Distracting the mind improves performance: an ERP Study.

<h4>Background</h4>When a second target (T2) is presented in close succession of a first target (T1), people often fail to identify T2, a phenomenon known as the attentional blink (AB). However, the AB can be reduced substantially when participants are distracted during the task, for ins...

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Autores principales:	Stefan M Wierda, Hedderik van Rijn, Niels A Taatgen, Sander Martens
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2010
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/7f0bbf1afe5541c1b43d28265a70a52d
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:7f0bbf1afe5541c1b43d28265a70a52d2021-11-18T07:36:33ZDistracting the mind improves performance: an ERP Study.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0015024https://doaj.org/article/7f0bbf1afe5541c1b43d28265a70a52d2010-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/21124833/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203<h4>Background</h4>When a second target (T2) is presented in close succession of a first target (T1), people often fail to identify T2, a phenomenon known as the attentional blink (AB). However, the AB can be reduced substantially when participants are distracted during the task, for instance by a concurrent task, without a cost for T1 performance. The goal of the current study was to investigate the electrophysiological correlates of this paradoxical effect.<h4>Methodology/principal findings</h4>Participants successively performed three tasks, while EEG was recorded. The first task (standard AB) consisted of identifying two target letters in a sequential stream of distractor digits. The second task (grey dots task) was similar to the first task with the addition of an irrelevant grey dot moving in the periphery, concurrent with the central stimulus stream. The third task (red dot task) was similar to the second task, except that detection of an occasional brief color change in the moving grey dot was required. AB magnitude in the latter task was significantly smaller, whereas behavioral performance in the standard and grey dots tasks did not differ. Using mixed effects models, electrophysiological activity was compared during trials in the grey dots and red dot tasks that differed in task instruction but not in perceptual input. In the red dot task, both target-related parietal brain activity associated with working memory updating (P3) as well as distractor-related occipital activity was significantly reduced.<h4>Conclusions/significance</h4>The results support the idea that the AB might (at least partly) arise from an overinvestment of attentional resources or an overexertion of attentional control, which is reduced when a distracting secondary task is carried out. The present findings bring us a step closer in understanding why and how an AB occurs, and how these temporal restrictions in selective attention can be overcome.Stefan M WierdaHedderik van RijnNiels A TaatgenSander MartensPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 5, Iss 11, p e15024 (2010)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Stefan M Wierda Hedderik van Rijn Niels A Taatgen Sander Martens Distracting the mind improves performance: an ERP Study.
description	<h4>Background</h4>When a second target (T2) is presented in close succession of a first target (T1), people often fail to identify T2, a phenomenon known as the attentional blink (AB). However, the AB can be reduced substantially when participants are distracted during the task, for instance by a concurrent task, without a cost for T1 performance. The goal of the current study was to investigate the electrophysiological correlates of this paradoxical effect.<h4>Methodology/principal findings</h4>Participants successively performed three tasks, while EEG was recorded. The first task (standard AB) consisted of identifying two target letters in a sequential stream of distractor digits. The second task (grey dots task) was similar to the first task with the addition of an irrelevant grey dot moving in the periphery, concurrent with the central stimulus stream. The third task (red dot task) was similar to the second task, except that detection of an occasional brief color change in the moving grey dot was required. AB magnitude in the latter task was significantly smaller, whereas behavioral performance in the standard and grey dots tasks did not differ. Using mixed effects models, electrophysiological activity was compared during trials in the grey dots and red dot tasks that differed in task instruction but not in perceptual input. In the red dot task, both target-related parietal brain activity associated with working memory updating (P3) as well as distractor-related occipital activity was significantly reduced.<h4>Conclusions/significance</h4>The results support the idea that the AB might (at least partly) arise from an overinvestment of attentional resources or an overexertion of attentional control, which is reduced when a distracting secondary task is carried out. The present findings bring us a step closer in understanding why and how an AB occurs, and how these temporal restrictions in selective attention can be overcome.
format	article
author	Stefan M Wierda Hedderik van Rijn Niels A Taatgen Sander Martens
author_facet	Stefan M Wierda Hedderik van Rijn Niels A Taatgen Sander Martens
author_sort	Stefan M Wierda
title	Distracting the mind improves performance: an ERP Study.
title_short	Distracting the mind improves performance: an ERP Study.
title_full	Distracting the mind improves performance: an ERP Study.
title_fullStr	Distracting the mind improves performance: an ERP Study.
title_full_unstemmed	Distracting the mind improves performance: an ERP Study.
title_sort	distracting the mind improves performance: an erp study.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2010
url	https://doaj.org/article/7f0bbf1afe5541c1b43d28265a70a52d
work_keys_str_mv	AT stefanmwierda distractingthemindimprovesperformanceanerpstudy AT hedderikvanrijn distractingthemindimprovesperformanceanerpstudy AT nielsataatgen distractingthemindimprovesperformanceanerpstudy AT sandermartens distractingthemindimprovesperformanceanerpstudy
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Distracting the mind improves performance: an ERP Study.

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