Research results that “loss of concentration” can be important in learning-GIGAZINE

‘Concentration’ is important for learning things and performing tasks, and various methods have been devised to maintain focus. However, research results have been published that losing focus while learning is not always a bad thing, and sometimes losing focus can boost learning.

Pay attention and you might miss it: Learn more during attention slips | SpringerLink
https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-022-02226-6

Losing Focus Can Actually Boost Learning, Study Finds : ScienceAlert
https://www.sciencealert.com/losing-focus-may-actually-boost-learning-study-finds

Deeply immersed in the subject while learning or performing tasksflow conditionWe know it’s important to go in, but some say that distraction is also necessary in creative pursuits. Several studies have shown that people with high impulsivity and low cognitive control are better at learning relationships between seemingly unrelated information that they are told to ignore.

Therefore, a research team led by Alexandra Decker, a cognitive neuroscientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), conducted an experiment to see if losing concentration benefits learning.

The research team focused on 53 university students, ignoring the symbols at either end (forerunner) of the multiple symbols displayed on the computer, and focusing only on the symbols and numbers (targets) which are displayed in the middle.a wingman’s taskI made you do the job. We then recorded the variation in the reaction time of the students working on the task and measured when they lost their ability to concentrate. Indeed, in this task, there was a hidden regularity in the target of attention and the flanker was set to distract.

Analysis of the experimental results revealed that people who lost focus during the task actually responded faster and more accurately. This is thought to be because the loss of concentration focused the attention of the forwards around the target and enabled them to learn hidden regularities. “The people who learned the most target-winger pairs were ‘out of the zone’ with less attention more often,” the research team said in a progress paper.

Decker tweeted, “Our findings suggest that a little distraction may be a good thing at times. , it may be for the best overall.” “Focusing allows you to narrow your goals, but losing focus widens your attention span and allows you to take in less relevant. It can learn regularities in the environment and integrate ideas and concepts that are far apart.”