Understanding the Basic Mechanisms of Attentional Engagement and Disengagement

当注意力从一项给定的任务中解脱出来时，表现可能会受到影响，有时会带来灾难性的后果。然而，当全神贯注时，人们可以体验到深度、毫不费力地集中注意力和高水平的表现。这项拟议的工作包括三个系列的研究，旨在探索注意力投入和脱离的各种状态背后的认知机制。一线研究将考察走神(MW)的基本机制，它被定义为将注意力从主要任务转移到无关的想法上。与文献中普遍认为的MW事件反映执行控制过程的意外失败相反，拟议的工作试图评估人们在多大程度上战略性地参与MW，并检查这些战略转变涉及的外生控制因素和机制。具体地说，目标是考察一个人对任务结构(例如，预期长度和难度)的预知可以在多大程度上导致对MW的战略性和动态调整。第二条线的研究将考察自愿媒体多任务处理(VMMT；例如，在写作时播放YouTube视频)的快速增长行为。尽管VMMT通常可以被认为是一种由于缺乏自控力而产生的冲动行为，但拟议的工作将检查人们是否明智地和有策略地参与VMMT。具体地说，我们将考察人们是否参与VMMT，以战略性地服务于与绩效无关的目标，如减少无聊和增加任务乐趣。此外，我们将研究人们是否能够根据主要任务需求的时刻变化来快速调整他们与媒体的接触。第三条研究线将考察深度和毫不费力地集中注意力的状态(DEC)，我们认为这是最高注意力投入(‘Flow’)的核心特征。这项研究将检验DEC的理论观点，即当有限的注意资源得到最佳利用(即，没有被充分利用也没有被过度使用)时，DEC就会发生，这被认为是当任务需求与可用资源的数量非常匹配时发生的。综上所述，这项拟议的研究有望揭示注意力投入和脱离的战略方面涉及的基本认知机制。这些研究是与我实验室的学员合作设计的，另外一个目标是最大限度地增加他们的学习和技能发展机会。这项研究的长期目标是发现可以实施的策略，以减少注意力失败并最大限度地提高注意力集中的高峰时刻。这些战略将有助于提高在重要情况下(例如，学习)的表现，并减少安全关键环境中的灾难性事故(例如，机动车事故)。

When attention becomes disengaged from a given task, performance can be impaired, sometimes with catastrophic consequences. When attention is fully engaged, however, people can experience moments of deep and effortless concentration and a high level of performance. The proposed work includes three lines of research designed to explore the cognitive mechanisms underlying a variety of states along the spectrum of attentional engagement and disengagement. The first line of research will examine the basic mechanisms underlying mind wandering (MW), which is defined as the shifting of attention from a primary task to unrelated thoughts. In contrast to the common view in the literature that episodes of MW reflect unwanted failures of executive control processes, the proposed work seeks to evaluate the extent to which people strategically engage in MW and to examine the exogenous control factors and mechanisms involved in these strategic shifts. Specifically, the objective is to examine the extent to which a person's foreknowledge of a task's structure (e.g., expected length and difficulty) can lead to strategic and dynamic modulation of MW. The second line of research will examine the rapidly growing behavior of voluntary media multitasking (vMMT; e.g., playing a YouTube video while writing). Although vMMT can often be thought of as an impulsive behavior that results from a lack of self-control, the proposed work will examine whether people engage in vMMT intelligently and strategically. Specifically we will examine whether people engage in vMMT to strategically service performance-unrelated goals such as reducing boredom and increasing task enjoyment. In addition, we will examine whether people are able to rapidly modulate their engagement with media based on moment-to-moment changes in primary task demands. The third line of research will  examine the state of deep and effortless concentration (DEC), which we have argued is the core feature of peak attentional engagement (`flow'). The proposed studies will test the theoretical view that DEC occurs when limited attentional resources are optimally employed (i.e., not underused and not overstretched), which is thought to occur when task demands closely match the amount of available resources. Taken together, the proposed studies are poised to uncover the basic cognitive mechanisms involved in the strategic aspects of attentional engagement and disengagement. The studies have been designed in collaboration with the trainees in my laboratory, with the added goal of maximizing their learning and skill development opportunities. The long-term goal of the research is to uncover strategies that can be implemented to reduce attentional failures and maximize moments of peak attentional focus. Such strategies will help improve performance in important contexts (e.g., learning) and reduce catastrophic accidents (e.g., motor vehicle accidents) in safety-critical settings.