Amy-Louise lectures on the Introduction to Psychology Level Four module on our BSc (Hons) Psychology course.
Attentional capture: how similarly are attention and distraction affected by factor manipulation?
Attention is a process where we are able to select from a multitude of obtainable information in order to perceive and process that information. We rely on this process daily and cannot function otherwise. Attentional capture, or as it is more commonly known as 'distraction', is the disruption of the attentional process and can hinder how efficient and effectively we carry out such tasks, but can even be far more detrimental in some cases. Our ability to carry out tasks at work may seem more trivial (dependent upon the job role) than those that have far more negative consequences such as driving, where attentional capture can result in injury, or even death. This PhD research is investigating individual factors that may affect how susceptible we are to attentional capture, but also investigating if manipulation of these factors could increase our ability to focus. This may include considering the way ion which we word instructions, the environment someone is in and even trialling training methods to aid our ability to resist distractions.
