Distractibility not necessarily a disability

Being easily distracted, or, as I now prefer to think of it, having a "broad attention span" may be tied to creativity and wisdom. A New York Times article reports on studies analyzed in a new edition of a neurology book, “Progress in Brain Research.”

In a 2003 study at Harvard, Dr. Carson [Shelley H. Carson, a psychology researcher at Harvard whose work was cited in the book] and other researchers tested students’ ability to tune out irrelevant information when exposed to a barrage of stimuli. The more creative the students were thought to be, determined by a questionnaire on past achievements, the more trouble they had ignoring the unwanted data. A reduced ability to filter and set priorities, the scientists concluded, could contribute to original thinking.

I cannot comment on my degree of original thinking, but others have certainly noted in me (both personally and professionally) "a reduced ability to filter and set priorities"!