As the pace of technological change accelerates, we are increasinlgy experiencing a state of information overload. Statistics show that we are interupted every three minutes during the course of the work day. Multitasking between email, cell-phone, text messages, and four or five websites while listening to an I-pod forces the brain to process more and more informaton at greater and greater speeds. And yet the human brain has hardly changed in the last 40,000 years. Are all these high-tech advances overtaxing our Stone-Age brains or is the contant flood of information good for us, giving our brains the daily exercise they seem to crave? In The Overflowing Brain, cognitive scientist Torkel Klingberg takes us on a journey into the limits and possibilities of the brain. He suggests that we should acknowledge and embrace our desire for information and mental challenges, but try to find a balance between demand and capacity. Klingberg explores the cognitive demands, or "complexity," of everyday life and how the brain tries to meet them. He identifies different types of attention, such as stimulus-driven and controlled attention, but focuses chiefly on "working memory," our capactiy to keep information in mind for short periods of time. Dr Klingberg asserts that working memory capacity-long thought to be static and hardwired in the brain-can be improved by training, and that the increasing demands on working memory may actually have a constructive effect: as demands on the human brain increase, so does its capacity. The book ends with a discussion of the future of brain development and how we can best handle information overload in our everyday lives. Klingberg suggests how we might find a balance between demand and capacity and move from feeling ovewhelmed to deeply engaged.
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Review
"[The Overflowing Brain] is a highly sane look at the increasingly insane demands of the information age."--Publishers Weekly
"Klingberg does his best to keep the material accessible, with lots of anecdotes..."--Washington Post
Named Most Important Book of 2008 by SharpBrains.com!
"...[The Overflowing Brain] has a scholarly tone, but Klingberg provides a good balance between the science and the practical...An interesting book..."--Sacramento Book Review
"Klingberg writes in an engaging, conversational style....He...does a straightforward job of explaining the background science without being overly simplistic....The description of his initial pilot studies, his larger validation experiments, and his extension to neuroimaging studies makes for an interesting narrative..."--New England Journal of Medicine
"...an elegant scientific book of the most accessible type...."--Neuron
"There are several reasons I think so highly of this book... Klingberg brilliantly and (yes) patiently explains for non-scholars such as I (a) how and why our brains overflow with an increasingly greater number of 'messages' from an increasingly greater number of information sources (e.g. other persons, electronic and print media, The Web, telephones, billboard), (b) how and why at least some of it is retained by working and long-term memory capabilities, and (c) what we must do to achieve and then maintain a balance of working load with working memory capacity..."--Dallas Business Commentary Examiner
"Klingberg presents a lively and well-informed survey of a number of topics dealing broadly with attention, working memory, intelligence, and neuroscience....Klingberg writes beautifully, and he is strikingly knowledgeable about a variety of topics in cognition and neuroscience. By the end of the book, Klingberg has made an important and persuasive case for the importance of the systematic training of working memory."--As reviewed in PsycCRITIQUES
"How to measure, train and enhance working memory is the subject of The Overflowing Brain, an absorbing first book by neuroscientist and physician, Torkel Klingberg, who is well known for his studies of young people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder...Klingberg's brief book packs a considerable punch."--The Lancet
About the Author
Torkel Klingberg is Professor of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience at the Stockholm Brain Institute, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Recent revelations about attentional abilities, information processing, and brain training
Mar 18 2009
Format:Hardcover
In his introductory first chapter, Torkel Klingberg proposes that, in addition to determining how to learn to be less stressed by decelerating the pace of our lifestyle, we must also accommodate "our thirst for information, stimulation, and mental challenges. It is arguably when we determine our limits and find an optimal balance between cognitive demand and ability that we can not only achieve deep satisfaction but also develop our brain's capacity the most." Klingberg stresses the need to achieve and then maintain what Jonah Lehrer characterizes as "perfect equilibrium" in his recently published How We Decide. First, in Chapter 2, Klingberg examines the mental demands that surround us every day and compete for our attention, "through which the information flood re4aches the brain." (These mental demands comprise what marketers correctly call the "clutter" that they struggle to penetrate with their messages.) At one point, Klingberg cites an experiment that demonstrates "one of the rudimentary mechanisms of attention: the selection of neurons to be stimulated at the expense of others. The phenomenon is called [begin italics] biased competition [end italics]."
Then in Chapter 3, he examines "the really interesting constraints [that] lie in how we control our attention and how we retain the information we absorb." (It is important to keep in mind that if we do not focus our attention on something, such as the explanation of the specific subject Klingberg that he is discussing, we will not remember it.) "How do we remember what it is we concentrate on? The answer is [begin italics] working memory [end italics]." That is our ability to remember information for brief periods of time, usually a matter of seconds. Our long-term memory that retains events in which we have been involved in one way or another or facts about them are "encoded in long-term storage through a chain of biochemical and cellular processes that Klingberg examines. However, during the remainder of his book, he focuses almost entirely on working memory because "it not only retains instructions, numbers, and positions in the memory but also seems to play a critical part in our ability to solve problems [once we] remember what it is we are to concentrate on.
There are several reasons why others think so highly of this book. Here are two of mine. First, Klingberg brilliantly and (yes) patiently explains for non-scholars such as I (a) how and why our brains overflow with an increasingly greater number of "messages" from an increasingly greater number of information sources (e.g. other persons, electronic and print media, The Web, telephones, billboard), (b) how and why at least some of it is retained by working and long-term memory capabilities, and (c) what we must do to achieve and then maintain a balance of working load with working memory capacity, if not the "perfect equilibrium" to which Lehrer refers. "If we analyze the situation through the lens of the concept of working memory, we find that your feelings are matched by something quantifiable: the simultaneous inflow of two streams of information is extremely demanding on working memory." Moreoever, the complexities and consequent difficulties of this inundation are exacerbated by the fact there is a constant updating, revision, and even replacement of the information we have retained. That is why Klingberg suggests, "we must always be aware of the limited scope we have for receiving information." Choices, sometimes very difficult choices must be made...frequently when there is a crisis. The safe landing of U.S. Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River on January 15th offers an excellent case in point. Captain Chesley ("Sully") Sullenberger working memory of procedures enabled him to process and then respond to the information provided by the computers aboard the Airbus A320.
In his review for the Wall Street Journal (Monday, December 15, 2008), Christopher Chambris suggests another reason why I think so highly of this book. "For Mr. Klingberg, the mismatch between our modern lives and ancient brains is most evident in the problems of working memory and attention, but another culprit may be at work. We are easily distracted also because we vastly overvalue what happens to us [begin italics] right now [end italics] compared with what comes in the future and because novelty is intrinsically rewarding. So whatever we are supposed to be focusing on has to compete with every new email, new task, new blog post and new conversation that wanders into our information sphere." Chamblis' purpose is not to suggest how to cope with various workplace "culprits." It remains to be determined by additional research in a new field of neuroscience whether or not the capacities of the "ancient brain" can be increased to accommodate the "flow" of information in the 21st century. However, in my opinion, Torkel Klingberg has made a substantial and significant contribution to our understanding of what workplace supervisors can and should do to balance their working load with working memory capacity within their own "information sphere" and also help others for whom they are responsible to do so within theirs'. The extent to which workplace distractions are reduced will almost certainly determine the extent to workplace productivity will increase. Moreover, there will be another benefit of incalculable value: improved worker morale.
Then in Chapter 3, he examines "the really interesting constraints [that] lie in how we control our attention and how we retain the information we absorb." (It is important to keep in mind that if we do not focus our attention on something, such as the explanation of the specific subject Klingberg that he is discussing, we will not remember it.) "How do we remember what it is we concentrate on? The answer is [begin italics] working memory [end italics]." That is our ability to remember information for brief periods of time, usually a matter of seconds. Our long-term memory that retains events in which we have been involved in one way or another or facts about them are "encoded in long-term storage through a chain of biochemical and cellular processes that Klingberg examines. However, during the remainder of his book, he focuses almost entirely on working memory because "it not only retains instructions, numbers, and positions in the memory but also seems to play a critical part in our ability to solve problems [once we] remember what it is we are to concentrate on.
There are several reasons why others think so highly of this book. Here are two of mine. First, Klingberg brilliantly and (yes) patiently explains for non-scholars such as I (a) how and why our brains overflow with an increasingly greater number of "messages" from an increasingly greater number of information sources (e.g. other persons, electronic and print media, The Web, telephones, billboard), (b) how and why at least some of it is retained by working and long-term memory capabilities, and (c) what we must do to achieve and then maintain a balance of working load with working memory capacity, if not the "perfect equilibrium" to which Lehrer refers. "If we analyze the situation through the lens of the concept of working memory, we find that your feelings are matched by something quantifiable: the simultaneous inflow of two streams of information is extremely demanding on working memory." Moreoever, the complexities and consequent difficulties of this inundation are exacerbated by the fact there is a constant updating, revision, and even replacement of the information we have retained. That is why Klingberg suggests, "we must always be aware of the limited scope we have for receiving information." Choices, sometimes very difficult choices must be made...frequently when there is a crisis. The safe landing of U.S. Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River on January 15th offers an excellent case in point. Captain Chesley ("Sully") Sullenberger working memory of procedures enabled him to process and then respond to the information provided by the computers aboard the Airbus A320.
In his review for the Wall Street Journal (Monday, December 15, 2008), Christopher Chambris suggests another reason why I think so highly of this book. "For Mr. Klingberg, the mismatch between our modern lives and ancient brains is most evident in the problems of working memory and attention, but another culprit may be at work. We are easily distracted also because we vastly overvalue what happens to us [begin italics] right now [end italics] compared with what comes in the future and because novelty is intrinsically rewarding. So whatever we are supposed to be focusing on has to compete with every new email, new task, new blog post and new conversation that wanders into our information sphere." Chamblis' purpose is not to suggest how to cope with various workplace "culprits." It remains to be determined by additional research in a new field of neuroscience whether or not the capacities of the "ancient brain" can be increased to accommodate the "flow" of information in the 21st century. However, in my opinion, Torkel Klingberg has made a substantial and significant contribution to our understanding of what workplace supervisors can and should do to balance their working load with working memory capacity within their own "information sphere" and also help others for whom they are responsible to do so within theirs'. The extent to which workplace distractions are reduced will almost certainly determine the extent to workplace productivity will increase. Moreover, there will be another benefit of incalculable value: improved worker morale.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3.9 out of 5 stars
52 reviews
35 of 37 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Can we get smarter and improve our memories?
Sep 26 2008
By William Polm
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
In the novel "Dune" by Frank Herbert, and the movies of the same title, the future world included humans called "mentats." These were people, who with the aid of a drug, were able to highly train their brains so that they could function like human computers, that is with the precision and capacity of electronic computers. An intriguing idea.
Now to the present day: "Our understanding of the human brain has grown exponentially in the past few decades." So here are fascinating findings from that recent research, solid information, not someone's guesses. This is a cutting-edge, up to date exploration of the human brain, its limitations and potentials, scientifically based on research and testing, both the author's and that of other scientists.
Dr. Torkel Klingberg, a true leader in the field of neuroscience, in this book, points out that "all types of experience and learning modify" our brains and that "rather than being static", our brain maps are "forever being redrawn" (page. 11). This points to the human brain's "plasticity," that is, it not only changes but can be trained, improved.
Some evidence: Between 1932 and 1978, the average IQ of 7,500 test participants increased by 3 points, roughly 3% per decade. We're getting smarter.
The underlying theme is the capacity of our brains and in particular our ability to retain information, memory, both short and long-term. The current vast amount of available information is making increasing demands on our attention and our ability to process it and use it. Are we being pushed to handle too much? Are we facing a "mental meltdown"? Or, is our capacity being exercised and thereby increased? The evidence argues for the latter conclusion, that like weight lifting, we get stronger by lifting "heavier weights," that is by dealing with increasing demands.
Also, the author gives evidence that reading, chess, playing a musical instrument, and dancing (not necessarily all of these) can improve our ability to think and solve problems ("cognitive ability") if done several times a week (page 128).
This is not super-light, easy reading. On the other hand, the author writes well, and with a little effort his ideas are quite accessible. For anyone who likes to keep up on what we know about our complex and mysterious brains and what we are learning about them, this is a real find.
Now to the present day: "Our understanding of the human brain has grown exponentially in the past few decades." So here are fascinating findings from that recent research, solid information, not someone's guesses. This is a cutting-edge, up to date exploration of the human brain, its limitations and potentials, scientifically based on research and testing, both the author's and that of other scientists.
Dr. Torkel Klingberg, a true leader in the field of neuroscience, in this book, points out that "all types of experience and learning modify" our brains and that "rather than being static", our brain maps are "forever being redrawn" (page. 11). This points to the human brain's "plasticity," that is, it not only changes but can be trained, improved.
Some evidence: Between 1932 and 1978, the average IQ of 7,500 test participants increased by 3 points, roughly 3% per decade. We're getting smarter.
The underlying theme is the capacity of our brains and in particular our ability to retain information, memory, both short and long-term. The current vast amount of available information is making increasing demands on our attention and our ability to process it and use it. Are we being pushed to handle too much? Are we facing a "mental meltdown"? Or, is our capacity being exercised and thereby increased? The evidence argues for the latter conclusion, that like weight lifting, we get stronger by lifting "heavier weights," that is by dealing with increasing demands.
Also, the author gives evidence that reading, chess, playing a musical instrument, and dancing (not necessarily all of these) can improve our ability to think and solve problems ("cognitive ability") if done several times a week (page 128).
This is not super-light, easy reading. On the other hand, the author writes well, and with a little effort his ideas are quite accessible. For anyone who likes to keep up on what we know about our complex and mysterious brains and what we are learning about them, this is a real find.
46 of 51 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Bandwidth ain't all that
Oct 25 2008
By Brian Kodi
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
In the 1980s, sociologist James Flynn made a startling discovery: That the IQ score of the general population had been increasing by 3% a decade (the "Flynn Effect"). The average IQ score of 100 had persisted, but Mr. Flynn discovered the difficulty level of IQ tests had been increasing as well. In other words, an unchanged IQ test administered 60 years ago would make a star out of an average 18 year old today. Given that anatomically, the Homosapian brain is not much different than the Cro-Magnon's 40,000 years ago, to what can this rise in intelligence be attributed to?
Mr. Klingberg, a professor of developmental cognitive neuroscience at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, believes the increasingly complex world and the demands put on our mental capacity is the chief culprit for the "Flynn effect".
In "The Overflowing Brain", Torkel Klingberg explores the limits of the brain and whether it's possible to enhance its capacity to better meet the challenges of today's complex world.
Early in the book, Mr. Klingberg identifies various types of attention and focuses on one: The working memory. He cites a 1956 article written by cognitive psychologist George Miller, "The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two". The "Seven" refers to the number of items the fixed capacity of the brain is able to hold and process at any given time; the mental bandwidth. The working memory keeps information active for a few seconds for tasks from attention control to solving logical problems.
Mr. Klingberg's work, however, gives too much attention to the working memory and completely ignores other components of intelligence such as pattern recognition and prediction. While it's true that increasing the bandwidth of the working memory eases the bottleneck of information flow, what gets short shrift is the processes by which this information is put to use. It's not always the case that more information equals better output. Our cognitive power can undoubtedly get a boost from improving the amount of information retained and processed in our working memory, but other factors such as where and how to spot relevant information, and what conclusions to draw from this information are more important components of intelligence.
And Mr. Klingberg's proposed ideas to enhance our working memory capacity do not extend much beyond experiencing the increasing demands of the world we live in. His advice boils down to loading the working memory to its capacity and not allowing it to "overflow". It is at that point that we will perform optimally.
Ultimately, "The Overflowing Brain" suffers from an overflow of a partially pertinent idea (the working memory) for coping with our complex world, and a deficiency in practical advice on how to enhance it.
Mr. Klingberg, a professor of developmental cognitive neuroscience at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, believes the increasingly complex world and the demands put on our mental capacity is the chief culprit for the "Flynn effect".
In "The Overflowing Brain", Torkel Klingberg explores the limits of the brain and whether it's possible to enhance its capacity to better meet the challenges of today's complex world.
Early in the book, Mr. Klingberg identifies various types of attention and focuses on one: The working memory. He cites a 1956 article written by cognitive psychologist George Miller, "The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two". The "Seven" refers to the number of items the fixed capacity of the brain is able to hold and process at any given time; the mental bandwidth. The working memory keeps information active for a few seconds for tasks from attention control to solving logical problems.
Mr. Klingberg's work, however, gives too much attention to the working memory and completely ignores other components of intelligence such as pattern recognition and prediction. While it's true that increasing the bandwidth of the working memory eases the bottleneck of information flow, what gets short shrift is the processes by which this information is put to use. It's not always the case that more information equals better output. Our cognitive power can undoubtedly get a boost from improving the amount of information retained and processed in our working memory, but other factors such as where and how to spot relevant information, and what conclusions to draw from this information are more important components of intelligence.
And Mr. Klingberg's proposed ideas to enhance our working memory capacity do not extend much beyond experiencing the increasing demands of the world we live in. His advice boils down to loading the working memory to its capacity and not allowing it to "overflow". It is at that point that we will perform optimally.
Ultimately, "The Overflowing Brain" suffers from an overflow of a partially pertinent idea (the working memory) for coping with our complex world, and a deficiency in practical advice on how to enhance it.
23 of 26 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good Book on a Relevant Subject
Sep 27 2008
By William Bagley
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
I got this book because I have been noticing that my memory has not been working as well as it used to. I came to the conclusion it was not about getting older, but about "information overload". We are presented with more information per an hour and per a day than anytime in past history and are required to memorize more than before. When I reviewed my own life, I found that I was actually holding in memory more names, more phone numbers, more summaries of what different people do (with more different kinds of specialized functions), etc. It only seemed that I was able to not recall as much, but I was actually recalling more. Quite like the metaphor of an overloaded RAM Computer memory, at one point it gets too much to process and starts function more slowly.
The book is a good summary of Brain research in regard to memory. It makes distinctions between stimulus memory and intentional memory, working memory versus short term memory (how they are different and how they are related), brain plasticity (how the brain is changing and can change), how working memory relates to things like ADHD (and whether this is a real problem or an effect of information overload, and what can be done). It reads well and is easy to understand. It is positive in that it seems that the overload challenges are forcing our brain to make good changes. There are practical suggestions about what we can do to assist the process.
I like the way the book goes into various studies that have been done and it shows ways in which working memory can be improved. Some comes from Zen Buddhism and some comes from various other ways of exercising our memory muscles. There are discussions of things like whether computer games are healthy for people to do and what the results of objective tests actually are. The book is also well illustrated with charts, diagrams, and even some humorous and relevant cartoons.
The book is a good summary of Brain research in regard to memory. It makes distinctions between stimulus memory and intentional memory, working memory versus short term memory (how they are different and how they are related), brain plasticity (how the brain is changing and can change), how working memory relates to things like ADHD (and whether this is a real problem or an effect of information overload, and what can be done). It reads well and is easy to understand. It is positive in that it seems that the overload challenges are forcing our brain to make good changes. There are practical suggestions about what we can do to assist the process.
I like the way the book goes into various studies that have been done and it shows ways in which working memory can be improved. Some comes from Zen Buddhism and some comes from various other ways of exercising our memory muscles. There are discussions of things like whether computer games are healthy for people to do and what the results of objective tests actually are. The book is also well illustrated with charts, diagrams, and even some humorous and relevant cartoons.
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3.9 out of 5 stars
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