Understanding the Basic Mechanisms of Attentional Engagement and Disengagement

当注意力从给定的任务中脱离时，表现就会受到损害，有时还会带来灾难性的后果。然而，当注意力完全集中时，人们可以体验到深度和毫不费力的集中和高水平的表现。本文提出的工作包括三条研究路线，旨在探索在注意力投入和注意力脱离的范围内各种状态的认知机制。第一个研究方向是研究走神的基本机制，走神被定义为注意力从主要任务转移到不相关的想法。与文献中普遍认为的自我控制发作反映了执行控制过程中不必要的失败的观点相反，本研究旨在评估人们战略性地参与自我控制的程度，并研究这些战略转变中涉及的外生控制因素和机制。具体来说，目标是检查一个人对任务结构的预知（例如，预期的长度和难度）能在多大程度上导致对记忆记忆的战略性和动态调节。第二项研究将研究迅速增长的自愿媒体多任务行为（vMMT，例如，在写作时播放YouTube视频）。虽然vMMT通常被认为是一种由于缺乏自我控制而导致的冲动行为，但拟议的工作将研究人们是否明智地和有策略地参与vMMT。具体来说，我们将研究人们参与vMMT是否在战略上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实时变化快速调整他们与媒体的接触。第三条研究线将检查深度和轻松集中（DEC）的状态，我们认为这是注意力投入高峰（“心流”）的核心特征。拟议的研究将测试理论观点，即当有限的注意力资源得到最佳利用时（即未被充分利用和未过度使用），这被认为是在任务需求与可用资源数量密切匹配时发生的。综上所述，这些研究旨在揭示涉及注意力投入和注意力脱离战略方面的基本认知机制。这些研究是与我实验室的学员合作设计的，目的是最大限度地提高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，以减少注意力失败和最大化注意力集中的高峰时刻。这些策略将有助于提高在重要环境（如学习）中的表现，并在安全关键环境中减少灾难性事故（如机动车辆事故）。

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.