the heartbreak of sds:
a selection of solutions to a burgeoning pathology
Below, is text that accompanied my solo exhibition at the Anna Leonowens gallery (1996) and was reprised for a poster presentation at the STLHE
(Society for Teaching & learning in Higher Education) conference in 1998.
You may recognise that my tongue was firmly implanted in my cheek.
(Society for Teaching & learning in Higher Education) conference in 1998.
You may recognise that my tongue was firmly implanted in my cheek.
Beginning in the early 1980s, certain art educators noted that there had been changes in the ability of students to attend visually for extended periods of time. In particular, tasks such as drawing from observation were identified as a significant source of discomfort to students. When required to fixate upon a motionless object or worse yet, a group of motionless objects, for periods in excess of twenty minutes, some students became irritable and unproductive. This was seen to be in direct contrast to the experience of the instructors who believed themselves, as students, to have engaged in similar activity for extended periods of time with unbridled enthusiam.
A question was posed: "what, if anything, has changed"?
The following is extracted from a Western Australian study that first appeared in Vision Off (1994) [1].
"... disruption of normal levels of visual attention, now associated with Screen Dependency Syndrome (SDS) has, over the past two to three decades, become alarmingly common. SDS was first identified under conditions where a person was required to attend visually to static stimuli over a prolonged period. Signs and symptoms associated with SDS include frequent and erratic head and body movement, vertical and horizontal saccadic movement, together with dependency on concurrent audio stimuli and miscellaneous, unrelated-to-task, temporal data".
Various therapeutic strategies have been applied [2], but often with results where subjects reported visual, spatial and temporal disorientation. However it is hoped that, through controlled intervention and the systematic application of appropriate prostheses [3], SDS afflicted subjects may be brought to a state where attending visually to full-scale, static stimuli that are spatially coherent are experienced both as normal and natural.
Studies show that disruption of non-mediated visual attention may occur in subjects whose primary source of visual stimuli is via regular and repeated exposure to time-based media. Indeed, it is not uncommon for subjects to have been so exposed to such media as early as age six-months. For many, visual accommodation via a screen has become the natural, and therefore normal, means of experiencing most visual stimuli: the corollary being that, during episodes of normal perceptual cognition, experiencing static, full-scale, real-time stimuli is discomforting and resisted.
Researchers at the Canadian Centre for Perceptual Rehabilitation (CCPR) [4] assumed the responsibility for studying the condition in a North American context and, whenever possible, to design and test appropriate means of intervention with a view to rehabilitation.
The purpose of the study was to determine:
1. the nature and scope of sensory fatigue during perceptual attention and visual organization;
2. the nature of stimuli as they influence the pathophysiology underlying Screen Dependency Syndrome; and
3. the extent to which perceptual rehabilitation may be facilitated through timely intervention.
Method:
Participants, born between 1955 and 1975, were studied under conditions where visual attention for not less than ninety-minutes could be observed and recorded first-hand. Participants were situated between six and ten feet from a stimulus and were instructed to attend visually for the purpose of gaining a comprehensive understanding of structure, surface quality and spatial relationships within the proximate stimulus field. As soon as participants were deemed 'ready', they were asked to create an accurate visual record of the stimulus and to continue this process until directed to stop. No other sensory stimuli were provided and no means of temporal tracking was permitted within the working environment.
Observations:
In a significant number of cases, and at a point between fifteen to twenty five minutes following commencement of the test, participants became distracted with saccadic movement becoming erratic attended by unstable head movement. It was noted that cessation of such behaviours were temporary and often concurrent with the participant attending visually to unrelated moving stimuli: attention that appeared to have a calming affect on the participant. This was particularly true if eye-contact occurred between the participant and the new stimulus. Following such contact, it was normal for the participant to refocus on the original stimulus for no more than five minutes before again entering a state of interrupted attention. Changes in the spatial relationship between the participant and stimulus proved of little value in refocusing the participant and, as a result, was of little use in reestablishing uninterrupted visual engagement with the stimulus. Most helpful in reestablishing full visual engagement was the introduction of a fresh stimulus and/or re-presenting the original stimulus in the form of a reduced-scale, two-dimensional, 'framed' image. Surprisingly, a significant number of the participants reported that motion within a stimulus was not experienced as perceptual discomfort. Rather, where such motion occurred, participants reported renewed interest in continuous perceptual engagement.
(brief) Summary:
This study provides further evidence of the fragile nature of the interaction between the psychophysical elements of visual attention and protracted encounters with static, full-scale stimuli.
For purposes of this presentation, the 'back to images' button below provides links to examples of prostheses designed at the CCPR. These prostheses are intended to disrupt and/or alleviate a pathology that may be observed in the general population in ever-increasing numbers.
Mindful that behavioural solutions should be stylish as well as affective, CCPR's psychophysiological design principles are simple. They are Framing and Isolating accompanied by tasteful surface decoration evocative of a time when Screen Dependency Syndrome was but a glint in the eye of Logie Baird [5] and, more recently, Teletubby creators Wood and Davenport [6].
Notes:
[1] Cameron Clarke, G., Cameron Clarke, S., Cameron Clarke, P. What is happening to our kids' ability to pay attention? Vision Off 1994 vol ii, pp 147-150
[2] strategies include squinting; introducing intermittent, loud noises; and presenting stimuli on a moving platform.
[3] To date, the prostheses developed and decorated include the Daumier; the Eclectic; the Fox-Talbot; the Mondrian; & the Morris.
[4] Canadian Centre for Perceptual Rehabilitation - constructed 1986, deconstructed 1996 Halifax, NS.
[5] John Logie Baird (1888-1946) - inventor of the world’s first publicly demonstrated television the Telivisor
[6] Ragdoll Production’s Anne Wood & Andrew Davenport created Dipsy, Laa-La, Po & Tinky Winky – the Teletubbies. While remaining distinct from one another through characteristics such as colour, size and sexual orientation, they share physical characteristics displaying a belly-located television monitor presumably to remind us that navel-gazing is an activity to which we all succumb at one time or another. June 1996
"A thoroughly postmodern affliction, SDS is marked by a pathological attachment to electronic media. By appropriating the tropes and techniques of scientific research Maycock carries out his critique of mediated culture with a tongue-in-cheek efficiency".
A question was posed: "what, if anything, has changed"?
The following is extracted from a Western Australian study that first appeared in Vision Off (1994) [1].
"... disruption of normal levels of visual attention, now associated with Screen Dependency Syndrome (SDS) has, over the past two to three decades, become alarmingly common. SDS was first identified under conditions where a person was required to attend visually to static stimuli over a prolonged period. Signs and symptoms associated with SDS include frequent and erratic head and body movement, vertical and horizontal saccadic movement, together with dependency on concurrent audio stimuli and miscellaneous, unrelated-to-task, temporal data".
Various therapeutic strategies have been applied [2], but often with results where subjects reported visual, spatial and temporal disorientation. However it is hoped that, through controlled intervention and the systematic application of appropriate prostheses [3], SDS afflicted subjects may be brought to a state where attending visually to full-scale, static stimuli that are spatially coherent are experienced both as normal and natural.
Studies show that disruption of non-mediated visual attention may occur in subjects whose primary source of visual stimuli is via regular and repeated exposure to time-based media. Indeed, it is not uncommon for subjects to have been so exposed to such media as early as age six-months. For many, visual accommodation via a screen has become the natural, and therefore normal, means of experiencing most visual stimuli: the corollary being that, during episodes of normal perceptual cognition, experiencing static, full-scale, real-time stimuli is discomforting and resisted.
Researchers at the Canadian Centre for Perceptual Rehabilitation (CCPR) [4] assumed the responsibility for studying the condition in a North American context and, whenever possible, to design and test appropriate means of intervention with a view to rehabilitation.
The purpose of the study was to determine:
1. the nature and scope of sensory fatigue during perceptual attention and visual organization;
2. the nature of stimuli as they influence the pathophysiology underlying Screen Dependency Syndrome; and
3. the extent to which perceptual rehabilitation may be facilitated through timely intervention.
Method:
Participants, born between 1955 and 1975, were studied under conditions where visual attention for not less than ninety-minutes could be observed and recorded first-hand. Participants were situated between six and ten feet from a stimulus and were instructed to attend visually for the purpose of gaining a comprehensive understanding of structure, surface quality and spatial relationships within the proximate stimulus field. As soon as participants were deemed 'ready', they were asked to create an accurate visual record of the stimulus and to continue this process until directed to stop. No other sensory stimuli were provided and no means of temporal tracking was permitted within the working environment.
Observations:
In a significant number of cases, and at a point between fifteen to twenty five minutes following commencement of the test, participants became distracted with saccadic movement becoming erratic attended by unstable head movement. It was noted that cessation of such behaviours were temporary and often concurrent with the participant attending visually to unrelated moving stimuli: attention that appeared to have a calming affect on the participant. This was particularly true if eye-contact occurred between the participant and the new stimulus. Following such contact, it was normal for the participant to refocus on the original stimulus for no more than five minutes before again entering a state of interrupted attention. Changes in the spatial relationship between the participant and stimulus proved of little value in refocusing the participant and, as a result, was of little use in reestablishing uninterrupted visual engagement with the stimulus. Most helpful in reestablishing full visual engagement was the introduction of a fresh stimulus and/or re-presenting the original stimulus in the form of a reduced-scale, two-dimensional, 'framed' image. Surprisingly, a significant number of the participants reported that motion within a stimulus was not experienced as perceptual discomfort. Rather, where such motion occurred, participants reported renewed interest in continuous perceptual engagement.
(brief) Summary:
This study provides further evidence of the fragile nature of the interaction between the psychophysical elements of visual attention and protracted encounters with static, full-scale stimuli.
For purposes of this presentation, the 'back to images' button below provides links to examples of prostheses designed at the CCPR. These prostheses are intended to disrupt and/or alleviate a pathology that may be observed in the general population in ever-increasing numbers.
Mindful that behavioural solutions should be stylish as well as affective, CCPR's psychophysiological design principles are simple. They are Framing and Isolating accompanied by tasteful surface decoration evocative of a time when Screen Dependency Syndrome was but a glint in the eye of Logie Baird [5] and, more recently, Teletubby creators Wood and Davenport [6].
Notes:
[1] Cameron Clarke, G., Cameron Clarke, S., Cameron Clarke, P. What is happening to our kids' ability to pay attention? Vision Off 1994 vol ii, pp 147-150
[2] strategies include squinting; introducing intermittent, loud noises; and presenting stimuli on a moving platform.
[3] To date, the prostheses developed and decorated include the Daumier; the Eclectic; the Fox-Talbot; the Mondrian; & the Morris.
[4] Canadian Centre for Perceptual Rehabilitation - constructed 1986, deconstructed 1996 Halifax, NS.
[5] John Logie Baird (1888-1946) - inventor of the world’s first publicly demonstrated television the Telivisor
[6] Ragdoll Production’s Anne Wood & Andrew Davenport created Dipsy, Laa-La, Po & Tinky Winky – the Teletubbies. While remaining distinct from one another through characteristics such as colour, size and sexual orientation, they share physical characteristics displaying a belly-located television monitor presumably to remind us that navel-gazing is an activity to which we all succumb at one time or another. June 1996
"A thoroughly postmodern affliction, SDS is marked by a pathological attachment to electronic media. By appropriating the tropes and techniques of scientific research Maycock carries out his critique of mediated culture with a tongue-in-cheek efficiency".
Laura McGough Sculpture. vol. 15 no. 10, p. 51. Dec. 1996
Since publication of the original paper, the ubiquity of the iPad, iPhone and their familial incarnations have ensured that SDS continues to contribute to the copious concatenations of contemporary comfort, coexistence and consciousness. Finally, it is with regret that I report that Teletubby Tinky Winky passed away, January 17 2018, age 52yrs. November 2018
