Cultural preoccupations canalized attention research, pathologizing kids via a game

Evidence

Could “attention” be understood in other ways? For sure! But did the specific cultural preoccupations of the twentieth century canalize the research into a few narrow channels? You bet! And that basic fact goes a long way to explaining how your kid can end up with a clinical diagnosis of “Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder” because of a substandard performance on a game of digital whack-a-mole (we are only sorta kidding—the game the scientists used is actually called “Running Raccoon”; you can look up the paper). — The Friends of Attention, Attensity!, 157

Categorization

• CANDY: The ADHD test is literally a game called ‘Running Raccoon’ — a quick, funny, slightly scandalous dinner-party fact.
• FICTION: A near-future story where a culture built around one sensory skill labels those with fuller perception as defective or diseased.
• XREF: connects to: Fifth-graders can learn to detect fake news through practice games. — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 235