distracted people have more gray matter
A man contemplates a work on neurons.
Keep the focus on a task requires the brain's parietal lobe
If there are too many neurons in this region is more difficult to focus
clueless Sages style 'Nutty Professor' or the crazy inventors conceived by Walt Disney owned more to the realm of fiction than to the hard reality, where the ability to maintain attention is essential to successfully develop many of our daily tasks. However, new research has revealed an unexpected relationship between the trend to be distracted by anything and brain size, specifically the superior parietal lobe.
People are more easily distracted, often have, according to these results, a greater volume of gray matter in this brain region. Ie have a higher density of neurons in one area, precisely, is used in the act of paying attention to a task. The finding is counterintuitive, as acknowledged by the authors, because having more gray cells should result in a better outcome in maintaining concentration. But the reality is just the opposite.
"It's a bit shocking that the ability of this region is worse when its size is higher, "says a researcher Ryota Kanai ELMUNDO.es, a neuroscientist at University College London and principal signatory of the research, published in The Journal of Neuroscience. In any case, these results indicate a greater or lesser intelligence but merely note a relationship between the morphology of this brain area, which does not exclude others may be also involved, and the attention span.
The researchers tested to measure the ease of distraction ('distractibility' in English) a group of 145 volunteers and found that the most prone to forget the work they were doing, like going to the supermarket and not remember why, for example-were also those that showed more neuronal volume in the superior parietal lobe. In another experiment, 15 participants performed a series of tasks, first in normal conditions and then while being subjected to a technique known as transcranial magnetic stimulation, which slowed the activity of this brain region.
When the action was reduced parietal lobe, is more distracting and it took 25% longer, on average, to complete the same tasks. This result suggests that the brain area active in the maintenance of attention, but it remains to explain why a greater volume in the same equivalent to a lower performance in tasks that require concentration. The hypothesis that handle Kanai and colleagues is that the destruction of some neurons, and thus, the gray matter reduction is an important process to maturity.
In other words, people with more gray matter in the cerebral cortex (including parietal lobe) would also be a bit more 'children' and, consequently, somewhat distracted. "Typically, we lose cortical volume between adolescence and adulthood. In a sense, this seems to cognitive decline. But it is believed to be an optimization process in which neurons and synapses [contacts between brain cells] inefficient are eliminated, "he argues Kanai.
A balance between the ability to pay attention and the possibility of distraction is necessary for human survival. The evolutionary explanation is that our ancestors needed to concentrate on technical tasks such as weapons with stones and bones but not so dazed in their work and not realize if there is a lurking predator. You have to keep some interest in the stimuli that arise spontaneously in the environment, without being distracted by the flight of a fly (because then you never eventually making the weapon).
In a new experiment that is still underway, researchers are trying to use magnetic stimulation to modulate the action of different brain regions and try to improve the performance of people "pathologically distracted." Kanai not expected to give results 'immediate', but in the future you could help develop new therapies against disorders related to lack of attention.
0 comments:
Post a Comment