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| Clip art licensed from the Clip Art Gallery on DiscoverySchool.com Copyright � 1998 Mark A. Hicks. Originally published by Mark A. Hicks. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. http://school.discoveryeducation.com/clipart/copyright.html |
Texan Hall Library in Fort Worth seems to be considerably quieter during finals week? Why?
I think it might relate to this funny post going around on
Facebook about turning down the radio when you are driving down the road
looking for an address.
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| taken from Jodideo. com |
Yes, some people
admit to doing this as some sort of fault or an ironic action that they have
taken, but the truth is that the active thinking required to find an unfamiliar
address has invoked the unconscious action of turning down the radio. The result is that the auditory senses have
given way to the visual senses to use more brainpower.
Professor Steven Yantis of John Hopkins University uses this
principle as it pertains to cell phone use and driving. Yantis (2005) states, "Directing attention to
listening effectively 'turns down the volume' on input to the visual parts of
the brain. The evidence we have right now strongly suggests that attention is
strictly limited -- a zero-sum game.”
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Image found at: <img src="http://images.macmillan.com
/folio-assets/macmillan_us_frontbookcovers_186W/
9780374533557.jpg" alt="Thinking, Fast and Slow"> |
The book,
Thinking
Fast and Slow, by
Daniel Kahneman, Eugene Higgins Professor of Psychology
Emeritus at Princeton University, is available at the Dick Smith
Library at
BF441 .K238 2011.
The book deals with the function of fast thinking and slow thinking. Fast thinking is the thinking that allows us
to accomplish daily tasks. Slow thinking is the deliberative thinking that it
takes to concentrate, the type of thinking required to study for finals! Check out this book to find out more about
these thinking processes and how Kahneman applies these to the world of
business executives.
References:
Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking Fast and Slow, New York, NY: Farrar, Straus & Giroux.Yantis, S. (2005). Multitasking: You can't
pay full attention to both sights and sounds:
Lab findings suggest
reason cell phones and driving don't mix, EurekaAlert!: The Global Source
for Science News. Retrieved from http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-06/jhu-myc062105.php
