title: Establishing the Attention-Distractibility Trait.
abstract: Failures to focus attention will affect any task engagement (e.g., at work, in the classroom, when driving). At the clinical end, distractibility is a diagnostic criterion of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In this study, we examined whether the inability to maintain attentional focus varies in the overall population in the form of an attention-distractibility trait. To test this idea, we administered an ADHD diagnostic tool to a sample of healthy participants and assessed the relationship between ADHD symptoms and task distraction. ADHD symptom summary scores were significantly positively associated with distractor interference in letter-search and name-classification tasks (as measured by reaction time), as long as the distractors were irrelevant (cartoon images) rather than relevant (i.e., compatible or incompatible with target names). Higher perceptual load during a task eliminated distraction irrespective of ADHD score. These findings suggest the existence of an attention-distractibility trait that confers vulnerability to irrelevant distraction, which can be remedied by increasing the level of perceptual load during the task.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Sussex s.forster@sussex.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Forster
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London.
authors.forename: Nilli
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Lavie
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D005260:Female; D064368:Healthy Volunteers / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D010551:Personality; D011930:Reaction Time; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: ADHD; attention; distraction; perceptual load; personality traits