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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 23, 2026

Measuring Attentional Biases for Threat in Children and Adults

Measuring Attentional Biases for Threat in Children and Adults

Published on: October 19, 2014

Everyday attention failures: an individual differences investigation.

Nash Unsworth¹, Brittany D McMillan, Gene A Brewer

¹Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA. nashu@uoregon.edu

Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory, and Cognition

|April 4, 2012

Summary

Individual differences in working memory and attention control relate to everyday attention lapses, like distraction and mind wandering. These lapses also predict SAT scores, highlighting the real-world relevance of cognitive abilities.

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Published on: December 7, 2018

Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Educational Psychology

Background:

Everyday attention failures, such as distraction and mind wandering, are common.
Understanding individual differences in these failures is crucial for cognitive research.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate individual differences in everyday attention failures.
To examine the relationship between cognitive abilities (working memory capacity, attention control) and these failures.
To assess the predictive validity of attention failures on academic performance (SAT scores).

Main Methods:

Undergraduate students participated in laboratory cognitive assessments.
Participants maintained a diary to record instances of everyday attention failures over one week.
Latent variable modeling was employed for data analysis.

Main Results:

The majority of reported attention failures occurred in educational settings (lectures, studying).
Individual differences in working memory capacity and attention control were associated with specific types of attention failures.
Everyday attention failures were significant predictors of SAT scores.

Conclusions:

Individual differences in attention failures are a valid area of study.
Laboratory measures of working memory and attention control demonstrate ecological validity.
Attention failures partially mediate the relationship between cognitive abilities and SAT scores.