17. February 2010 by John Schinnerer.

Peak performers like Olympic athletes sense information differently.

New study at Colorado State University, finds that, to experts, people with over 10,000 hours of training in a particular area, the world looks like it is in super slow motion when performing at their peak.

http://www.today.colostate.edu/story.aspx?id=3190

Cheers,

John Schinnerer, Ph.D.

Posted in Visual perception, Visual Attention, Optimal Human Functioning, Emotion & Athletics, Alamo CA, Psychology and technology, San Ramon CA, Dr. John Schinnerer, Positive Psychology, Guide To Self Beginners Guide To Managing Emotion, Subconscious mind, Danville CA, Sports Psychology | Print | No Comments »

21. October 2009 by John Schinnerer.

From ScienceDaily (Oct. 20, 2009) — Everyone tends to float off into space once in a while and fail to see what is sitting there right in front of them. Recently researchers decided to put the theory of “inattentional blindness” to the test: the unicycling clown test. They documented real-world examples of people who were so distracted by their cell phone use that they failed to see the bizarre occurrence of a unicycling clown passing them on the street.

The study is published in an upcoming issue of Applied Cognitive Psychology.

Compared with individuals walking alone, in pairs, or listening to their ipod, cell phone users were the group most prone to oblivious behavior: only twenty-five percent of them noticed the unicycling clown. The walkers not using a cell phone noticed the clown over fifty-percent of the time.

Furthermore, the cell phone users had difficulties performing even the simple task of walking, an action that should require relatively few cognitive resources. They walked more slowly, changed direction more often, were prone to weaving, and acknowledged other individuals more rarely.

Dr. Ira E. Hyman, Jr. at Western Washington University, head researcher of the study, says: “If people experience so much difficulty performing the task of walking when on a cell phone just think of what this means when put into the context of driving safety. People should not drive while talking on a cell phone.” Furthermore, the research shows that the level of familiarity with the person’s real-world environment does not affect their attentional awareness.

 For full article, please click here.

Is it possible that using a cell phone makes us more mind-less? Perhaps it disconnects us from what is going on within our bodies and immediately around us outside our bodies. Use caution when talking on the cell while driving.

Latest stats show that driving while talking on cell is as dangerous as driving drunk. It simply overtaxes our minds and our attentional capabilities.

 The take home point is that our attention is limited in nature, not limitless.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

John Schinnerer, Ph.D.

Guide To Self, Inc.
Danville, CA 94526

Positive psychology coach

Posted in Danville CA, National speakers, Executive coach, Psychology and technology, Visual Attention, Therapist, Emotion and technology, Awareness, Guide to Self, Life coach, Consciousness, The human brain, Mindfulness, Dr. John Schinnerer | Print | No Comments »

19. October 2009 by John Schinnerer.

A camera you can wear as a pendant to record every moment of your life will soon be launched by a UK-based firm.

Originally invented to help jog the memories of people with Alzheimer’s disease, it might one day be used by consumers to create “lifelogs” that archive their entire lives.

Worn on a cord around the neck, the camera takes pictures automatically as often as once every 30 seconds. It also uses an accelerometer and light sensors to snap an image when a person enters a new environment, and an infrared sensor to take one when it detects the body heat of a person in front of the wearer. It can fit 30,000 images onto its 1-gigabyte memory.

The ViconRevue was originally developed as the SenseCam by Microsoft Research Cambridge, UK, for researchers studying Alzheimer’s and other dementias. Studies showed that reviewing the events of the day using SenseCam photos could help some people improve long-term recall.

For full article, click here.

Have a wonderful Monday!

John Schinnerer, Ph.D.

A Curious Guy

Guide To Self, Inc.

Posted in Psychology and technology, Memory and recall, Emotion & productivity, Mindfulness, Guide to Self, Dr. John Schinnerer | Print | No Comments »