Individual Differences in Attention: Behavioural and Electrophysiological Investigations

在我们的日常生活中，有许多事件需要我们的注意力，但我们的注意力是有限的，因为我们在任何给定的时间都能注意到多少信息。因此，尽管我们可能试图同时执行两项任务（例如，在驾驶时用蜂窝电话通话），这通常导致在一个或两个任务上的较差性能。此外，我们的注意力可能会被与手头任务无关的刺激所吸引（例如，驾驶时的醒目广告牌）。因此，适当的控制和分配注意力对成功和安全的任务执行至关重要。最近，包括我在内的研究人员开始研究同时执行多项任务的能力以及防止我们的注意力被与任务无关的刺激所捕获的能力的个体差异。例如，我实验室的工作表明，在计算机化任务中，双任务注意力成本的大小存在可靠的个体差异，并且这些注意力成本可以通过各种性格，认知和EEG测量来预测。这项资助的目标是更好地了解注意力表现的个体差异。我将检查在各种注意力捕获任务中注意力捕获的程度和性质是否存在可靠的个体差异，如果是这样，这些个体差异是否在各种注意力捕获任务中相关，以便可以说有些人更容易受到影响，一般来说，他们的注意力被捕获。此外，我将研究注意力捕获的个体差异是否与双任务注意力的个体差异有关，以及这些差异是否可以通过日常多任务行为、工作记忆、注意力投入和/或认知控制的个体差异来预测。一系列的实验也会问到"在认知投资的哪个加工阶段，可靠的个体差异开始？"“我还将研究个人对自己多任务处理或避免注意力分散的能力的意识程度，以及他们是否根据自己的能力调整日常行为。最终，这项研究将告知人们如何以及为什么在成功驾驭日常生活的注意力需求方面存在差异。

In our day-to-day lives multiple events require our attention, yet our attention is limited in terms of how much information we can attend to at any given time. Consequently, although we may try to perform two tasks at once (e.g., talking on a cellular phone while driving), this often leads to poorer performance on one or both tasks. Also, our attention may be captured by stimuli that are irrelevant to the task at hand (e.g., an eye-catching billboard while driving). Therefore, appropriate control and allocation of attention are critical to successful and safe task performance. Recently, researchers, including myself, have begun to investigate individual differences in the ability to perform multiple tasks simultaneously and to prevent our attention from being captured by task-irrelevant stimuli. For example, work from my lab has shown that there are reliable individual differences in the magnitude of dual-task attention costs in a computerized task, and that these attention costs can be predicted by various dispositional, cognitive, and EEG measures. The goal of this grant is to better understand individual differences in attentional performance. I will examine whether there are reliable individual differences in the degree and nature of attention capture across a variety of attention capture tasks, and if so, whether these individual differences are related across various attention capture tasks such that some people can be said to be more susceptible, generally, to having their attention captured. In addition I will examine whether individual differences in attention capture are related to individual differences in dual-task attention and whether these can be predicted by individual differences in everyday multi-tasking behaviour, working memory, attentional investment and/or cognitive control. A series of experiments will also ask 'At what stage of processing do reliable individual differences in cognitive investment begin?' I will also examine the degree to which individuals are aware of their ability to multi-task or to avoid attentional distraction and whether they modulate their everyday behaviour according to their abilities. Ultimately, this research will inform how and why individuals differ in their abilities to successfully navigate the attentional demands of everyday life.************