Effects of distraction on memory and cognition: a commentary.

Fergus I M Craik

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00841

Abstract

This commentary is a review of the findings and ideas reported in the preceding nine articles on the effects of distraction on aspects of cognitive performance. The articles themselves deal with the disruptive effects of distraction on recall of words, objects and events, also on visual processing, category formation and other cognitive tasks. The commentary assesses the part played by “domain-general” suppression of distracting information and the “domain-specific” competition arising when tasks and distraction involve very similar material. Some forms of distraction are meaningfully relevant to the ongoing task, and Treisman’s (1964) model of selective attention is invoked to provide an account of findings in this area. Finally, individual differences to vulnerability to distraction are discussed; older adults are particularly affected by distracting stimuli although the failure to repress distraction can sometimes prove beneficial to later cognitive performance.

Highlights

In our noisy world distractions are almost constantly present, competing with our attention as we attempt to focus on learning, recalling past events, or solving difficult problems
Do we use up general attentional resources when we attempt to block out unwanted stimulation, thereby leaving less of a limited supply to fuel the main task, or is distraction disruptive only when the irrelevant stimulation is qualitatively similar to task-relevant information? There is evidence in the foregoing articles for both positions
The children either watched a blank screen while doing the retrieval task, retrieved with eyes-closed (EC), watched a visual display of Hebrew words presented at a 1 s rate or heard Hebrew words spoken at a 1 s rate

Summary

Introduction

In our noisy world distractions are almost constantly present, competing with our attention as we attempt to focus on learning, recalling past events, or solving difficult problems. The results for visual details show that both visual and auditory distraction impaired retrieval, suggesting that attentional resources were taken up in blocking the distracting stimuli, thereby reducing the effectiveness of retrieval.

Results

Conclusion