Brain Science Questions Answered: Meet Dr. John Dovidio of Yale University

I’m excited to announce the kick-off to what I hope will be an extensive series of interviews with experts in the areas of brain science as it relates to attention, multitasking, and technology.

My first interview was with Dr. John Dovidio, Psychology Professor at Yale University in Connecticut. We had an interesting and wide-ranging discussion on the effects of technology on attention, and he provided some balanced input into the “is it harmful or is it helpful?” debate.

Dr. Dovidio shared insight about the prospects for children growing up in a media-multitasking environment, and the differences between adaptation in a child’s brain vs. an adult brain.  We also discussed the race between the evolution of technology and our ability to keep up.

Later, we discussed whether constant technology use is really some sort of addiction, and to what extent we might have control over our own attention.  A discussion I found particularly interesting was Dr. Dovidio’s thoughts on how communication technologies of today are alike, and how they differ, from past advances in communication such as the television.

The overall theme of the discussion seemed to be an emphasis on the role that control, over technology and over our own attention, plays in our continued adaptation to an ever-changing technology landscape.

Click here for Part 1. If you’d like to receive future posts right in your email, enter your address in the field on the right.  If you have an RSS reader, you can click here to subscribe that way.  Either way, I hope you’ll come back to read and/or listen to this interesting interview.

Thanks for visiting!