As students all across the globe are preparing for finals, blocking out distractions and sorting relevant from irrelevant information is important now more than ever. Every person has experienced an irrelevant stimulus which triggers attentional capture causing them to shift their focus from what is really important. This opens up many questions about how information is organized in the brain. While this field is not completely understood, there has been recent developing research that may better our understanding of attention control in people of all different health histories.
Dr. Edward Vogel and colleagues, in their research, “Controlling the Flow of Distracting Information in Working Memory,” concentrate on the processing and retention of information based on relevance. This study was divided into two procedures. Experiment 1 asked participants to memorize as many colored squares they were shown as they could for the objective of identifying how humans process distractors and insignificant material. The two conditions were they were either not exposed to distractors, or distractors appeared at the 500 ms mark. In Experiment 2, the procedure was alike. This time, however, participants were pointed toward one side of the screen rather than another. In this manner, researchers were able to analyze participants' choice to either retain the previous information they had grasped, or omit it in order to comprehend the new unnecessary information. Results of this research indicate an idea that has yet to be expanded on in this area of study: there is more than one element that composes attentional capture. Here, researchers suggest spatial capture and item-based capture. What was found of these two components is that distractors managed to catch spatial attention regardless of relevance. Alternatively, item-based capture inhibited irrelevant tasks.
Subsequent to the findings of this research, discourse about the similarities and differences between those who are and are not hindered by attention deficit disorders are introduced. Dr. Vogel’s work presents great insight to a developing discipline, and lays great grounds for other experiments to branch off of. An example of another route of study is investigating distractions on people experiencing disorders, such as ADHD. That, precisely, is what Schneidt, Jusyte, Rauss, and Schonenberg examine in their article, “Distraction by salient stimuli in adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: Evidence for the role of task difficulty in bottom-up and top-down processing”. The research completed assessed adults coping with ADHD. The first task they were faced with examined their ability to process distractions while completing tasks of perceptual judgement with different levels of difficulty. Next, the second task inspected their processing of emotional stimuli and neutral stimuli, as well as asked them to rate said stimuli based on arousal from one to nine. As expected, participants in this study demonstrated higher levels of distractibility than individuals without attention deficits. Opposing what the researchers previously hypothesized, participants proved to perform amplified bottom-up processing (utilization of sensory information) in tasks with higher difficulty, and top-down processing (understanding information based on pre-existing knowledge) in tasks with lower difficulty. This suggests that intensity of distractibility may also be related to task difficulty, and urges future studies to focus on disorders in processing mechanisms as they may help reveal the root cause of enhanced distractibility. Lastly, results exhibited no significant data dependent on emotional stimuli.
In both research articles, different ideas as to what heightens distractibility in people are explored. While each study analyzes different demographics of people, the evidence found from these experiments contribute to furthering and increasing awareness of cognitive processes. All of the researchers involved in these papers allow readers, students, and other scientists to open their mind to new perspectives of what may impact attention. As previously stated, Dr. Vogel’s exploration offers opportunities for other questions, such as the one answered regarding mental capacities of those with attention disorders, and hopefully future experiments can consider degenerative brain diseases – an area that has yet to be fully understood.
References:
Hakim, N., Feldmann-Wüstefeld, T., Awh, E., & Vogel, E. K. (2021). Controlling the Flow of Distracting Information in Working Memory. Cerebral Cortex, 31(7), 3323–3337. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhab013
Schneidt, A., Jusyte, A., Rauss, K., & Schönenberg, M. (2018). Distraction by salient stimuli in adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: Evidence for the role of task difficulty in bottom-up and top-down processing. Cortex, 101, 206–220. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2018.01.021
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