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Trait self-control does not predict attentional control: Evidence from a novel attention capture paradigm.

ABSTRACT: To what extent are low-level visual and attentional phenomena related to higher-level personality traits? Trait self-control is thought to modulate behavior via two separate mechanisms: 1) by preventing initial temptation and, 2) by inhibiting temptation when it occurs (disengagement). Similarly, the control of visual attention often entails preventing initial distraction by irrelevant but tempting (goal-similar) objects, and disengaging attention when it has been inappropriately captured. Given these similarities, we examined whether individuals higher versus lower in trait self-control would differ in their susceptibility to attention capture using mouse-tracking as a sensitive, online measure of how attentional dynamics resolve over time and space in response to a distracting visual cue. Using a variety of metrics of attention capture, we found that differences among people in trait self-control did not predict initial selection of visual information nor subsequent disengagement. Overall, these results suggest that trait self-control and attention capture operate via separate mechanisms.

SUBMITTER: Dieciuc MA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6907807 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Trait self-control does not predict attentional control: Evidence from a novel attention capture paradigm.

Dieciuc Michael A MA Maranges Heather M HM Boot Walter R WR

PloS one 20191212 12

To what extent are low-level visual and attentional phenomena related to higher-level personality traits? Trait self-control is thought to modulate behavior via two separate mechanisms: 1) by preventing initial temptation and, 2) by inhibiting temptation when it occurs (disengagement). Similarly, the control of visual attention often entails preventing initial distraction by irrelevant but tempting (goal-similar) objects, and disengaging attention when it has been inappropriately captured. Given ...[more]

PMID: 31830063

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Project description:Mindfulness interventions have been shown to improve several subcomponents of attention; however, the psychological mechanisms driving these improvements are unknown. Mindfulness interventions train individuals to monitor present moment experiences while adopting an attitude of acceptance toward these experiences. We conducted a theoretically driven randomized controlled trial to test the putative mechanisms of mindfulness training that drive improvements in attentional control. Participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 conditions: (a) monitor and accept (MA) training, a standard 8-week mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) intervention that included cultivation of both monitoring and acceptance skills; (b) monitor only (MO) training, a well-matched modified 8-week MBSR-adapted intervention that focused on monitoring skills only; or (c) no treatment (NT) control. Momentary attentional control was measured via ecological momentary assessment for 3 days at baseline and postintervention. Trait attentional control was assessed at baseline and postintervention using traditional self-report. Participants also completed a dichotic listening task to assess sustained attention at baseline and postintervention. We found that MA and MO participants improved in momentary and trait attentional control (but not attention task performance) relative to NT participants. Analyses of indirect effects were consistent with the possibility that increased momentary attentional control partially accounts for MA/MO intervention-related increases in trait attentional control. This randomized controlled trial provides one of the first experimental tests of the mechanisms of mindfulness interventions that drive improvements in attention outcomes. These findings support the notion that present-focused monitoring skills training drives mindfulness intervention-related improvements in momentary attentional control, which in turn fosters greater trait attentional control. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Project description:Background:Visuospatial processing requires wide distribution or narrow focusing of attention to certain regions in space. This mechanism is described by the zoom lens model and predicts an inverse correlation between the efficiency of processing and the size of the attentional scope. Little is known, however, about the exact timing of the effects of attentional scaling on visual searching and whether or not additional processing phases are involved in this process. Method:Electroencephalographic recordings were made while participants performed a visual search task under different attentional scaling conditions. Two concentric circles of different sizes, presented to the participants at the center of a screen modulated the attentional scopes, and search arrays were distributed in the space areas indicated by these concentric circles. To ensure consistent eccentricity of the search arrays across different conditions, we limited our studies to the neural responses evoked by the search arrays distributed in the overlapping region of different attentional scopes. Results:Consistent with the prediction of the zoom lens model, our behavioral data showed that reaction times for target discrimination of search arrays decreased and the associated error rates also significantly decreased, with narrowing the attentional scope. Results of the event-related potential analysis showed that the target-elicited amplitude of lateral occipital N1, rather than posterior P1, which reflects the earliest visuospatial attentional processing, was sensitive to changes in the scaling of visuospatial attention, indicating that the modulation of the effect of changes in the spatial scale of attention on visual processing occurred after the delay period of P1. The N1 generator exhibited higher activity as the attentional scope narrowed, reflecting more intensive processing resources within the attentional focus. In contrast to N1, the amplitude of N2pc increased with the expansion of the attentional focus, suggesting that observers might further redistribute attentional resources according to the increased task difficulty. Conclusion:These findings provide electrophysiological evidence that the neural activity of the N1 generator is the earliest marker of the zoom lens effect of visual spatial attention. Furthermore, evidence from N2pc shows that there is also a redistribution of attentional resources after the action of the zoom lens mechanism, which allows for better perform of the search task in the context of low attentional resolution. On the basis of the timing of P1, N1, and N2pc, our findings provide compelling evidence that visuospatial attention processing in the zoom lens paradigm involves multi-stage dynamic processing.

Dataset Information

Trait self-control does not predict attentional control: Evidence from a novel attention capture paradigm.

Publications

Trait self-control does not predict attentional control: Evidence from a novel attention capture paradigm.

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