A recent study by SFU researchers John Gaspar and John McDonald has provided new insight into how the brain is able to focus on a single task while at the same time being bombarded with other intrusive and distracting signals.
Gaspar and McDonald have isolated a neural mechanism in the brain as the site which determines how a person is able to block out external stimuli and focus on a task. This is an important step in understanding disorders such as ADHD and schizophrenia.
Researchers have debated for the past 25 years as to whether visual objects grab our attention automatically or whether we are able to ignore these objects. This was difficult to determine because the neural mechanism was not entirely understood. But, thanks to Gaspar and McDonald’s 3.5-year study, we now know more about how this mechanism works.
The study involved three experiments in which 47 students of approximately 21 years of age were given a visual search task, while sensors relayed information about their neural processes related to attention and distraction.
Results provided empirical evidence to show that our ability to ignore intrusive signals is the result of a process called attentional suppression. This describes how the brain will actively suppress signals coming from visual sources that can distract from a primary focus.
Gaspar and McDonald hope this research will broaden the understanding of the most contemporary ideas of attention, which are mainly focused on understanding the neural processes involved in picking out objects in a visual field. Think of a Where’s Waldo illustration; we now understand not only how we can pick Waldo from his chaotic world, but also how we are able to tune out the irrelevant information.
Knowledge of this attentional suppression mechanism is especially important for understanding conditions such as ADHD and schizophrenia. It may help us to understand what these disorders are and whether there are sub-disorders that are currently hidden under these blanket diagnoses.
ADHD is a commonly diagnosed disorder with over six million children diagnosed in the United States alone. It also presents very different symptoms in children and adults. Research concerning how neural mechanisms, such as the one discovered by Gaspar and McDonald, are related to ADHD will hopefully enable us to make more informed diagnoses in the future.
There is still a lot of work to be done in this field because each person’s brain has individual differences in its ability to deal with distraction and focus on tasks. Gaspar and McDonald intend to continue their research on this mechanism to uncover more about how attention works in all its complexity.
