Exploring the Basic Mechanisms Underlying Sustained Attention, Attention Lapses and Mind Wandering

注意力不集中和不必要的走神可能会导致各种表现错误，包括幽默和尴尬的缺点、课堂和工作中的糟糕表现，甚至灾难性的机动车事故。然而，人们对注意力缺失和走神背后的基本认知机制仍然知之甚少。拟议研究计划的主要目的是检查预防和/或终止注意力缺失的外部任务相关因素以及与持续注意力能力相关的内部个体特征。该研究项目分为三个相互关联的调查路线，每个调查路线都是与我实验室的研究生和博士后研究人员合作产生和开发的。由于众所周知，注意力缺失和走神是在个人无意识的情况下发生的，因此第一个调查路线将研究哪些因素使个人意识到他们的注意力已经消失，他们的思维已经偏离了任务。一组研究将检验任务中自然发生的断点（例如文本中的段落中断或电影和讲座中的过渡点）是否可以触发思维漫游的终止。另一组研究将评估与个人相关的词语（例如，自己的名字）、充满情绪的刺激（例如禁忌词）以及原本无聊的任务中的关键事件（众所周知，这些事件会吸引注意力）是否也会导致人们意识到自己的思绪走神了。这项工作将导致制定更完整的心智游移模型，以及更完善的终止心智游移发作的机制，并且对于预防和终止日常生活中的注意力缺失具有明显的实际意义。第二项研究将揭示减少持续注意力衰减（SAD）的任务相关因素的类型，这是持续注意力表现随着时间的推移而下降的一般观察结果。这些研究基于一个相对较新的假设，即 SAD 的发生是因为随着时间的推移，注意力资源与主要的警惕任务脱钩，转而应用于内部思想（走神假说）。我们计划通过（与直觉相反）增加警戒任务的外部要求来减少 SAD，这应该会导致更少的走神以及更持久的注意力与警戒刺激的耦合。我们将通过以下方式增加警戒任务的脑力负担：（1）添加将注意力与警戒刺激结合起来的次要任务，（2）增加不常见警戒目标的异质性，以及（3）减少目标预知。至关重要的是，表明增加脑力负荷会降低 SAD 会直接与人们广泛持有的注意力理论观点相矛盾，即任务的注意力需求增加应该对绩效产生负面影响（如果有的话）。最后一项研究将解决与持续注意力绩效相关的个体特质特征。具体来说，我们将探讨习惯性参与媒体多任务处理（MMT，例如在工作时听音乐）的人是否具有萎缩的内部控制机制，从而导致他们在持续注意力任务中表现更差。这些研究将测量 MMT 的个体差异，并将其与以下方面的个体差异联系起来：(1) 瞬时注意力缺失，(2) SAD 的严重程度，以及 (3) MMT 消耗注意力资源的程度。这一工作将指出习惯性 MMT 作为持续注意力能力的重要个体差异调节因素，需要将其纳入持续注意力的认知模型中。

Attention lapses and unwanted moments of mind wandering can lead to a wide range of performance errors including humorous and embarrassing foibles, poor performance in the classroom and at work, and even catastrophic motor vehicle accidents. Yet, the basic cognitive mechanisms underlying attention lapses and mind wandering remain poorly understood. The primary aim of the proposed research program is to examine the external task-related factors that prevent and/or terminate attention lapses and the internal individual traits associated with sustained-attention ability. The research program is divided into three interrelated lines of inquiry each generated and developed in collaboration with the graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in my laboratory.Since attention lapses and bouts of mind wandering are known to occur without an individual’s awareness, the first line of inquiry will examine what factors allow individuals to realize that their attention has lapsed and their mind has wandered off task. One set of studies will examine whether naturally occurring breakpoints in tasks, such as paragraph breaks in text or transition points in movies and lectures, can trigger the termination of mind wandering. Another set of studies will evaluate whether personally relevant words (e.g., one’s own name), emotionally charged stimuli (such as taboo words), and critical events in otherwise boring tasks, which are known to capture attention, will also lead people to realize their minds have wandered. This work will lead to the formulation of more complete models of mind wandering with more developed mechanisms for the termination of mind wandering episodes, and will have obvious practical implications for preventing and terminating attention lapses in everyday life.A second line of research will uncover the types of task-related factors that reduce the sustained attention decrement (SAD), which is the general observation that sustained attention performance declines over time. The studies are based on the relatively new hypothesis that the SAD occurs because over time attentional resources become decoupled from the primary vigilance task and are instead applied to internal thoughts (the mind wandering hypothesis). We plan to reduce the SAD by (counter-intuitively) increasing the external demands of a vigilance task, which should lead to less mind wandering and a more durable coupling of attention to vigilance stimuli. We will increase mental workload of the vigilance task by (1) adding a secondary task that couples attention to the vigilance stimuli, (2) increasing the heterogeneity of the infrequent vigilance targets, and (3) reducing target foreknowledge. Critically, showing that increasing mental workload decreases the SAD would directly contradict a widely held view of attention theories, namely, that increasing attentional demands of a task ought to have, if anything, negative consequences on performance.A final line of research will address the sorts of trait characteristics of individuals that relate to sustained attention performance. Specifically, we will explore whether individuals who are habitually involved in media multi-tasking (MMT e.g., listening to music while working) have atrophied internal control mechanisms that will lead them to perform more poorly on sustained attention tasks. The studies will measure individual differences in MMT and relate them to individual differences in (1) momentary attention lapses, (2) the magnitude of the SAD, and (3) the extent to which MMT depletes attentional resources. This line of work will point to habitual MMT as an important individual difference moderator of sustained attention ability, which will need to be incorporated in cognitive models of sustained attention.