For those of us with a highly alert audio processing system, our brains are scanning the horizon like radar dishes looking for interesting sounds. It’s a good thing, but it takes a lot of cognitive resource. The scanning is burning attention and energy and can be drawing attention and energy away from other tasks, particularly ones that take visual processing.
Many with high auditory receptivity report when we are able to control the background auditory environment, it calms our brain’s processing systems and cues them up for concentration and focus. For some, complete silence is necessary; for others, classical music; some find white noise calming; others: classic rock. For those of us with active auditory processors, feeding the system with its preferred stimulus, causes it to stop searching and allows it to settle into a state of calm.
By contrast, many of us whose auditory processor defaults to a deep resting state, find high auditory stimulus produces a mild boost to our attention and focus. It appears to have the paradoxical effect that amphetamines like Ritalin have on attention. Our brains don’t focus on the specific information conveyed by the sound, but rather seem to ride it like a wave which seems to raise all our cognitive boats.
So can your teenager work while watching a video and listening to music? Not always. Sometimes they’re just entertaining themselves and avoiding work. The test is whether or not they’re more effective and produce better results at the end of a session.
Sometimes we rest by distracting ourselves. Sitting in the park watching the world go by, exploring our social media, watching television, listening to music, shooting some baskets, reading a magazine are all diversions from work engagements. Our dreams appear to be something similar. Our brains are never still. The cessation of brain activity is the definition of death.
What typically separates our work from our diversion is the level of focus. We focus to work; we let our minds drift to rest. When we refresh, recreate, unwind, relax, our brains float in our preferred diversionary neurostimulus. The need for specific focused attention is what’s different from sitting in the stands watching a football game (diversion) from coaching a football game (work), however satisfying either experience may be.
Our diversions may be intense. We might play a serious and focused game of tennis to relax. However, the intense focus is usually the activation of one of our underengaged neuroprocessors.
During my college years, I worked on construction crews in the summer. In the summer, I relaxed by reading. My work involved intense neurophysical activation. In the fall and winter, when my studies involved intensive reading, I relaxed by running and hiking.