Boredom: "a legitimate human emotion that can be central to learning and creativity."

A recent New York Times article based on several studies points to some interesting conclusions about boredom:

Some experts say that people tune things out for good reasons, and that over time boredom becomes a tool for sorting information — an increasingly sensitive spam filter. In various fields including neuroscience and education, research suggests that falling into a numbed trance allows the brain to recast the outside world in ways that can be productive and creative at least as often as they are disruptive.

This news leaves us feeling ambiguous. As professors, we want our students to be productive and creative, but we find it disconcerting to be on the receiving end of NOELs (nod-off episodes per lecture) caused by boredom. In one study, investigators analyzed medical presentations on the topic of dementia "and found that a monotonous tone was most strongly associated with 'nod-off episodes per lecture (NOELs),' followed by the sight of a tweed jacket on the lecturer."

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