The conceptualisation and measurement of sustained attention : understanding the role of motivation

Abstract

Sustained attention can be defined as the ability of maintaining a focused state of mind for an extended period of time, and it is required in most daily activities. Its proneness to failures can, however, lead to dire consequences. Many have tried to understand which factors might counteract its fluctuations over time: motivation in particular is a natural area of interest, however, its effects on sustained attention are still not well understood. Existing findings are hindered by potential methodological confounds and a sparse theoretical background. With the general aim of examining the effects of motivation on sustained attention performance, the project firstly set out a theoretical basis by validating the most common operationalisations of the function through two factor analyses on popular computerised tasks. Secondly, it systematically tested the effects of multiple dimensions of motivation (extrinsic/intrinsic, trait/state) on behavioural performance. Finally, for the first time in the literature, it explored the motivational influence on behavioural periodicities, using spectral decomposition techniques. The results of a total of 8 studies (plus 1 application study) showed first that attentional lapses might represent the more robust task-general facet of sustained attention and is the recommended index for generalisable results. The findings of the effects of motivation were potentially paradoxical, in that higher intrinsic or rewardbased extrinsic motivation led to worse performance, possibly because of contextrelated state variables. The only dimension of motivation that seemed to aid sustained attention was related to the intrinsic enjoyment of an activity. Furthermore, motivation did not interact with any aspects of behavioural oscillations. To conclude, the project provided useful recommendations to reconcile the various literature of sustained attention with robust behavioural indices. The present results also contributed to the understanding of motivation and sustained attention; however, further investigation is still required.