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Media multitasking and behavioral measures of sustained attention

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Abstract

In a series of four studies, self-reported media multitasking (using the media multitasking index; MMI) and general sustained-attention ability, through performance on three sustained-attention tasks: the metronome response task (MRT), the sustained-attention-to-response task (SART), and a vigilance task (here, a modified version of the SART). In Study 1, we found that higher reports of media multitasking were associated with increased response variability (i.e., poor performance) on the MRT. However, in Study 2, no association between reported media multitasking and performance on the SART was observed. These findings were replicated in Studies 3a and 3b, in which we again assessed the relation between media multitasking and performance on both the MRT and SART in two large online samples. Finally, in Study 4, using a large online sample, we tested whether media multitasking was associated with performance on a vigilance task. Although standard vigilance decrements were observed in both sensitivity (A') and response times, media multitasking was not associated with the size of these decrements, nor was media multitasking associated with overall performance, in terms of either sensitivity or response times. Taken together, the results of the studies reported here failed to demonstrate a relation between habitual engagement in media multitasking in everyday life and a general deficit in sustained-attention processes.

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Notes

  1. Replicating a previous finding (Seli, Cheyne, & Smilek, 2013), paired-samples t tests confirmed that the transformed RRT variance was significantly higher for the five trials preceding reports of mind wandering (M = 8.21, SD = 0.88) than for the five trials preceding reports of being on task (M = 7.92, SD = 0.82), t(66) = 3.35, SE = 0.09, p = .001.

  2. As in a previous report (Seli et al., 2014), the transformed mean movement was nominally higher on the five trials preceding reports of mind wandering (M = 4.12, SD = 0.57) than on the five trials preceding reports of being on task (M = 4.04, SD = 0.58). However, unlike in the previous report, the difference found here did not reach significance using a two-tailed paired-sample t test, t(66) = 1.38, SE = 0.61, p = .17.

  3. Given that we found no relation between media multitasking and these two measures, we opted not to include them in subsequent studies.

  4. We also examined the relation between scores on the MMI and variance of go RTs, computed along the same lines as that of Study 1; that is, using the natural logarithm transformed variability of a moving five-trial window. No significant correlation was observed between the windowed RT variance (M = 8.08, SD = 0.76) and MMI scores, r(74) = .13, p = .27.

  5. No significant correlation was observed between the windowed RT variance (M = 7.83, SD = 0.67) and MMI scores, r(124) = –.09, p = .32.

  6. MMI scores for this sub-group of 20 participants had a mean of 2.46 and a standard deviation of 1.34. Whereas in Studies 3a and 3b we analyzed data with and without these participants included, in Study 4 we simply decided to exclude them on the basis of violating the premise of the task.

  7. This pattern of significance remained true following the removal of outliers who were more than three standard deviations above or below the means of the variables of interest: A' slopes remained nonsignificantly correlated with MMI scores, r(102) = –.07, p = .49, and RT slopes remained nonsignificantly correlated with MMI scores, r(103) = .11, p = .25.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, 200 University Ave. West, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3G1, Canada

    Brandon C. W. Ralph, David R. Thomson, Paul Seli, Jonathan S. A. Carriere & Daniel Smilek

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  1. Brandon C. W. Ralph
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  2. David R. Thomson
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  3. Paul Seli
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  4. Jonathan S. A. Carriere
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Correspondence to Brandon C. W. Ralph.

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Ralph, B.C.W., Thomson, D.R., Seli, P. et al. Media multitasking and behavioral measures of sustained attention. Atten Percept Psychophys 77, 390–401 (2015). https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-014-0771-7

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