Eye behavior predicts susceptibility to visual distraction during internally directed cognition
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Eye behavior predicts susceptibility to visual distraction during internally directed cognition Sonja Annerer-Walcher 1 & Christof Körner 1 & Roger E. Beaty 2 & Mathias Benedek 1
# The Author(s) 2020
Abstract When we engage in internally directed cognition (e.g., planning or imagination), our eye behavior decouples from external stimuli and couples to internal representations (e.g., internal visualizations of ideas). Here, we investigated whether eye behavior predicts the susceptibility to visual distraction during internally directed cognition. To this end, participants performed a divergent thinking task, which required internally directed attention, and we measured distraction in terms of attention capture by unrelated images. We used multilevel mixed models to predict visual distraction by eye behavior right before distractor onset. In Study 1 (N = 38), visual distraction was predicted by increased saccade and blink rate, and higher pupil dilation. We replicated these findings in Study 2 using the same task, but with less predictable distractor onsets and a larger sample (N = 144). We also explored whether individual differences in susceptibility to visual distraction were related to cognitive ability and task performance. Taken together, variation in eye behavior was found to be a consistent predictor of visual distraction during internally directed cognition. This highlights the relevance of eye parameters as objective indicators of internal versus external attentional focus and distractibility during complex mental tasks. Keywords Eye tracking . Visual distraction . Internally directed cognition . Divergent thinking . Creativity
During activities like planning and imagination, attention is mainly focused on the processing of internally generated information, thus constituting internally directed cognition (IDC); in contrast, activities like reading or searching constantly rely on the processing of sensory information and thus are viewed as externally directed cognition (EDC; AndrewsHanna, Smallwood, & Spreng, 2014; Chun, Golomb, & TurkBrowne, 2011; Dixon, Fox, & Christoff, 2014). Because attentional resources are limited, pursuing extended IDC or EDC activities requires one to maintain a sustained attentional focus. However, sometimes we get distracted by irrelevant internal or external information (Smallwood & Schooler, 2015). For example, while reading, we might start thinking about a worrying event (mind wandering). And while
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-020-02068-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Mathias Benedek [email protected] 1
University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 2, 8010 Graz, Austria
2
Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
planning a lecture, we might get distracted by a notification from our email program (visual distraction). It can be assumed that the level of absorption and distractibility varies over time, and previous research showed that eye
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