|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
I read an article the other day where a college professor said he didn't mind if his students surfed the internet during his lectures. He said, "That's the way they listen".
And I just got an e-mail from my just-out-of-college daughter where she spoke of having her ipod headphones in and can still concentrate easily doing research on the computer at work.
I, an old fogée, find this a bit strange, though not unbelievable. What do the rest of you say?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
Splain me fogée and I'll tell you what I say. 
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 956
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 956 |
I too find this a bit strange. It sounds like a cop out by the prof in allowing his students to give him the run around. At the least they would always be in catch up mode trying to keep a handle on both scenarios. And it is rude.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 120
member
|
|
member
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 120 |
I have music playing at my job. It's quiet enough that someone at my door doesn't hear it, but it helps me to ignore the various conversations going on in other cubes. It gives me an illusion of privacy, maybe?
I wouldn't dare try to surf during a class or presentation. That is rude.
tempus edax rerum
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067 |
I read an article the other day where a college professor said he didn't mind if his students surfed the internet during his lectures. He said, "That's the way they listen".
And I just got an e-mail from my just-out-of-college daughter where she spoke of having her ipod headphones in and can still concentrate easily doing research on the computer at work.
I, an old fogée, find this a bit strange, though not unbelievable. What do the rest of you say? Right brained people like artists have no trouble multi-tasking like that. I used to sketch my professors whilst listening to their lectures and found it helped me take in more, not less, of what they were saying, presumably because it distracted the right brain and enabled the left brain to focus better on the analysis of the words. I suspect the same is true for those oriented towards musical rather than visual arts. Women, of course, also have multi-tasking brains. They can talk and do ANYTHING else at the same time.  Are you right or left brained? Right or Left Brained? I'm both.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 390
enthusiast
|
|
enthusiast
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 390 |
[quote=Jackie]
Are you right or left brained?
I'm both. Barring a minute number of exceptions, all humans are both. I have yet to meet anyone with only one cerebral hemisphere.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067 |
It refers to a predilection or bias to, or predomination by, one side or the other, not exclusive use of course.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 956
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 956 |
Splain me fogée and I'll tell you what I say.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
Splain me fogée and I'll tell you what I say. perhaps ASp was wondering about the accent on the first e -- an odd form, that. - joe (another old fogy) friday
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 390
enthusiast
|
|
enthusiast
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 390 |
It refers to a predilection or bias to, or predomination by, one side or the other, not exclusive use of course. Yes, my reply was intended to contemn the concept. A very close friend whose left hemisphere is significantly physically damaged functions with a dominant right hemisphere in a way that would seem to fit the "left brain" stereotype. All generalizations are stupid.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067 |
It refers to a predilection or bias to, or predomination by, one side or the other, not exclusive use of course. Yes, my reply was intended to contemn the concept. A very close friend whose left hemisphere is significantly physically damaged functions with a dominant right hemisphere in a way that would seem to fit the "left brain" stereotype. All generalizations are stupid. That happens because the brain is able to rewire itself. It doesn't mean there is no such thing as right or left brained. Nobody is saying that one side does everything and can't ever do things the other side normally does. But it remains true that the right side is predominately responsible for some functions and the left side for others, in normal working brains. I take it your self-referential statement disparaging generalisations is meant to be ironic? 
Last edited by The Pook; 02/28/2008 11:48 PM.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
All generalizations are stupid. Fogée is the feminine of fogey (I decided as I posted). So, Anna? [invitation e]
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290 |
So, fogé is the male counterpart, and fogey is an phantom MiG? [soviet e]
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
And I'd a thunk it was fogué.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295 |
I, an old fogée, find this a bit strange, though not unbelievable. What do the rest of you say? They can talk and do ANYTHING else at the same time. Are you right or left brained? Right or Left Brained? I'm both. Hey! That's themilums little dancer, who 's been turning round and round for a long time just a short while ago. It is very enchanting to see her turn, but you can train yourself to make her go both ways even at a regular half turn. Very nicely. I'm left and right handed, but no multi-tasker. I can paint and listen to music. But I can't read a book and listen to music at the same time. Any of you can read a book and listen to music at the same time??
Last edited by BranShea; 02/29/2008 1:53 PM.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290 |
fogué
Yes. At least that would kinda be pronounced like fogey, whereas fogée would be /'fo:ʒe/.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 389
enthusiast
|
|
enthusiast
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 389 |
Not meaning to attack or disparage anyone here, but…
I contend that no one can truly multitask. Perhaps some can switch back and forth very rapidly. I believe that if someone is talking to you, it behooves you to listen to him or her with all the attention that you can muster. If you are listening to music while writing, you are not listening to the music, (or writing) with all your will. You can play music while thinking of a beautiful butterfly, but the music is made largely by muscle memory and full creative expression is waylaid. This might just be this foggy fogyism on my part.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 120
member
|
|
member
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 120 |
I see the dancer switch back and forth about every third spin. No effort, it just happens. I do read and listen to the TV at the same time, in order to be able to respond correctly when Hubbin, who is not reading, starts talking about whatever is on TV. I will admit that I can't do this as well as I used to, and that I can't do it at all if the reading material is complex. If I have a challenging problem to wrestle with, having music and singing along with it does help me concentrate, because I tune out everything else but the problem and the music. I've tried working out difficult problems without music, and it takes me longer, and feels harder. Possibly just because I've trained myself that way? Who knows.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 631
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 631 |
> He said, "That's the way they listen".
There's indulgent, and then there's overindulgent. And then there's stupid. This is stupid.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295 |
> I will admit that I can't do this as well as I used to, and that I can't do it at all if the reading material is complex.
I can read a newspaper with music or a light magazine allright, but (maybe I'm oversensitive), books to me have sounds that accompany the words and the meaning. If I add even very low background music to it, I can't read.
Last edited by BranShea; 02/29/2008 4:30 PM.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 557
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 557 |
I can often concentrate better on certain things while listening to music - studying and driving being two of them. I am very distractable in certain ways (my parents had me tested for epilepsy as a child because I would often "stare into space" for long periods, but I wasn't having a seizure, I was just fascinated by something like the weave of the carpet, etc.) and the music acts as a safe, controlable distraction. The music doesn't make me drive off the road, but becoming mesmerized by the patterns in the grass of a field or watching the next car's off-balance wheel might.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
fogué
Yes. At least that would kinda be pronounced like fogey, whereas fogée would be /'fo:ʒe/. And it's the feminine. The masculine would be fogé. The feminine of fogué would, of course, be foguée.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067 |
Not meaning to attack or disparage anyone here, but…
I contend that no one can truly multitask. Perhaps some can switch back and forth very rapidly. No, all human beings have multitasking brains. Think about all the things different parts of your brain are processing simultaneously when you drive a car for example. Your brain is keeping your organs functioning, controlling your breathing and all those other unconscious processes, whilst also processing visual data and responding to it by sending signals to your hands and feet. You can talk about something, think about something totally unrelated, etc while doing all this. The cognitive and 'lower' parts of your brain function separately yet in a co-ordinated fashion. Experiments have also clearly shown that the left and right sides of the brain do certain things independently and at the same time. It is not like a cpu running Windows and fudgning it by switching very quickly between processes, but is true multitasking.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154 |
Listening to music while working on a computer may be reasonable especially for the generation that grew up with music constantly in the background of their life. Claiming to listen to a lecture while performing a word/information task like net surfing is a whole different thing.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 956
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 956 |
I think multitasking in the sense that we are trying to interpret it as, is, very unusual. Trying to simultaneously concentrate or focus on two unrelated tasks such as typing this reply while continuously singing 'bye bye miss american pie', unabated, would be pure folly. Our subconscious accounts for a lot of our actions such as breathing and mechanical operations but we don't need to focus intently on those actions. Unless we are drowning or asthmatic. Perhaps a savant or suchlike person could conceivably carryout a true simultaneous multitask but... I dunno?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067 |
Trying to simultaneously concentrate or focus on two unrelated tasks such as typing this reply while continuously singing 'bye bye miss american pie', unabated, would be pure folly. I am doing just that, as I'm typing this - but only because I know off by heart all thirteen minutes of it! (which tells you how old I am!) Our subconscious accounts for a lot of our actions such as breathing and mechanical operations but we don't need to focus intently on those actions. Unless we are drowning or asthmatic. Perhaps a savant or suchlike person could conceivably carryout a true simultaneous multitask but... I dunno? The Pookwife's great grandfather could add up two columns of figures simultaneously with a pencil in both hands. It's not that uncommmon. You're from across the Tasman? One thing I know is that Kiwis can't do anything else while watching rugby, except drink beer!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
I used to direct live TV shows on community access TV. After a while I became fairly good and could do everything in the control room that was required for the show. This included directing camera operators, selecting the on-line camera, monitoring and adjusting audio levels, and cueing up and playing tapes. Granted this was all to one purpose, but it was a variety of different tasks requiring different skills and certainly counts as multi-tasking. Professional studios would have at least one person assigned to each of those tasks plus one to oversee the whole thing.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
Splain me fogée and I'll tell you what I say. perhaps ASp was wondering about the accent on the first e -- an odd form, that. - joe (another old fogy) friday Nope, I know that's a French thang for the feminine. I was just curious why Jackie wrote it that way, and now I understand it was pure caprice. So I was supposed to say something concerning the OP...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773 |
Of course a person can multitask. I do it all the time.
In the olden days, I'd work crossword puzzles during class lectures. The pace of the lectures was always too slow to keep me occupied, so I had to do *something*. But that wasn't multitasking, like I do now. Monitoring the boys' race with the dog whilst cleaning the kitchen whilst watching/listening to the ball game, whilst printing out my work papers is typical.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 956
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 956 |
One thing I know is that Kiwis can't do anything else while watching rugby, except drink beer! Yes, there is always an exception to the rule. To watch rugby and drink beer at the same time. A handy skill to have. I used to direct live TV shows on community access TV. After a while I became fairly good and could do everything in the control room that was required for the show. This included directing camera operators, selecting the on-line camera, monitoring and adjusting audio levels, and cueing up and playing tapes. Granted this was all to one purpose, but it was a variety of different tasks requiring different skills and certainly counts as multi-tasking. Professional studios would have at least one person assigned to each of those tasks plus one to oversee the whole thing. I am still live cutting multiple (Five) cameras, tweaking audio levels and operating a chyron simultaneouly. However, I can't do it while drinking beer. Us kiwis do have our limitations. While I do agree it is simple to carry out several tasks consciously at the same time, one cannot focus intently on Two tasks simultaneously (at the same instant) try holding your hand up and focusing on your thumb and little finger at the same time. It is easy to flick between the Two but once you try to focus on both at the same time it becomes something else, all I see anyway is a hand. Maybe my eyes are too close together.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067 |
I am still live cutting multiple (Five) cameras, tweaking audio levels and operating a chyron simultaneouly. However, I can't do it while drinking beer. Us kiwis do have our limitations. ...unlike Australians, who can drink beer and do anything else at the same time! While I do agree it is simple to carry out several tasks consciously at the same time, one cannot focus intently on Two tasks simultaneously (at the same instant) try holding your hand up and focusing on your thumb and little finger at the same time. It is easy to flick between the Two but once you try to focus on both at the same time it becomes something else, all I see anyway is a hand. Maybe my eyes are too close together. That brings in another variable altogether - vision, and especially peripheral vision. You cannot 'focus' physically with both eyes on two objects apart from each other. But this is equivocal language. You're talking about two different kinds of focussing - one with the eyes and the other with the brain or mind. I can be aware of both fingers at the same time and in that sense 'focus' on them both with my mind (even if they are not completely in focus with my eyes) because I have good peripheral vision and can see them both at once if I look between them. In fact I can be aware of all my fingers at once and also of the hand as a whole.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891 |
Ooo, Pook, you're bringing up something about which I read a few years ago. Now I'm going to have to go find that book again. It was about how we can have concious visual focusing and unconcious visual focusing because these are done in two separate parts of the brain.
I remember the study spoke of one man who'd had some brain damage and lost his concious eyesight, but not his unconcious eyesight, so that he couldn't see anything in front of him, but if you threw something at him, he'd be able to catch it.
It was quite interersting. Now if I could remember what book I read it in, that would be a feat! HA!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 956
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 956 |
That brings in another variable altogether
I understand that. I'll put it another way. Can you have Two thoughts at the same time?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067 |
That brings in another variable altogether
I understand that. I'll put it another way. Can you have Two thoughts at the same time? define Thought
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067 |
Ooo, Pook, you're bringing up something about which I read a few years ago. Now I'm going to have to go find that book again. It was about how we can have concious visual focusing and unconcious visual focusing because these are done in two separate parts of the brain.
I remember the study spoke of one man who'd had some brain damage and lost his concious eyesight, but not his unconcious eyesight, so that he couldn't see anything in front of him, but if you threw something at him, he'd be able to catch it.
It was quite interersting. Now if I could remember what book I read it in, that would be a feat! HA!
Yes I've read that too and like you my forgettery won't allow me to recall what it was, but I suspect it was by the aforementioned Mr Sachs. The same phenomenon is probably responsible for the experience most of us have had, especially when driving late at night when tired, of suddenly realising that you have no conscious memory of driving the past five miles.
Last edited by The Pook; 03/02/2008 9:42 AM.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295 |
No problem untill you loose conscious memory of where you are going.
|
|
|
|
|
