I recalled this
scene from my family as I was reading a scientific report
last week. When my eldest son Dan was in high school, I
walked into the family room one evening while he was studying
for a test with his buddy Nat. The TV was blaring and biology
books lay open in front of them on TV trays.
"How are you guys doing?" I asked. Their eyes
never leaving the screen, each murmured, "Okay."
I was curious what they thought they were achieving with
the biology books since the boys didn't seem to even glance
at them. "How's the studying going?" I asked.
"What? Oh, we've got a test tomorrow, so we're reviewing
chapter 10," Dan answered. Still no eye contact.
"You should turn off the TV," I said. "You'll
never get ready for the test that way."
Finally, Dan looked at me, and his face appeared as it would
if he had been explaining something to a small child. "Dad,
we did this with the last test, and I got an A." He
pointed to his friend. "Nat did too." Nat nodded
in agreement.
"I still think you should turn it off," I said.
"You're not even looking at your book."
"We'll quiz each other at the commercial. Just because
the TV is on doesn't mean we won't learn anything."
I considered asking if he'd be studying up on the grammar
rules for double negatives. Instead, I said, "Okay,
but I think it'd be easier to learn with the TV off."
When he got his test back he had another A, and I had to
admit television hadn't ruined his chances as a biologist.
But I couldn't shake the feeling that studying in a quiet
room would have been better.
It turns out, according to the latest research, we were
both right. A new study published in the Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences shows that you can
learn in the presence of distractions, but you probably
won't learn as well.
The study differentiates between two kinds of learning,
declarative learning and learning through habit. With declarative
learning, we use a part of our brains called the medial
temporal lobes to learn facts and skills that can be recalled
and used in other situations. This is the kind of learning
we want our kids to do when they study. Learning through
habit, which uses a part of the brain called the striatum,
is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: repetition and
more repetition. And habit learning isn't as easily used
or recalled.
It turns out distractions, like a blaring TV, have no noticeable
effect on learning through habit. But the study found that
distractions significantly impair one's ability to learn
declaratively.
It's nice to have scientific proof of what most parents
have long suspected. Part of being MediaWise is helping
your kids learn without distractions. To that end, we should
make a simple declaration to our kids: when it's time to
study, the TVs, video games, and cell phones need to be
turned off.
David Walsh, Ph.D. is the founder of the
MediaWise Movement, a program of the National Institute
on Media and the Family (www.mediawise.org). His latest
book, Why Do They Act That Way? A Survival Guide to the
Adolescent Brain for You and Your Teen, is a national
bestseller.
