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

注意力不集中和不受欢迎的走神时刻会导致各种各样的表现错误，包括幽默和尴尬的小缺点，在课堂和工作中的表现不佳，甚至是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。本研究计划的主要目的是研究防止和/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。研究计划分为三个相互关联的探究线，每一个都是与我实验室的研究生和博士后研究人员合作产生和发展的。既然人们知道，注意力涣散和走神的发作是在个人意识不到的情况下发生的，那么，探究的第一步将检查是什么因素让个人意识到他们的注意力涣散和思维偏离了任务。一组研究将检验任务中自然出现的断点，比如文本中的段落中断或电影和讲座中的过渡点，是否会触发走神的终止。另一组研究将评估与个人相关的词语（如自己的名字）、充满情感的刺激（如禁忌语）和其他无聊任务中的关键事件是否也会让人们意识到他们的注意力已经转移。这项工作将有助于形成更完整的走神模型和更完善的走神终止机制，并将对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下降（SAD）的任务相关因素的类型，这是一种普遍的观察，即持续注意力表现会随着时间的推移而下降。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，注意力资源从主要的警惕任务中分离出来，而被应用于内部思想（走神假设）。我们计划通过（与直觉相反的）增加警觉性任务的外部需求来减少SAD，这将导致更少的走神和更持久的注意与警觉性刺激的耦合。我们将通过(1)增加一个将注意力与警惕刺激结合起来的次要任务，(2)增加不常见的警惕目标的异质性，(3)减少目标预知来增加警惕任务的心理工作量。至关重要的是，表明增加的精神工作量会降低SAD，这将直接与广泛持有的注意力理论观点相矛盾，即，如果有的话，增加任务的注意力需求应该对表现产生负面影响。最后一项研究将解决与持续注意力表现相关的个体特征。具体来说，我们将探讨那些习惯性地参与媒体多任务（MMT，例如，在工作时听音乐）的个体是否已经萎缩了内部控制机制，这将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的程度，以及(3)MMT消耗注意力资源的程度。这条研究路线将指出，习惯性MMT是持续注意能力的重要个体差异调节因子，需要将其纳入持续注意的认知模型中。

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.