New research from the Vision and Cognition
group at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, published in PNAS shows that while strong distractions may
automatically capture our attention, the trained brain can rapidly suppress
such distractions to help us efficiently reach our goals.
After training, the visual brain can suppress
neuronal responses to pop-out distractors that are usually enhanced compared to
responses to other, non-distracting, items.
Attention needs to strike a balance between our
own internally generated goals and whatever appears to be important in the
environment. Dealing with distraction in an efficient way is a crucial aspect
of that process.
Source: sciencedaily.com
