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Multitaskers and Gorillas

The writer and journalist Madeleine Bunting continues her exploration of how we pay attention - and how, as we focus it on one thing, we automatically withdraw it from others.

The writer and journalist Madeleine Bunting continues her exploration of the different ways in which we pay, or fail to pay, attention. Inevitably, she argues, attention to one thing always implies withdrawal of it from others, and in our digital age, the battle for our attention, however brief, has become fiercer than ever. And, Madeleine warns, those who think they can successfully multi-task are probably deluding themselves - as the famous 'gorilla experiment', in which subjects failed to see a man in a gorilla costume walking into a basketball match has demonstrated.

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14 minutes

Broadcasts

  • Tue 27 Feb 2018 22:45
  • Tue 2 Jul 2019 22:45

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