Too Much Attention To Detail

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - It is a great study and a classic -- one in which participants were shown black-and-white stripes and then had to report whether these stripes leaned to the left or to the right. The closer and more attentively the people looked, the more difficult the task became.

What the study told us is that people actually have more difficulty the harder they look. In other words, the first few moments of paying attention help and then it becomes counterproductive.

Most of us don't play games where we are looking at black and white stripes but if you are doing something special or at a special event and want to remember it for a long time you should focus on it and think about it, then look away and focus on it again.

Reported By Dr. Brian McDonough, KYW Newsradio Medical Editor