Stefan van der Stigchel
Professor of Cognitive Psychology, Utrecht University
Stefan van der Stigchel is professor of Cognitive Psychology at Utrecht University. He heads the AttentionLab research group that examines how attention and visual awareness work together to create our perception of the world. Stefan's research has been supported in the past by NWO VENI and VIDI grants, and now by a VICI grant. He is currently researching visual working memory and eye movement control, supported by an ERC Consolidator grant. Stefan has been a member of De Jonge Akademie, a platform of young scientists within the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Stefan is an author of the popular science books How attention works: Finding Your Way in a World Full of Distraction and Concentration: Staying Focused in Times of Distraction, both internationally published by MIT Press.
In How Attention Works, Stefan Van der Stigchel explains the process of attention and what the implications are for our everyday lives. The visual attention system is efficient because it doesn’t waste energy processing every scrap of visual data it receives; it gathers only relevant information. We focus on one snippet of information and assume that everything else is stable and consistent with past experience; that’s why most people miss even the most glaring continuity errors in films.
In Concentration, van der Stigchel explains how to stay focused in a world of beeping smartphones, channel surfing, live-tweeting, pop-up ads, and other distractions. The good news, Van der Stigchel reports, is that we now know more about brain and behavior than ever before, and he draws on the latest scientific findings in his account of concentration. He explains the positive effects of taking “tech breaks” (particularly in natural surroundings), meditation, and even daydreaming.
He is currently director of the Helmholtz Institute and president of the Dutch Society for Brain and Cognition.
Topics
How to concentrate in a world of beeping smartphones, channel surfing, live-tweeting, pop-up ads, and other distractions
We are in the midst of an attention crisis—caused in large part by our smartphones. There's a constant stream of information that we are powerless to withstand because it shows up in our notifications. More and more of us are finding it harder and harder to concentrate. In this talk, attention expert and cognitive psychologist Stefan Van der Stigchel explains how concentration works and offers advice on how to stay focused in a world of beeping smartphones, channel surfing, live-tweeting, pop-up ads, and other distractions.
The good news is that we now know more about brain and behavior than ever before, and he draws on the latest scientific findings in his account of concentration. He explains why multitasking is bad for our concentration, but attention rituals help it. He explains the positive effects of taking “tech breaks” (particularly in natural surroundings), meditation, and even daydreaming. We can win the battle for our attention, Van der Stigchel explains, if we have the knowledge and the tools to do it.
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