For questions about the ability for humans or animals to control their level of attention to a stimulus.

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17
votes
2answers
658 views

Is there evidence that listening to music can aid/hinder concentration or performance?

I, like many computer programmers, love to listen to music while I work. I have always believed that music helps me stay focused and motivated, and improves my performance on many types of tasks, ...
26
votes
1answer
4k views

Is leg jiggling a focus aid?

This is slightly left-field, but I am interested in the Cognitive Science implications of this question: Many people, myself included, are "leg jigglers", meaning we often sit jiggling or bouncing a ...
6
votes
0answers
83 views

Are ambidextrous people better at multitasking?

I'm strongly 'one-handed' in that I can barely even write with my left hand. My wife is fairly ambidextrous, in that she's by default left-handed, but can also write with her right hand. I've ...
1
vote
0answers
45 views

How to optimize bi-tasking?

Based on an article on brain laterization, it's said that a lateralized brain can do two tasks simultaneously. Lateralized chicks could pick food out of the pebbles with one eye and one half of ...
6
votes
0answers
39 views

Why a person may have a temptation to do something unrelated when doing especially important thing?

I would like to know, why a person may have a temptation to do something unrelated (or slightly related to his current task) when doing particularly important job? Like, when preparing for an ...