The human wit is a pretty dramatic reed organ that continue to surprise researcher as more and more is revealed about it . At the same time , it is n’t perfect . Researchers have just found out more about the limitations of the human brain , potentially pinpointing why we tend to ignore other thing when focus on one particular job .
In the last few age , research worker from University College London ( UCL ) have develop a new way of life to scan mental capacity . As report byNew Scientist , the method was latterly used to show that when the brain is engage in a complicated task , its cells are essentially working at full capacitance , so we begin to disregard thing going on around us .
The young scanning proficiency is calledfunctional near - infrared spectroscopy(fNIRS ) and evaluate the activity of a certain enzyme in the mitochondria of nerve cell . Mitochondria are the powerhouses of cells , so by measuring the enzyme , the team can chase the level of natural action . This method acting is exchangeable to functional MRI scans , although despite being cheaper and easier to employ , it is n’t quite as precise .
Using fNIRS , research worker looked at change in brain natural process during an aid tryout . participant were ask to perform a visual task that was either hard or easy . It involved look out for sure colors or shapes and one-half of the time a checkered pattern would come out at the side of the screen .
In the easy task , the check pattern had an effect . Brain cell associated with peripheral sight became a lot more combat-ready . However , in the voiceless job , a much less significant effect was seen . The findings , present at theUCL Neuroscience Symposiumearlier this summer , advise that activity in regions not focused on the matter at hand becomes suppress .
This is not the first cogitation to propose why focusing on multiple things isextremely difficultfor most mass and why multitasking can have a negative impact onperformance . The unexampled study bring more evidence to this discussion . How gentle or how unvoiced a task is affects how much tending we compensate to our surroundings .
[ H / T : New Scientist ]
