind would let their kids watch this garbage?" I thought to myself as a combination of the giant hairy puppets sang a song about "a party in their tummy." This got me to thinking about the effects of television on the attention spans of developing children. There are even television shows which are specifically crated to make your baby smarter, such as the "Brainy Baby" and "Baby Einstein" series'.

The "Brainy Baby" video series includes titles such as "Right Brain," "Left Brain," and "Bilingual Baby." Many parents hope that by plopping their kids in front of one of these cinematic experiences will sharpen the mind of their child. However, a study from the University of Washington found that exposing children to these videos actually did the opposite.

Yes, that's right. "Baby Einstein" and "Brainy Baby" actually had negative effects among those tested. The study explains that in a group of about six hundred babies, "for every hour a day that babies eight to sixteen months old were shown such popular series as 'Brainy Baby' or 'Baby Einstein,' they knew six to eight fewer words than other children."

Using in the hopes of making your baby smarter, actually had adverse effects to their vocabulary. This makes sense when you consider that the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that children less than two years old should watch no TV at all.

The study notes that the videos are "designed to engage a baby's attention, hop from scene to scene with minimal dialogue and include mesmerizing images, like a lava lamp." So while your child may look like they are in the midst of deep thought while pondering the minutia of their children's programming, they are only attracted to the visuals much like mosquitoes to a bug-zapper.

What actually does improve the intelligence of your baby is interaction. Reading to children and telling them stories provides many more benefits than plopping them in front of the boob tube. The AAP states that reading aloud to your children helps shape the architecture of their developing brains. It is also noted that "Repetitive use of cognitive skills associated with reading aloud, ensure that associated brain connections persist.

So please, keep your kids away from the TV. Just because there is a multitude of programs on television catered towards children, doesn't mean they should be watched. 

Nuturing Attention in the Womb

If a pregnant mother uses drugs or alcohol during pregnancy, there is a significant chance that the unborn child which she is carrying will develop problems, including drug addiction and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Obviously, what a pregnant mother ingests - or doesn't -  during pregnancy can have a profound effect on her child. But is there anything an expecting mother can do to increase the attention span of her child?

According to a study by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, the answer is yes - with a catch.

The NCBI study focused on young mothers aged 14-24, who do not ingest the recommended amount of iron can see significant benefits in their children's attention span when given a regimen of appropriate iron supplements.

According to the study,"tests of short-term memory and attention span were assessed at entry and conclusion of the one-month treatment period. The experimental group showed significant improvement on the most sensitive measure of short-term memory and three subtests."

For portions of the population who are at-risk for low iron levels, it is important that the proper amount of iron be ingested during pregnancy. These tests, while not done over a broad demographic, still stress the importance of iron in the diet of a pregnant mother. This study also may help provide an explanation for adolescents who may suffer from attention disorders. One possible cause may be a lack of iron in the mother's diet during pregnancy. This is clearly not the only explanation for short attention span in children, but it is another piece to the puzzle.

Music and Your Brain

When I was in kindergarten my Mom signed me up for a class at the community music center called KinderMuisc. The class ran every Wednesday and was led by Ms. Thompson, who was a music teacher at one of the local elementary schools. Every week I got to try out a different instrument, and at the conclusion of the summer-long program, I got to decide which one I liked the best. I chose the drums, and my Mom signed me up for drum lessons shortly after my KinderMusic days were behind me. In retrospect, my Mom was very brave, encouraging an aspiring six-year-old drummer at the cost of peace and quiet in her own home.

My first drum lesson was at Joe's Drum Shop with a teacher named Joel. When I walked in, I was led down the stairs in the back of the store to a studio with blue foam egg-crate lining the walls. Crammed in the corner was a jet black drum set, and as soon as I laid my beady little eyes on it, I practically started to salivate. I instinctively moved closer to the black drum stool, but was halted by Joel.

"Hey pal! We're going to start out over here on the drum pad today."

Joel grabbed my shoulders and aimed my body at a pair of grey, round drum pads, that looked like glorified dinner plates.

"At the beginning of every lesson, we're going to start out on the pad. We'll work on stick control, sight reading, and rudiments. Then, at the end of the lesson, we'll switch over to the drum set. Think of the drum set as dessert."

And so it went for twelve years until I graduated high school, and even to today here at RIT where I play drums in the RIT Jazz Ensemble. Over the years various music teachers would always be citing statistics which showed that kids who were involved in music did better in school, and that practicing an instrument would lead to a better attention span.

But can merely listening to music improve your attention span? A study from the Stanford School of Medicine suggests just that. The research team used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to monitor brain activity in subjects while they listened to symphonies by an obscure composer from the eighteenth century. The focus of the study was to observe what happens in the brain of a listener in the moments leading up to, during, and after the short silences between movements of the symphony.

"The study suggests one possible adaptive evolutionary purpose of music," explains the study's co-author Jonathan Berger, PhD. Music engages the brain over a period of time, and the process of listening to music could be a way that the brain sharpens its ability to anticipate, and improves its ability to sustain attention.

If this study is accurate, you could think of classical pieces with multiple movements like exercises for your brain. The anticipation associated with the silence between movements could potentially extend your ability to pay attention in other situation.

So the next time you are in your car and searching for a radio station, tune your dial to the classical music station. It might have actual neurological benefits!

(Below is an example of an fMRI scan)

Mini-Wheats to the Rescue

What if improving your attention span was as easy as eating a certain kind of breakfast cereal? Well, according to Kellogg, the makers of Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal, it really is that simple! In a recent advertisement, they claim that kids who ate Mini-Wheats saw their attentiveness increase twenty percent.

The only problem with that claim, is that its almost completely false. According to the Federal Trade Commission, only about one in nine children saw a twenty percent increase in attentiveness. In addition, the study that Kellogg performed was comparing kids eating Mini-Wheats to kids who weren't eating anything for breakfast at all. This is far less impressive and downright misleading, which is why the FTC brought charges against the Kellogg company and it's misleading bit of advertisement.

"We tell consumers that they should deal with trusted national brands," saya FTC chairman Jon Leibowitz. "So it's especially important that America'sleading companies are more 'attentive' to the truthfulness of their ads and don't exaggerate the resultsof tests or research."

This case made me think about my own morning eating habits. More specifically, it made me realize that I usually eat nothing at all in the morning. Could improving my attention span be as simple as eating breakfast? According to the National Institutes of Health, "by eating breakfast you can increase your attention span and memory, have more energy, and feel less irritable and restless."

I can't remember a time where I actually enjoyed breakfast. My mom used to wake me up in the morning before school, and sit me at the kitchen table in front of a bowl of cereal. Sometimes it was Honey Nut Cheerios, and sometimes it was Fruity Pebbles, but every time I hated it. It wasn't the taste of the cereal which I disliked, in fact it all tasted quite good. I was simply never hungry in the morning, and being forced to eat a bowl of food when you aren't hungry is not a pleasant experience.

Now, years later, I still don't find myself hungry in the morning. However, I think it may be time to do the mature thing, and to start eating breakfast. Weather it be fruit, a pop tart or two, or the old standby of breakfast cereal, the benefits may certainly outweigh the unpleasantness. After all, I have nothing to lose, and only more attention span to gain!

"Instant Attention!....

...Just Add Acetylcholine!"

A lot has been said in my previous posts about the medical reasons behind the typically short human attention span. Most of the studies I have found trace the origins of attention back to the brain. This makes sense considering the brain is the organ of the body which controls practically everything you do, from breathing, to sleeping, to picking what clothes you want to wear in the morning. While most studies agree that the brain controls what you pay attention to, none have made such specific claims as new research recently published in the scientific journal Nature. 

In an article titled "Acetylcholine Contributes Through Muscarinic Receptors to Attention Modulation V1," researchers from Newcastle University present convincing evidence that in order to pay attention to something, a specific chemical within the brain must first be released. 

"We all know that in life we sometimes are not paying attention to tasks or the world around us. Our research shows that to have full attention and awareness the neurons and specific receptors in the brain require a dose of acetylcholine to get them into the correct state. When this happens correctly the brain has higher levels of attention and has increased awareness of the task an individual is attempting to solve" explains research leader Alex Thiele.

The Newcastle team tested their theories about the natural neurotransmitter acetylcholine by organizing an experiment using monkeys. The team presented a monkey with a task, first with no additional acetylcholine administered, to act as a control. Then, the monkey was presented with the same task, but was given a dose of the neurotransmitter just before. The team observed that the areas of the brain that correspond with awareness and attentiveness were more responsive than in the control case. Finally, a monkey was presented with the same task, but the neurotransmitter was blocked within the brain. A visible reduction in activity in the same areas of the brain which were enhanced with extra acetylcholine was observed.

The next step for the team is more testing and research to further hone in on the effects and possibilities of this chemical as it relates to human attention span. This could lead to potential breakthroughs in treatment of neurological disorders which are associated with lack of attention and awareness. 

"If these mechanisms are not working properly then, most of the time, it means we have to re-read an article or we will miss something somebody says. Many of these processes in the brain have a role in conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, attention deficit disorders and other attention deficits. It will require more research but I hope that this work might be able to help sufferers in the future," notes Thiele.

This is surely promising research, and I am excited personally by the hope it brings towards finding a cure for Alzheimer's, which I have experienced within my family. However, I will reserve my judgement about the value of the research for two reasons.

My first skepticism is in the actual research. This was a reputable study carried out by professional scientists, and published in a widely distributed and highly regarded scientific journal. I have no doubt they followed the scientific method to a "T." What I do doubt, however, are the methods by which these researchers quantify "the amount of attention" a test subject was showing towards a task.

Certain areas of the brain may show more activity, but there is no concrete way of knowing if this increased activity corresponds to increased attention without asking the test subject. The problem here is that human testing is not practical at this point early in the research, and no matter how cool it would be, we can't talk to monkeys to see how they're feeling.

My second reason for questioning this research is not one of science, but one of morality. Surely no one can argue that curing Alzheimer's disease would be a clear-cut "win" for society. However if this research eventually led to the development of a pill which released controlled amounts of acetylcholine into the brain to increase and enhance attention span, there is no doubt it would be over-prescribed by doctors who are currently over-diagnosing children with attention deficit and related disorders. I would not be morally comfortable knowing that a pill existed which offered "instant attention" because it could potentially alter the personalities of those who were prescribed the medication. I think there still should be more value placed in the ability of a person - child or adult - to overcome a lack of attention span by hard work and perseverance. Surely there are some who would qualify medically for the new medication, much like there are many people today who truly do suffer from ADD and do benefit from medications such as Ritalin. But it is undeniable that in today's society, a quick fix pill that may seem too good to be true, probably is.

Who wants to know?

Before I began writing this blog, I asked myself a simple question: Why do I care so much about my own attention span?

I came up with three reasons. The first is that I would like to be able to pay more attention in school. Paying closer attention would in all likelyhood lead to better understanding, and most likely better grades too. My GPA certainly could use all the help it can get. 

Secondly, I'd like to be able to stop procrastinating. This applies to more than just homework. By putting off schoolwork, errands, and even laundry, I feel stressed out and rushed from time to time. Removing this stress would add to my overall quality of life.

The third and final motivation for learning about my attention span is that I would like to learn how to use my time more efficiently. This would leave me with more time to do leisurely things, like reading for pleasure or going to the gym more often.

However, you would be surprised at the amount of special interest groups who have a vested interest in knowing as much as possible about the human attention span. 

One of these groups is advertisers and marketing firms.  In a piece about how neuroscience helps marketing employees judge the effectiveness of their ads, Kim Masters of National Public Radio pays a visit to a company called NeuroFocus. NeuroFocus studies the response of the brain to commercials and advertisements to learn about how effective they are at grabbing the attention of the consumer. As a part of her segment, Masters visited the company and was attached to equipment which reads activity within the brain, while being shown a series of commercials.  "The results are supposed to show three things" Masters explains. "Whether I'm paying attention, whether I am emotionally engaged, and wheatear I am likely to remember what I am seeing."

Results from studies like this performed on hundreds of participants are valuable to advertisers because this data doesn't lie. Often times, ads are tested with focus groups. Marketers have found that sometimes members of these focus groups might not always be truthful, and often censor themselves. The drawback to this type of neurological data is that simply reading someone's brainwaves off of a screen cannot tell you how something makes them feel. It may be able to tell you if they are paying attention, or that they are emotionally engaged, but the actual feelings caused by the tested advertisements are not captured within the data.

If the work being done by NeuroFocus leads to progress in understanding why so many people today have such short attention spans, then the public will benefit in twofold. First, we can begin to address the reasons for our short focus. But more importantly, advertisers will be able to come up with commercials less annoying than this one.

You can hear Kim Masters' piece HERE.