Lapses of Attention Predicted in Semi-Structured Ecological Settings (LAPSES)
Abstract
The ability to direct and maintain focal attention, also known as attentional control, is critical for everyday cognitive functioning. In real-world environments, a cocktail of diverse distractors acts to intrude upon task-relevant thoughts, typically to the detriment of performance. These include bottom-up distractions from external stimuli (e.g., a chatty colleague, a slamming door) as well as internally generated distractions ranging from pleasant daydreaming to anxious rumination. While such attentional failures (or lapses) can occasionally have devastating consequences – e.g., the failure of an airport security screener to detect explosives – the frequency and impact of lapses in everyday tasks, as well as their underlying neuro-cognitive mechanisms, are poorly understood.The goal of the present study is to rigorously characterize the relationship between laboratory measures of attentional control and failures of attention in realistic task contexts. We specifically aim to test the extent to which such laboratory measures can predict individual differences in susceptibility to attentional failures, as well as how they can be used to identify which individuals are most likely to benefit from a cognitive training paradigm focused on enhancing control of attentional states.To meet these goals, we will first collect a comprehensive set of neural and behavioral measures of attentional control (and related cognitive variables) from each subject via a combination of laboratory tests and questionnaires. We will then explore the relationship between these variables and attentional failures as observed in the context of a novel, ecologically realistic task paradigm designed specifically for our study. Finally, we will develop and test a new type of cognitivetraining regimen based on the principle of flow – a mental state of high engagement and low distractibility achieved when the challenges of the task are well matched to the skills of the subjects – and we will establish whether individual differences in laboratory measures of attentional control can identify which subjects are most likely to benefit from such training.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Sep 21, 2018
- Source ID
- N000141612047
Entities
People
- Brad Minnery
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- Wright State University