For the past 10 years Professor David Strayer has been researching brain-based measures of cognitive restoration. In his informative, researched-based talk, David shares his findings that spending time in nature — without digital devices — allows the brain to rest and restore. David Strayer is a professor of Cognitive Neuroscience in the Department of Psychology at the University of Utah. Dr. Strayer is a prolific writer and his research examines attention and multitasking in real-world contexts.

Dr. Strayer is a member of the Human Factors and Ergonomic Society, the Psychonomic Society, and is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Sciences. Most recently he received the University of Utah Distinguished Scholarly and Creative Research Award, and the Interdisciplinary Teaching Grand Award for his work on The Psychology of Traffic.

Dr. Strayer acknowledges that much of the technology that has been created to promote convenience can actually have an adverse effect and overload our brain mechanisms, resulting in distractions. As a human factors psychologist, Dr. Strayer observes what he sees in the real world, links it to theory, develops hypotheses and then tests those hypotheses in his lab. What he has found has helped save lives. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx