Though much research has been done on the topic of distraction, little has done so in the view of a group setting, and moreover, its spread. Jonathan LeNeveu and Dr. Leonard J. Smart of the Department of Psychology wanted to view how the state of being distracted was spread throughout a classroom. The aim of this research was to find usable data on the topic in order to minimize negative academic affect in the future. This was attempted by quizzing volunteers on a TED Talk they watched, and then implanting a distraction during the second instance with the help of an assistant who was present for both Talks. To maximize potential effect, the assistant was placed in the center of the line of sight of the TV from which the TED Talk was being shown. Results were found to be inconclusive, with the main effect hypothesis bringing insignificant results, and the significant drop in academic performance between quizzes having too many potential explanations to fully attribute a cause to. Moving forward, improvements on the experiment design include changes such as implementing a more potent distraction, and carrying out the experiment in an actual classroom setting rather than a simulated one.
Author: Jonathan LeNeveu
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Leonard J. Smart, Department of Psychology
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