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Yearning for distraction: Evidence for a trade-off between media multitasking and mind wandering.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Ralph, BCW; Smith, AC; Seli, P; Smilek, D
Published in: Canadian journal of experimental psychology = Revue canadienne de psychologie experimentale
March 2020

We examined whether providing participants with the opportunity to media multitask influenced their tendency to be 'off-task.' More specifically, we were interested in whether providing participants with the opportunity to engage with an external media stream during a required (researcher-imposed) cognitive task might lead to a trade-off between mind wandering and engagement with external distractions (such as the media). We also examined the extent to which intentionality plays a role in these associations. Participants completed 2 phases of a cognitive task (1-back). During 1 phase, participants were provided the opportunity to concurrently watch a video while they performed the cognitive task; during the other, no such opportunity was provided. Throughout both phases, thought probes asked participants if they were (a) focused on the task, (b) attending to external distractions, or (c) mind wandering. If options 2 or 3 were selected, participants were further asked to report whether these forms of distraction were engaged intentionally or unintentionally. Our findings indicated that, although the opportunity to media multitask increased overall reports of being off-task, the tendency to mind-wander was significantly reduced in favour of attending to external distractions (such as the video). Of interest to the authors, overall reports of being unintentionally off-task were equivalent, irrespective of whether participants had the opportunity to media multitask or not, which suggests that the increased tendency to have an off-task locus of attention was because of intentionally shifting attention away from the primary task. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Duke Scholars

Published In

Canadian journal of experimental psychology = Revue canadienne de psychologie experimentale

DOI

EISSN

1878-7290

ISSN

1196-1961

Publication Date

March 2020

Volume

74

Issue

1

Start / End Page

56 / 72

Related Subject Headings

  • Young Adult
  • Visual Perception
  • Thinking
  • Memory, Short-Term
  • Humans
  • Experimental Psychology
  • Executive Function
  • Attention
  • Adult
  • 5204 Cognitive and computational psychology
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
Ralph, B. C. W., Smith, A. C., Seli, P., & Smilek, D. (2020). Yearning for distraction: Evidence for a trade-off between media multitasking and mind wandering. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology = Revue Canadienne de Psychologie Experimentale, 74(1), 56–72. https://doi.org/10.1037/cep0000186
Ralph, Brandon C. W., Alyssa C. Smith, Paul Seli, and Daniel Smilek. “Yearning for distraction: Evidence for a trade-off between media multitasking and mind wandering.Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology = Revue Canadienne de Psychologie Experimentale 74, no. 1 (March 2020): 56–72. https://doi.org/10.1037/cep0000186.
Ralph BCW, Smith AC, Seli P, Smilek D. Yearning for distraction: Evidence for a trade-off between media multitasking and mind wandering. Canadian journal of experimental psychology = Revue canadienne de psychologie experimentale. 2020 Mar;74(1):56–72.
Ralph, Brandon C. W., et al. “Yearning for distraction: Evidence for a trade-off between media multitasking and mind wandering.Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology = Revue Canadienne de Psychologie Experimentale, vol. 74, no. 1, Mar. 2020, pp. 56–72. Epmc, doi:10.1037/cep0000186.
Ralph BCW, Smith AC, Seli P, Smilek D. Yearning for distraction: Evidence for a trade-off between media multitasking and mind wandering. Canadian journal of experimental psychology = Revue canadienne de psychologie experimentale. 2020 Mar;74(1):56–72.

Published In

Canadian journal of experimental psychology = Revue canadienne de psychologie experimentale

DOI

EISSN

1878-7290

ISSN

1196-1961

Publication Date

March 2020

Volume

74

Issue

1

Start / End Page

56 / 72

Related Subject Headings

  • Young Adult
  • Visual Perception
  • Thinking
  • Memory, Short-Term
  • Humans
  • Experimental Psychology
  • Executive Function
  • Attention
  • Adult
  • 5204 Cognitive and computational psychology