Attention economy – vision boards and stocking fillers

In this last week before the break, I’ve pulled together some articles about how to stay focused, how the old-fashioned flip chart can help you see the future more clearly, and shopping for toys.

Attention economy

With so many plates to spin at this time of year, it’s not surprising so many of us are struggling to focus. There’s an important difference between alertness (a state of arousal or ‘feeling awake’) and attention  (intentional direction towards a goal) – Vigilance: discussion of related concepts and proposal for a definition.

Lighting can help you to optimise both – here’s how: 

1. Tonic alertness – regular shifts across the day

–  Contrasting bright light in the morning, softer light in the evening and darkness at night will help to keep your natural cycle on track. A window is best but dynamic artificial lighting can help – although exactly why and how it works isn’t yet clear – The effect of a dynamic lighting schedule on neurobehavioral performance during a 45-day simulated space mission, A systematic literature review on the rationale for and effects of dynamic light scenarios, Impacts of Dynamic LED Lighting on the Well-Being and Experience of Office Occupants.

2. Phasic alertness – sudden response to a stimulus

–  Adaptive for life in the wild but not useful in the office. It’s not scientific, but your phone camera can be a useful tool for checking for flicker, rapid changes in light levels that trigger a stress response. Your eyes dart to seek out the source of an unexpected sound within 32 milliseconds, disrupting reading and other focused tasks. Noise-cancelling headphones will help – Unexpected sounds inhibit the movement of the eyes during reading and letter scanning.

3. Selective attention – filtering stimulus to direct attention

4. Sustained attention – persistent concentration over an extended period of time.

–  Bright, blue-enriched light tends to boost reaction time,  focus and sustained attention – Effects of Light on Attention and Reaction Time: A Systematic Review, A comprehensive review of attention tests: can we assess what we exactly do not understand?. 

Women tend to prefer slightly warmer light and lower brightness, but the variation in personal preference is wide and depends on your starting point too – Effects of illuminance and correlated color temperature on emotional responses and lighting adjustment behaviors.

Whatever you have on your plate, feeling you have control will help you to stay on track – Effects of Personalized Lighting on Subjective Ratings, Cognitive Performance, and Physiological Stress Response in a Simulated Office Environment.

Vision boards – all in the mind?

As you wrap up in the office for the week – and maybe for the holidays, it maybe a good time to take a moment to look back at the year and peer into the future- either alone or with your team.

It’s tempting to log into one of the hundreds of planning tools online, especially if you’re hot-desking: who wants to carry a roll of scruffy paper with scribbled post-it notes home.  It will probably end up at the back of a cupboard anyway.

But you may be surprised to know just how much clearer and more memorable your vision will be if you physically map it out on paper. You might even find you can see eye to eye with your colleagues too. 

1. Writing improves comprehension and memory compared to typing notes, boosting recall by up to 15% compared to traditional study methods – The efficacy of the `mind map’ study technique.
2. Drawing is even better: students who drew concepts consistently recalled nearly twice as much information as those who wrote definitions down – The Surprisingly Powerful Influence of Drawing on Memory.
3. Doing it together is best: The iterative process of mapping out the problem as an interdisciplinary team can help to find common ground and spark new solutions – MIND MAPPING AS A TOOL, AS A PROCESS, AS A PROBLEM/SOLUTION SPACE.

How does it work?

1. Multimodal: Drawing engages multiple brain regions simultaneously, with robust EEG activity in the left and right hemispheres across the visual, kinesthetic, and semantic processing networks – Handwriting but not typewriting leads to widespread brain connectivity: a high-density EEG study with implications for the classroom.
2. Embodied cognition: the physical process of moving your body to create the marks and shapes is a critical part of the sense-making process; you literally act the part – Learning and expertise with scientific external representations: an embodied and extended cognition model.
3. Attention: Your eyes pay closer attention to objects close to your hands than the surrounding space, increasing retention of the information – Altered vision near the hands.
4. Drawing on a vertical surface is even better – you’re likely to use smoother movements and use a wider range of muscles, enhancing that learning process – Graphical Product Quality and Muscle Activity in Children With Mild Disabilities Drawing on a Horizontally or Vertically Oriented Tablet.
5.  Clarity: as you draw, you are forced to make choices and decisions about how elements fit together and what they mean. This shines a light on areas of uncertainty and facilitates collective problem-solving – Concept Mapping as a Metacognition Tool in a Problem-Solving-Based BME Course During In-Person and Online Instruction. 

So what should you do? 

Clear time in your schedule, ideally late morning when you’re likely to be most alert.

Find a space without distractions – ideally, with good natural light and a door you can close.

Gather materials – a flip chart or paper pinned to the wall, sticky notes and coloured pens  – and some water and healthy snacks.

Pose a question to yourself – and your colleagues if you’re doing this as a team – and set your creative brain to work.

Some questions as a ‘starter for ten’ below, inspired by Seth Godin’s brilliant book ‘This is Strategy’.

• Map out the whole system of your sector – who cares about what and why- and what has changed?
• Focus on where you fit in that system – where do you add most value – and where is someone better-placed than you?
• Map common themes of success this year – is that taking you in a direction you wish to go?
• Map common themes of failure this year,  and what – or who – is in the gap? Is it just a matter of time – or are you missing the mark?

Choosing a gift for a child?

So many toys include LED lights – and why not – they’re compact, efficient and cool.

One study found that adding emotion-driven light to a story-tellling robot increased how competent and sociable the robot seemed – Binded to the Lights – Storytelling with a Physically Embodied and a Virtual Robot using Emotionally Adapted Lights.

But please be careful.

Children’s eyes are much clearer and open much wider than ours, so the delicate membrane at the back of the eye is vulnerable to damage from the high-energy wavelengths that these tiny, focused lights give out, especially as they cuddle their toys so tight – LEDs in toys: ANSES calls for a revision of the “eye safety” section of the European standard.

• Avoid toys with bright blue LEDs altogether if you can.
• Avoid rapid-flashing lights too – their pupils flex so fast, they can be taken by surprise.
• Their brains process information faster than older people too, triggering a high-alert response.
• Make sure the light source is tucked well inside the body of the toy so there is some distance from their eyes even if they hold it close to their face. 
• And switch the toys off at least two hours before bed. 

Alternatively, consider buying a toy that uses optical effects to spark their curiosity in the natural world – a kaleidoscope, polarising glasses, a crystal or a magnifying glass.

It’s more environmentally-friendly too 😉