A Resource-Control Account of Sustained Attention
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- David R. Thomson
- University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
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- Derek Besner
- University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
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- Daniel Smilek
- University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Bibliographic Information
- Other Title
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- Evidence From Mind-Wandering and Vigilance Paradigms
Abstract
<jats:p> Staying attentive is challenging enough when carrying out everyday tasks, such as reading or sitting through a lecture, and failures to do so can be frustrating and inconvenient. However, such lapses may even be life threatening, for example, if a pilot fails to monitor an oil-pressure gauge or if a long-haul truck driver fails to notice a car in his or her blind spot. Here, we explore two explanations of sustained-attention lapses. By one account, task monotony leads to an increasing preoccupation with internal thought (i.e., mind wandering). By another, task demands result in the depletion of information-processing resources that are needed to perform the task. A review of the sustained-attention literature suggests that neither theory, on its own, adequately explains the full range of findings. We propose a novel framework to explain why attention lapses as a function of time-on-task by combining aspects of two different theories of mind wandering: attentional resource (Smallwood & Schooler, 2006) and control failure (McVay & Kane, 2010). We then use our “resource-control” theory to explain performance decrements in sustained-attention tasks. We end by making some explicit predictions regarding mind wandering in general and sustained-attention performance in particular. </jats:p>
Journal
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- Perspectives on Psychological Science
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Perspectives on Psychological Science 10 (1), 82-96, 2015-01
SAGE Publications
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Details 詳細情報について
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- CRID
- 1361981468985411328
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- ISSN
- 17456924
- 17456916
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- Data Source
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- Crossref