7 Listen Activity 6
Activity #L6: Verbal distraction task
Do you listen to music or the TV when you read or study? If you are like many of my students, you said, “Yes.” We love background noise and have become used to a steady stream of “noise” at all times. Even though it is fun to jam out to a favorite song or binge a show “just in the background” of your study sessions, there may be some disadvantages to learning.
Take a look at this list of words knowing that you will be asked to remember them later:
Now see what you were able to remember. How did you do?
Let’s try this one more time. Here is another list of words for you to remember later. Be sure the volume is up on your machine for this activity.
Now see what you were able to remember this time. How did you do?
Most people find that a song immediately adds to the difficulty of remembering. When we use our memory, we pay special attention to language (much of what we remember as humans is through language processing in the brain). A song’s words direct our attention away from what we are studying and toward the message in a song.
Although it may sound boring or disappointing, we should not listen to any sound with words when we are learning. If you need some noise in the background, try switching to instrumental-only music. You will get used to it and be amazed at how much attention you can put to your studying that was before being lost to background noise.
Mind Wandering
Students report having difficulty studying or listening, especially for longer periods of time. Cognitive psychologists decades ago viewed 20 minutes as about the maximum time a student could focus on learning before needing a break. Now learners view 20 minutes as an extraordinary amount of time and can find even 10 minutes of focus difficult!
Part of the problem is that we have trained ourselves to be distractable.
Activity #L6.1
2.) How many times do you check your phone when doing a class assignment or task?
3.) Imagine you are asked to sit alone, without any technology for five minutes. How do you think this experience would make you feel?
It is natural for our minds to wander when doing something. In fact, researchers have found that being bored is a key to creative thinking. The problem is we have become uncomfortable with sitting with our own thoughts. Try this task to think more about your wandering thoughts.
The next time you read a college textbook or any similar reading, consider the number of times your mind wanders to another thought. You might even use tally marks off to the side of the text or on a separate piece of paper to indicate mind wandering.
Consider how many times your mind wandered(s) off-topic when you read. It might be quite a bit, and this is totally normal. Along with awareness can come the recognition that you are off track and the desire to refocus.
Imagine that every time your mind wandered from the text, instead of letting it pass and then regaining focus, you checked your phone for notifications. Rather than sitting with the urge to do something else, yet try to refocus, you have completely changed tasks. There is a huge cost to attention when this happens. It can double the time it takes to complete any task. Try having a conversation with your roommate or parent about how they avoid becoming distracted. They may tell you their need to put their phone away or turn off their email as a solution.
The 3rd feature of attention you should know for effective learning is, IT IS DIVISIBLE.
