Microsoft's Attention Span Myth Busted

The widely-cited claim that humans have an eight-second attention span and goldfish have a nine-second one is largely unfounded, according to recent research. The figures originated from a 2015 Microsoft report on attention spans, but were not based on any primary research or scientific study.

Microsoft's Canada division conducted a survey with 2,000 Canadians, followed by EEG work with 112 participants. However, the three attention span figures mentioned in the report - 12 seconds for humans in 2000, eight seconds in 2013, and nine seconds for goldfish - were actually taken from a commercial statistics website called Statistic Brain.

When questioned about their source, Statistic Brain cited the National Center for Biotechnology Information at the United States National Library of Medicine and the Associated Press. However, neither organization could find any record of research supporting these attention span figures.