Comments for: Saturday science subject: The halfling's leaf

#11. Posted at 05:01 PM on Nov 29th 2008

Edit Reply

ApockofFork

I wonder if its possible that younger peoples multitasking distraction filled world (IM, cell phones, internet, etc.) has better prepared them to ignore distractions than older people who aren't as used to having a distraction filled life. Of course the fact that the distraction is done on the neuron level leads me to believe that it probably a valid conclusion but its still worth examining whether or not this is more relatd to life style than age.

#11, Err, no. Those things are recent. : Anomymous Gerbil (#14) «

#14, It's possible that the younger wave of kids will be able ... : FireGryphon (#23) «

#16. Posted at 01:53 PM on Nov 30th 2008

Edit Reply

just brew it!

Hmm, that's all very interest...

Hey, look! A chicken!

#16, That's /exactly/ what my (high school) students do in class. : FireGryphon (#22) «

#5. Posted at 02:02 PM on Nov 29th 2008, Edited at 02:05 PM on Nov 29th 2008

Edit Reply

Pachyuromys

The flip side of this, of course, is older people's greater ability to respond to distractions (up to a point, of course). We see this every day in the fatality rates of teenage drivers and other mishaps involving the young, bold and adventurous. (Otherwise referred to among we elders as "stupidity.") While Junior Miss is concentrating on her phone conversation or ipod or yapping passenger(s), Mr. Grown Up notices that the light has changed, or that a car is oncoming, or since we can't even walk in a straight line to the car, we probably shouldn't be driving the car. There are exceptions, of course, but I think this study confirms what the upper age groups involved in it have already long known, and why there are laws prohibiting anyone below a certain age from making potentially life-altering decisions for themselves.

#5, So basically a baby can only focus on one thing at a time, t... : Meadows (#6) «

#6, In other words, they become more powerful than you can po... : SPOOFE (#18) «

#18, isnt that only if you strike them down? : shaq_mobile (#19) «

#5, Umm, perhaps you missed that the test subjects were ages 19-... : SNM (#8) «

#8, he was probably distracted while reading the article. : eitje (#17) «

#17, Hah, good one. The point is not to look at specific ins... : FireGryphon (#21) «

#20. Posted at 08:13 PM on Nov 30th 2008

Edit Reply

blastdoor

The young know little, and so need an intense but narrow focus in order to increase their knowledge. The old have already learned a great deal -- they need to be able to make sense of all that they have learned, and they can afford the luxury of "distraction" which might also be called "paying attention to things that others ignore". Could it be that neither the young or old minds are "impaired" but instead simply better adapted to the tasks that they are best suited to perform?

Of course, at some point older minds clearly do become impaired. I'm just not convinced this is an example of that.