Perceptual decoupling in the sustained attention to response task is likely: comment on Bedi, Russell, & Helton (2024).

Abstract

Recent work by Bedi et al. (Experimental Brain Research 242(8):2033-2040, 2024) posits that perceptual decoupling in the sustained attention to response task (SART) is unlikely. In this commentary, we challenge their broad titular claim by revisiting two important studies: Smallwood et al. (Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 20(3):45, 2008) and deBettencourt et al. (Nature Human Behaviour 3(8):808-816, 2019). These studies demonstrate that lapses in attention during the SART are associated with degraded neural responses and impaired memory encoding. Diminished P300 amplitudes during commission errors and periods of mind-wandering suggest that external perceptual processing is compromised when attention shifts inward. Moreover, recent methodological innovations that integrate real-time monitoring of attentional state have provided evidence of perceptual decoupling in the SART using an interleaved working memory task. Our review is meant to reaffirm the task's value in studying sustained attention, mind-wandering, and perceptual decoupling. We argue that existing evidence supports a conjecture that perceptual decoupling in the SART is likely, and that valuable new methods allow us to pivot away from commission errors as a behavioral proxy for lapsing attention.