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. 2017;2(1):32.
doi: 10.1186/s41235-017-0070-7. Epub 2017 Aug 23.

Attentional disengagements in educational contexts: a diary investigation of everyday mind-wandering and distraction

Nash Unsworth  1 , Brittany D McMillan  1
Affiliations

Attentional disengagements in educational contexts: a diary investigation of everyday mind-wandering and distraction

Nash Unsworth et al. Cogn Res Princ Implic. 2017.

Abstract

The present study examined everyday attentional disengagements in educational contexts. Undergraduate students completed various cognitive ability measures in the laboratory and recorded everyday mind-wandering and distraction in a diary over the course of a week. Participants reported mind-wandering and being distracted both in class and while studying and there were a number of different subtypes of attentional disengagements. Individual differences in cognitive abilities were related to some, but not all, everyday attentional disengagements and motivation and interest in classes were related to specific subtypes of disengagements. Finally, academic performance was related to fluid intelligence and motivation, but not to everyday disengagements. These results provide importance evidence on the different types of attentional disengagements that are prevalent in undergraduate students and for whom disengagements are most likely.

Keywords: Cognitive abilities; External distraction; Interest; Mind-wandering; Motivation.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Ethics approval for this study was granted by the University of Oregon Institutional Review Board under protocol # 08152011.049.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Number of attentional disengagements as a function of type of disengagement and context. Error bars represent one standard error of the mean
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Confirmatory factor analysis model for working memory capacity (WMC), fluid intelligence (gF), attention control (AC), mind-wandering during the laboratory tasks (MW), and external distraction during the laboratory tasks (ED). Paths connecting latent variables (circles) to each other represent the correlations between the constructs and the numbers from the latent variables to the manifest variables (squares) represent the loadings of each task onto the latent variable. Solid paths are significant at the p < .05 level, whereas dashed paths are not significant. Ospan = operation span; Rspan = reading span; Symspan = symmetry span; Raven = Raven Advanced Progressive Matrices; LS = letter sets; Anti = antisaccade; Sartsd = standard deviation of response time on the Sustained Attention to Response task; Sartacc = accuracy on Sustained Attention to Response Task; PVT = psychomotor vigilance task; AntiMW = mind-wandering during antisaccade; SartMW = mind-wandering during SART; PVTMW = mind-wandering during psychomotor vigilance task; AntiED = external distraction during antisaccade; SartED = external distraction during SART; PVTED = external distraction during psychomotor vigilance task
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