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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 21, 2026

Using Rapid Serial Visual Presentation to Measure Set-Specific Capture, a Consequence of Distraction While Multitasking

Using Rapid Serial Visual Presentation to Measure Set-Specific Capture, a Consequence of Distraction While Multitasking

Published on: August 29, 2018

Human variation in overriding attentional capture.

Keisuke Fukuda¹, Edward K Vogel

¹Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403-1227, USA.

The Journal of Neuroscience : the Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience

|July 10, 2009

Summary

Individuals with higher working memory capacity can better resist involuntary attention capture by irrelevant stimuli. This suggests that poor attentional control in low-capacity individuals may stem from an inability to ignore distracting information.

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Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 21, 2026

Using Rapid Serial Visual Presentation to Measure Set-Specific Capture, a Consequence of Distraction While Multitasking

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Published on: August 29, 2018

Measuring Attention and Visual Processing Speed by Model-based Analysis of Temporal-order Judgments

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Published on: January 23, 2017

Measurement of Neurophysiological Signals of Ignoring and Attending Processes in Attention Control

Measurement of Neurophysiological Signals of Ignoring and Attending Processes in Attention Control

Published on: July 5, 2015

Area of Science:

Cognitive Neuroscience
Human Attention Studies

Background:

Attention is directed voluntarily or involuntarily captured by salient stimuli.
Task completion often requires ignoring irrelevant stimuli to focus on goal-related information.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate individual differences in the ability to resist attentional capture.
To determine the relationship between working memory capacity and attentional control.

Main Methods:

Neurophysiological measures of spatial attention in humans.
Assessing rapid reallocation of spatial attention after distractor onset.
Correlating attentional capture resistance with working memory capacity.

Main Results:

Significant individual variation in the ability to override attentional capture.
High working memory capacity individuals demonstrated superior resistance to attentional capture.
Low working memory capacity individuals involuntarily reallocated attention to distractors.

Conclusions:

Working memory capacity strongly predicts the ability to resist attentional capture.
Impaired attentional abilities in low-capacity individuals may result from difficulty overriding initial distractor capture.