Do you often find yourself staring at hundreds of hilarious pictures of cats instead of working?
We’ve all found ourselves distracted by the occasional animal video from time to time – but it turns out your short attention span could actually be helping you work harder, according to recent findings.
A recent study published in PLOS magazine found that looking at adorable puppies improves performance and concentration when undertaking detailed tasks.
Researchers at the University of Hiroshima in Japan broke workers into two groups – showing one half of workers fully grown animals and showing the second group pictures of baby animals.
According to PLOS, the results suggest that, ‘perceiving cuteness exerts immediate effects on cognition and behaviour in a wider context than that related to caregiving or social interaction’.
So next time your boss catches you browsing through Reddit and staring at a seemingly endless stream of adorable animals, just tell them it helps your concentrate.
