Every few seconds, a text notification dings. A car horn blares outside the window. A coworker walks past. Most of the time, the brain handles these intrusions smoothly, filtering them out and staying ...

As sure as the brain is prone to distraction, it can also return its focus to the task at hand. A new study in animals by scientists at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory of MIT shows how ...

Committing to a hobby and finding your flow might not only help you reduce outside noise (work or social media distractions), but also your own internal noise, such as mind wandering or rumination.

The coronavirus has chained us to our screens more than ever before and confirmed how hard it is to wrest digital devices away from kids—of every age. For adults working from home, staring into ...

Teachers can use these six strategies to boost students’ ability to work with sustained focus for increasing amounts of time.

Scientists may have new answers to why pop-ups or notifications grab our attention. Turns out our attention is on a cycle, shifting seven to ten times per second. This rhythmic occurrence may be ...

In a study of mice, scientists discovered that a brain region called the thalamus may be critical for filtering out distractions. The study, published in Nature and partially funded by the National ...

Always busy, rarely focused, the 'half attention' lifestyle is reshaping how we think, work, and rest, raising concerns about ...

Scientists are beginning to explore the role of simple rituals like tea preparation in restoring mental clarity.

This simplified version of a figure from the research shows the rotation of subspace coding from many trials with correct vs. error respoonses. The blue arrow ...