April 14, 2008
From MyWiki
Meeting Notes for April 14, 2008 by Sergio Carr
During the group meeting of April 14th of 2008 all group members were present (Jessica, Jessica, Kirstin, Luke, Laura, and Shayla, along with myself). During our meeting we discussed some of our plans we have decided on doing for our next research summary. For myself we decided that I should look into the way the cocktail party effect affects the way the brain processes information given. For the other group members they decided that they should find out ways, within their topic, on how music, lights, noise, and colors affect someone who is focusing on homework or studying. We also decided that we should think broader within our topics, meaning not just finding the ways the surroundings bother people who are studying and/or doing homework but ways to avoid putting themselves into these distracting situations. We also discussed our plans for our presentation we will have give to the class on May 2nd of 2008. The plan to have each individual within our group give at least a two minute power point presentation having one slide per person. During some of our presentations given we will have some distracting “props” to see how well people are able to focus when there is something happening in their immediate surroundings. Some of the “props” we plan on using or want to do is a mass phone call to all the students in the class to see who is able to avoid looking at their phones and stay attentive to the presenters. Another one is, while one of our group members are giving their presentation, have someone randomly doing something in the background to see if that catches our audiences attention rather than the actually presentation given. As our group looked further into the future direction of our projects we concluded that there should be more experimentations and studies done on working memory, both visual and non-visual. We wish that we were able to research and experiment ourselves on our topics but due to the assignments given us we are not able for this project. We have, however, found some recommendations for helping people who are trying to form better study habits. We found that playing soothing music with little to no lyrics is helpful, not being in places where there are very bright colors, flashing lights, and distracting sounds is useful for allowing them to be able to apply themselves to their studies. Turning off your cell phones and avoiding surfing the internet and losing focus can allow you to stay attentive to what you are doing.
