Focused Attention in the Context of Irrelevant Speech

1998 ◽  
Vol 42 (11) ◽  
pp. 806-810 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tonya Smith-Jackson
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Irrelevant Speech ◽  
Verbal Task ◽  
Focused Attention ◽  
Continuous Speech ◽  
Subjective Workload ◽  
Open Plan ◽  
Nasa Tlx ◽  
Tellegen Absorption Scale

The purpose of this study was to examine individual differences in focused attention and the influence of these differences on verbal task performance under conditions in which irrelevant speech was present. Subjective workload was also examined (using the NASA TLX, Hart and Staveland, 1984). Fifty-four participants performed three editing task trials under quiet, discontinuous, and continuous speech conditions. The Task Absorption subscale of the Expanded Tellegen Absorption Scale (Jackson, Klein, Reeth, and Waters, 1997) was also administered. Significant differences were found within conditions between High and Low Task Absorbers. The importance of focused attention in the open-plan office is discussed.

Open-Plan Office Designs: An Examination of Unattended Speech, Performance, and Focused Attention

1997 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 509-513 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tonya Smith Jackson ◽  
Katherine W. Klein ◽  
Michael S. Wogalter
Keyword(s):  
Focused Attention ◽  
Office Design ◽  
Technology Deployment ◽  
Continuous Background ◽  
Open Plan ◽  
Speech Performance ◽  
Design Selection ◽  
Tellegen Absorption Scale ◽  
Workplace Noise ◽  
Selection Of

This study modeled the open-plan office environment by introducing background speech (a common workplace noise) at moderate decibel levels and measuring performance on a computer editing task. Also assessed was whether focussed attention moderates the effects of background speech on task performance. Editing accuracy was significantly higher under quiet compared to continuous background speech conditions. Results also showed that participants scoring higher on focused attention using the Tellegen Absorption Scale (Tellegen & Atkinsson, 1974) were more accurate detectors of certain types of errors and edited more lines of text than low absorbers. Implications for open-plan office design, selection of personnel, technology deployment in non-optimal environments, and the importance of focused attention are discussed.

scholarly journals Attentional Flexibility Predicts A-Not-B Task Performance in 14-Month-Old-Infants: A Head-Mounted Eye Tracking Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 279
Author(s):  
Hanna Mulder ◽  
Carolien A. Van Houdt ◽  
Ineke J. M. Van der Ham ◽  
Stefan Van der Stigchel ◽  
Ora Oudgenoeg-Paz
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Preliminary Evidence ◽  
Switch Trial ◽  
Focused Attention ◽  
Eye Tracker ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Task Success ◽  
Correct Location

Early individual differences in executive functions (EFs) are predictive of a range of developmental outcomes. However, despite the importance of EFs, little is known about the processes underlying these early individual differences. Therefore, we investigated the association between 14-month-old infants’ attention on a reaching version of the A-not-B task and task success. We hypothesized that both strategic focused attention (measured as percentage looking time towards the correct location during delay) and attentional flexibility (measured as number of looks per second to available stimuli during delay) would relate positively to task performance. Infants performed the A-not-B task wearing a head-mounted eye tracker (N = 24). Results were trial-dependent and partially supported the hypotheses: (1) infants who were better able to flexibly shift attention between available stimuli on the first pre-switch trial showed better task performance overall; and (2) strategic focused attention to the hiding location during the first switch trial was positively related to performance on that particular trial only (trend-level effect). Thus, the study shows preliminary evidence that particularly attentional flexibility is a key factor underlying EF performance in young children. Advantages and challenges of working with head-mounted eye tracking in infants are discussed.

The effect of intervening task performance on subjective workload ratings

1984 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Thomas Eggemeier ◽  
Brian E. Melville ◽  
Mark S. Crabtree
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Subjective Workload

scholarly journals The relationship between hippocampal-dependent task performance and hippocampal grey matter myelination and iron content

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 239821282110119
Author(s):  
Ian A. Clark ◽  
Martina F. Callaghan ◽  
Nikolaus Weiskopf ◽  
Eleanor A. Maguire
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Autobiographical Memory ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Iron Content ◽  
Grey Matter ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Spatial Navigation ◽  
Imaging Data ◽  
Future Thinking

Individual differences in scene imagination, autobiographical memory recall, future thinking and spatial navigation have long been linked with hippocampal structure in healthy people, although evidence for such relationships is, in fact, mixed. Extant studies have predominantly concentrated on hippocampal volume. However, it is now possible to use quantitative neuroimaging techniques to model different properties of tissue microstructure in vivo such as myelination and iron. Previous work has linked such measures with cognitive task performance, particularly in older adults. Here we investigated whether performance on scene imagination, autobiographical memory, future thinking and spatial navigation tasks was associated with hippocampal grey matter myelination or iron content in young, healthy adult participants. Magnetic resonance imaging data were collected using a multi-parameter mapping protocol (0.8 mm isotropic voxels) from a large sample of 217 people with widely-varying cognitive task scores. We found little evidence that hippocampal grey matter myelination or iron content were related to task performance. This was the case using different analysis methods (voxel-based quantification, partial correlations), when whole brain, hippocampal regions of interest, and posterior:anterior hippocampal ratios were examined, and across different participant sub-groups (divided by gender and task performance). Variations in hippocampal grey matter myelin and iron levels may not, therefore, help to explain individual differences in performance on hippocampal-dependent tasks, at least in young, healthy individuals.

RETRACTED: Effects of Violent Media on Verbal Task Performance in Gifted and General Cohort Children

2016 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 279-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yakup Çetin ◽  
Jonathan Wai ◽  
Cengiz Altay ◽  
Brad J. Bushman
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Verbal Task ◽  
Violent Media

The Effects of Practice on Navigation Performance and Mental Workload with a Mirror-In-The-Sky Map

2021 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 1546-1550
Author(s):  
Holland M. Vasquez ◽  
Justin G. Hollands ◽  
Greg A. Jamieson
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Secondary Task ◽  
Mental Workload ◽  
Task Completion ◽  
Practice Performance ◽  
Global Ratings ◽  
Detection Response ◽  
Nasa Tlx ◽  
Response Task ◽  
Completion Times

Some previous research using a new augmented reality map display called Mirror-in-the-Sky (MitS) showed that performance was worse and mental workload (MWL) greater with MitS relative to a track-up map for navigation and wayfinding tasks. The purpose of the current study was to determine—for both MitS and track-up map—how much performance improves and MWL decreases with practice in a simple navigation task. We conducted a three-session experiment in which twenty participants completed a route following task in a virtual environment. Task completion times and collisions decreased, subjective MWL decreased, and secondary task performance improved with practice. The NASA-TLX Global ratings and Detection Response Task Hit Rates showed a larger decrease in MWL with MitS than the track-up map. Additionally, means for performance and workload measures showed that differences between the MitS and track-up map decreased in the first session. In later sessions the differences between the MitS and track-up map were negligible. As such, with practice performance and MWL may be comparable to a traditional track-up map.

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