Topics in Cognition and Learning: Technology and Multitasking

In our new media ecology, has affinity for social media and multitasking become addictive? Detrimental to learning and well-being? What can we learn from studies in the developmental cognitive sciences and cognitive neurosciences of reward, attention, memory & learning, motivation, stress, and self-regulation for tackling the behavioral design problems we face in crafting better socio-technical systems? This seminar course is designed to engage students in recent advances in this rapidly growing research area via discussions of both historical and late-breaking findings in the literature. By drawing on a breadth of studies ranging from cognitive development, cognitive neuroscience, and educational/training studies, students will gain an appreciation for specific ways interdisciplinary approaches can add value to specific programs of research.