Occupational Health & Safety Canada article, March 2009

Aging and distraction: a lesson for educators

IMAGINE BEING A SAFETY MANAGER, preparing to lead the monthly meeting that's just about to start. The agenda is full, so everyone will need to focus to get things done.

But what's that? The background air is filled with the sounds of hammers pounding and saws screeching, courtesy of renovations now under way. And for good measure, the grounds crew has just arrived, firing up its riding mower and weed whacker.

Taking the meeting to a less-distracting location may be the best move, particularly if you expect older staff members to absorb the information presented.

So suggests new research from Baycrest's Rotman Research Institute in Toronto, published in last November's issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.

Senior types (those in their mid-60s and older) appear less successful than young whippersnappers at filtering out distracting noises and memorizing pertinent information. "We've known for some time that older adults are more 'distractible'. They have a harder time filtering out information that is irrelevant to the task at hand," says Dr. Cheryl Grady, a researcher on the project and a senior scientist at the institute. "What we know less about is the brain mechanism by which this happens."