Adam Gazzaley, “The Distracted Mind: Ancient Brains in a High-Tech World”

Show #153 | Guest: Adam Gazzaley is founder and director of the Neuroscience Imaging Center at UCSF’s Memory and Aging Center. He is a professor in neurology, physiology and psychiatry at the UC San Francisco and director of the Gazzaley Lab, a cognitive neuroscience laboratory. His laboratory studies neural mechanisms of perception, attention and memory, with an emphasis on the impact of distraction and multitasking on these abilities. His unique research approach utilizes a powerful combination of human neurophysiological tools, including functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), electroencephalography (EEG) and transcranial magnetic and electrical stimulation (TMS and TES). A major accomplishment of his research has been to expand our understanding of alterations in the aging brain that lead to cognitive decline. | Show Summary: We are obsessed with our devices. We pride ourselves on our ability to multitask — read work email, reply to a text, check Facebook, watch a video clip. Never mind the errors in the email, the near-miss on the road, and the unheard conversation at the table. In The Distracted Mind, Adam Gazzaley and Larry Rosen — a neuroscientist and a psychologist — explain why our brains aren’t built for multitasking, and suggest better ways to live in a high-tech world without giving up our modern technology.