Sustained attentional state is a floodlight not a spotlight.

IF 3.7 1区心理学 Q1 PSYCHOLOGY, EXPERIMENTAL

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General Pub Date : 2025-05-12 DOI:10.1037/xge0001769

Anna Corriveau,Anthony R James,Megan T deBettencourt,Monica D Rosenberg

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Maintaining attention to a task is essential for accomplishing it. However, attentional state fluctuates from moment to moment, and task-irrelevant information may compete for processing. What are the consequences of attentional fluctuations for what we remember? Do fluctuations in sustained attention vary the spotlight of selective attention, prioritizing task-relevant at the expense of task-irrelevant information? Or, are increases in a sustained attentional state akin to a floodlight, enhancing processing of all information, regardless of task relevance? In an online sample of 215 adults, participants were presented simultaneous streams of images and sounds and instructed to make responses based on only one modality. Afterward, recognition memory for both images and sounds was tested. Across individuals, we found no evidence of a trade-off between memory for task-relevant and task-irrelevant items. Within individuals, successful memory for a task-relevant item predicted successful memory for its task-irrelevant pair. Thus, the spotlight metaphor of attention does not extend to the dynamics of sustained attention. Rather, fluctuations in attention are more akin to a floodlight, affecting the processing of all task information, regardless of relevance. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

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持续的注意力状态是照明灯而不是聚光灯。

对一项任务保持注意力是完成它的必要条件。然而，注意状态随时间的变化而波动，与任务无关的信息可能会竞争处理。注意力波动对我们记忆的影响是什么？持续注意力的波动是否会改变选择性注意力的焦点，以牺牲与任务无关的信息为代价，优先考虑与任务相关的信息？或者，持续注意力状态的增加是否类似于泛光灯，增强了对所有信息的处理，而不考虑任务的相关性？在215名成年人的在线样本中，参与者同时看到图像和声音流，并被指示仅根据一种模式做出反应。之后，对图像和声音的识别记忆进行了测试。在个体中，我们没有发现对任务相关和任务无关项目的记忆之间存在权衡的证据。在个体内部，成功记忆与任务相关的项目预示着成功记忆与任务无关的配对。因此，注意力的聚光灯隐喻不能延伸到持续注意力的动态。相反，注意力的波动更类似于泛光灯，影响所有任务信息的处理，无论其相关性如何。（PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA，版权所有）。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General PSYCHOLOGY, EXPERIMENTAL-

CiteScore

6.20

自引率

4.90%

发文量

300

期刊介绍： The Journal of Experimental Psychology: General publishes articles describing empirical work that bridges the traditional interests of two or more communities of psychology. The work may touch on issues dealt with in JEP: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, JEP: Human Perception and Performance, JEP: Animal Behavior Processes, or JEP: Applied, but may also concern issues in other subdisciplines of psychology, including social processes, developmental processes, psychopathology, neuroscience, or computational modeling. Articles in JEP: General may be longer than the usual journal publication if necessary, but shorter articles that bridge subdisciplines will also be considered.