Tina Davidson (History) recaps Cathy Davidson’s USP Seminar “”Now You See It: How the Science of Attention Can Help Us Succeed in a World of Distractions”
Although I am a student in Cathy Davidson’s graduate class 21st Century Literacies (http://sites.duke.edu/english890s_01_s2013/), the first time I heard Dr. Davidson’s speak formally was at the USP Seminar this past Wednesday. I like to think this fact has something to do with Dr. Davidson’s pedagogical method. She has made the intentional choice to let students run the class. In our graduate class, this format has allowed me to learn as much from my peers as from the professor. The class has also captured my attention in ways that other classes have not by ensuring that my investment in the work goes beyond the common grappling for grades. Still, why does this type of teaching work, and is it more appropriate for our Digital Age? How does attention function during a time when we are all supposedly more distracted by the multi-media connections that technology affords us? Dr. Davidson addressed this later question in her presentation “Now You See It: How the Science of Attention Can Help Us Succeed in a World of Distractions,” which took place at 7:00pm on April 3rd at Duke’s John Hope Franklin Center.
During the lecture Dr. Davidson captured USP scholars and visitors attention by teaching us that, “we learn attention.” “Attention,” Dr. Davidson began, “is what we decide to focus on, and what we decide to focus on is historically specific and driven by externals.” Considering this, Dr. Davidson centered the first part of the presentation on the history of attention. After learning about Daniel Simons’ experiment in which participants are asked to count basketball passes and often miss the gorilla that walks into the room, Dr. Davidson provided some other statistics. Prominent among the other studies that she highlighted was the “Gorilla in the Lung CT-Scan.” In this experiment radiologists were given stacks of lung scans and were asked to look for disease. 83% of them, however, missed the gorilla embedded into some of the scans. “The expert,” Dr. Davidson said, “may be worse at seeing the anomaly than others.” Why? Because the expert has been trained to direct her attention to something specific and may miss the “gorilla in the room.”
How then do we learn to pay attention in a connected age? According to Dr. Davidson, April 1993, when the Mosaic 1.0 browser was released to the world, marked the dawn of a new information age. This moment represents the fourth greatest technological advancement in human history. Dr. Davidson explained to us that there have only been four great information ages: the invention of writing, the invention of movable type, and the invention of mass-printing. The last information age, mass-printing, took place a century ago and was accompanied by the industrial revolution. Social scientists at the time were primarily concerned with how to change farmers into industrial workers. They needed to get people to operate efficiently; timeliness became a major preoccupation of the industrial age. Compulsory education became a way to teach farmers’ children timeliness and thus prepare them to work in factories. In many ways, the school building was like the manufacturing plant, as learning was regimented and children began to receive grades for their work.
In our new Digital Age, however, we face a different reality than a century ago. Instead of relying on editors, printers, and booksellers to manufacture and market our ideas, for example, we publish our ideas to the Internet. The result is instant distribution of ideas and immediate connection to other people interested in the work we produce. How must education change for this new reality? Dr. Davidson emphasized, sustainability instead of productivity, customization and iteration instead of standardization. She also highlighted the need for peer evaluation, feedback, and collaboration by difference. One of the key lessons that we need to learn in this day in age is to pay attention to the dissenting voice. Many times others notice things that we do not because our attention is focused elsewhere. The new connected age provides space for collaboration with those who focus on different aspects of the same problem.
Two other lessons. First, we should recognize our own distractions and develop methods that work around our habits. Dr. Davidson used Aza Raskin as an example. He has modified his workspace with computers at different levels and in different rooms so as to prevent back pain and distraction on Facebook. For those of us who do not have three or four computers at home or the skills to program them in different ways, Fred Stuzman’s www.macfreedom.com works as a nice alternative. Second, Dr. Davidson challenged us to take risks and disrupt old habits. Quoting Alvin Toffler, she warned that “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” The lesson then is to learn what is put in front of you. As an example, Dr. Davidson highlighted Marissa Mayer, the CEO of Yahoo, who recently made Yahoo employees return to work. While this move was not popular, Dr. Davidson said that Marissa Mayer made a hard choice for change after evaluating the circumstances in front of her and Yahoo has been reaping benefits.
Concluding her talk Dr. Davidson provided us with 10 Rules for focusing our attention and making decisions in the Digital Age. I reprint them here so that others may reflect on them, but they are not set in stone. I invite you to add your own thoughts and critique these rules in the comments below. After all, there may be other solutions not represented here, and we do not want to miss the gorilla in the room!
10 Rules for Full-Court Decision Making
- Be aware of the brain’s structural limits (it won’t fix them but gives us a fighting change).
- Remember expertise has its own blinders.
- Only call the errors you have to call (referee’s method: call the errors everyone sees).
- Reward the court jester (someone has to say there’s a gorilla in the room even if we don’t’ see it).
- Exhale fiercely (the inhale follows naturally and will take care of the rest)
- Divide attention strategically.
- Embrace distraction (it helps break old habits). Try to better understand yourself. Be reflective about your reflexes.
- Model unlearning. For example, have the students lead the class.
- Collaborate by difference (I’ll count –you take care of that gorilla).
- Be humble (There’s far more we don’t know about the brain than we do).
