Anti-distraction learning: focused attention, task engagement, and flow under cognitive interference

Flow experience is often described as a psychological state that is easier to sustain when external disruption is limited. In many contemporary learning and work environments, however, individuals frequently perform tasks amid notifications, background noise, and task switching. Although existing studies have documented the disruptive effects of interference on task performance, comparatively less attention has been paid to how immersive experience may still emerge when interruptions are persistent rather than occasional. The present study therefore examines how cognitive interference and environmental noise relate to flow experience while distinguishing the roles of focused attention and task engagement as regulatory processes within this relationship. Questionnaire data were collected from individuals engaged in everyday learning activities (N = 647). Cognitive interference and environmental noise were modeled as contextual conditions, focused attention and task engagement as mediating mechanisms, and flow experience as the outcome variable. Hierarchical regression analysis, bootstrap mediation tests, and alternative model specifications were implemented within a scripted analytical environment to evaluate the proposed relationships. The results indicate that both cognitive interference and environmental noise remain significantly associated with flow experience even after attentional and behavioral regulatory mechanisms are included in the model. Focused attention shows the strongest association with flow and mediates the relationship between cognitive interference and immersive experience, suggesting that attentional stabilization plays a central role in sustaining immersion under disruptive conditions. Task engagement contributes to continued task activity but shows a smaller and negative indirect pathway to flow, indicating that behavioral persistence does not necessarily translate into experiential immersion. In addition, the sequential mediation pathway linking interference, focused attention, task engagement, and flow experience is not supported. Taken together, these findings suggest that immersive experience can persist even under continuing disruption. Rather than depending solely on distraction-free environments, flow in contemporary learning contexts may emerge through repeated stabilization of attention during ongoing interruptions. Attentional regulation preserves experiential continuity, while task engagement sustains behavioral continuity, together allowing immersion to remain achievable in interference-rich environments.