Do you think you're a successful multi-tasker? You could be wrong. The brain's capacity for conscious attention is very limited, Prof Ian Robertson tells Sylvia Thompson

In this high-tech, fast-paced, information-heavy society we live in, it is interesting to realise how little we know about our brain and its capacity for learning, attention and memory. Have you ever thought about how much information you can take in at any one given time? If you try to take in too much, do you completely miss some of it or just remember less of it?

These are the kind of things that occupy the thoughts of Ian Robertson, professor of psychology at Trinity College Dublin. Currently dean of research, he also set up the Institute of Neuroscience at Trinity in 2000 and remained its director until March of this year. Before coming to Dublin, Robertson worked at the Medical Research Council's Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit in Cambridge, England, for eight years.

Prof Robertson's specialisation is cognitive neuroscience - the academic discipline which studies the brain, its component parts and their varying roles in learning, memory, attention and consciousness itself.

"The brain is the most complex entity we know," he says. "The frontal lobes of the brain - which are responsible for planning, forethought, controlling impulses, organisation and self-awareness - were the last part of the brain to be developed in evolution. They are also the last part to develop as we grow up. In humans, the frontal lobes are almost one-third of the brain, but in non-human primates, they are much smaller."

Much of the research into the functions of different parts of the brain has come from studying brain scans of people who have suffered from brain injuries following road crashes or strokes. Such studies have identified, for instance, that speech and language centres operate from the left half of the brain, so those who have strokes on this side of the brain may experience difficulty understanding and producing speech. Some research has found that different areas of the brain can take over these functions, and this process can be helped through rehabilitation training. Other studies have shown that patients who suffer from partial paralysis can improve their capacity for movement with guided imagery techniques.

Brain rehabilitation aside, Prof Ian Robertson has drawn some interesting conclusions about attention, learning, memory and intelligence from the research archives of cognitive neuroscience.

TAKE MOBILE PHONES for instance. Prof Robertson says that our capacity for conscious attention is incredibly limited. "Using a mobile phone in a car - even a hands-free one - renders us essentially blind," he says.

"Conscious attention is like a bottleneck. So it is impossible to watch television and study at the same time. It's impossible to have a conversation and check your e-mails at the same time. Similarly, a lot of accidents and problems occur because people don't appreciate how limited their attention is at any one time."

He adds, "When we are driving, 95 per cent of the time, we can do it automatically, but problems arise in the other 5 per cent when something sudden and unexpected requires our attention. Then, using a mobile phone - even a hands-free one - is taking up a big chunk of our attention capacity, and a lot of people have died on Irish roads because of this. People have been jailed in Britain when it was proven that they were on the phone at the same time that a fatal accident occurred."

Prof Robertson also has strong views about young people drink-driving and speeding. "There is some evidence [ to suggest] that the frontal lobes of the brain which are responsible for error and the awareness of error of the brain are not fully wired up to the rest of the brain until we reach our early 20s. This is one reason why young people aged between 16 and 18 have everything working superbly well except their critical machinery whose job it is to plan, organise and self-monitor."

Findings from brain scans led Robertson to make a link between reckless behaviour and the underdeveloped brain. For the same reason, he believes anyone under 21 should not be permitted to drink alcohol and drive. "Even alcohol levels below the legal limit are dangerous. Drivers under the age of 21 shouldn't be allowed have any alcohol in their blood whatsoever. An insufficiently developed brain and alcohol is a poisonous combination in terms of driving, suicide and the kind of violence that features in some young male behaviour."

Born and educated in Scotland, Ian Robertson is married to Irish clinical psychologist, Fiona O'Doherty. They have three children, Deirdre (18), Ruari (16) and Niall (13). Being a parent has influenced his research. "It has shown me how environment and experience shapes the way children develop. It is astonishing to see how important both the home and school environment are in shaping development," he says.

When it comes to leisure time, it's important for PlayStations to be kept in their place.

"PlayStation games kept in a proper balance sharpen specific visual attentional and perceptual skills. That's quite good for the brain, but not at the expense of other activities in which children interact with other children."

Speaking about intelligence, Prof Robertson says there are two types of thinking that fuel intelligence. The first is verbal, analytical thinking. The second is intuitive, creative image-based thinking.

"One without the other is a great handicap," says Prof Robertson. He says he doesn't know how much our education system is trying to include both forms of thinking in the curriculum, but he believes there is an absolute need to teach children critical thinking.

"There is so much non-scientific thinking and anti-scientific thinking now that it is important that children develop the ability to estimate risk and probability and access evidence," he says.

"We grossly underestimate how easily we are deceived and we overvalue the validity of our thought processes. We are largely unaware of this, so we are convinced of the validity of what we hear and see, which makes us convinced that things are true when they are not."

He cites various experiments in which people have been tricked into believing things and then later shown evidence to prove the contrary.

HE SUGGESTS THAT the mind can be tricked into believing things happened that didn't. "False memories definitely occur, and that is not to deny plenty of awful memories that are true. But there is a certain way of asking questions - and children are particularly susceptible to this - that gets people to vividly imagine and visualise something that hasn't happened. Six months later, a significant number of people will say it happened."

Such findings, according to Prof Robertson, explain how eye-witnesses can give varying accounts or indeed, how, false confessions can sometimes be extracted from individuals.

There is also some evidence to suggest that people who have more vivid imaginations are more vulnerable to the development of post-traumatic stress disorder.

His latest book, Stay Sharp with the Mind Doctor - Practical Strategies to Boost Your Brain Power, is a popular psychology book aimed at anyone who wants to keep their mental faculties alert. "Seven factors influence your mental capacity: mental stimulation, diet, aerobic exercise, thinking young, reducing stress and social interaction," says Prof Robertson.

"Everyone's memory starts to decline from about the age of 20 and there is a greater variance due to lifestyle factors. But people who engage in those seven practices can have a mental capacity that isn't that different to young people," he says. Interestingly, he points to research which has found that physical exercise in middle age reduces the risk of Alzheimer's disease. "Those who take regular physical activity in middle age have 60 per cent chance of getting Alzheimer's disease 30 years later than those who don't take exercise," he says.

Fifty-five yearsold himself, does he practise what he preaches? "As soon as I saw the scientific evidence for the effect of aerobic exercise on the brain, I immediately started an aerobic exercise programme. Now, I do half an hour of aerobic exercise - running or in the gym - three to four times a week."

And finally, what are his views on the evolution versus creationist, or science versus religion debate? "I don't think religion has anything to say about the physical world. Science has managed to explain the physical world extremely well. Religion has its own areas of responsibility, which are morals, ethics and offering people access to other realms of human consciousness. Religion and science can co-exist happily if they each stick to what they are good at."

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