Distractibility and Its Characteristics

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Method
Participants
Design
Materials
Procedure
Planned Analysis
Conclusion
References

Introduction

The Distractor test experiment is the diagnostic criterion of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The importance of the topic response to attention distractors with respect to time is to help in any task management at work, in the classroom to answer questions, and while driving to escape any possible causes of accidents (Mora‐Macías et al., 2019). The inability to maintain attention focus varies from person to person, depending on the time they can respond to the distractor.

Focused attention is vital for information processing in the classroom, work, and driving. The general significance of this study is to increase the level of perceptual load while performing any task. To investigate this study, a sample of healthy participants should perform a visual search task that involves a low perceptual load based on target and non-target letters that are not similar, for example, XN, and a high perceptual load with target and non-target letters that are similar, for example, XX. The dependent variable, reaction time, should be recorded to obtain the correct results (Cunningham & Egeth, 2017). The participant should be able to recall the number of words used to test his or her memory.

The irrelevant-distractor paradigm is designed to measure distraction by stimuli that are entirely irrelevant to the task at hand, thereby capturing the type of irrelevant distractions that appear to reflect an actual attention failure, for example, being distracted by noticing an interesting-looking passerby while trying to read some work-related material (Won & Geng, 2020). The importance of the letter-search performance costs, for example, the slowing of reaction time when colorful cartoon images are entire, will help to obtain the information on whether the participant can recall the color of the cartoon.

Since the distractors have no bearing on the task, interference cannot depend on various attention activities. Thus, the irrelevant-distractor paradigm represents a fundamental failing of focused attention and gives a relatively robust distractibility index. The test will therefore identify whether the participant was attentive when he or she can memorize the cartoon’s colors. Moreover, other measures of distraction using response-competition tasks have not consistently shown increased distractor interference in ADHD. A recent study using the irrelevant-distractor paradigm revealed strikingly increased distractor interference in adults diagnosed with ADHD compared with age-matched control participants.

Thus, we anticipated that the irrelevant-distractor paradigm would be a more sensitive measure of the attention-distractibility trait than a response-competition task. To establish a measure of the attention-distractibility trait, we examined whether this trait involves a reduced ability to improve attentional focus in conditions of high perceptual load. The task’s perceptual load level is a well-established, powerful determinant of distractor processing. High perceptual load in the task reduces or eliminates distraction because attentional resources are more fully engaged in processing the relevant stimuli. Would individuals prone to attention deficits also fail to engage more resources in tasks of higher perceptual load? Or would perceptual load be an effective remedy for all people alike?

Method

In this section, the participants of the test, the method design, materials that should be used to conduct the test, and the procedure for conducting the distraction test are provided to give sufficient information about how the study should be conducted to obtain accurate results for the research.

Participants

This research should involve 100 undergraduate students from one of the universities in the United States of America. In the sample, 80 should be ladies of a mean age of 18 with a standard deviation of 0.91 and a range of 20 should participate in this distractor experiment. Another group of students should be from a different class who have been previously diagnosed with ADHD but are not taking medication within the period of the experiment. The data of 5 participants should be excluded from analysis because their standard deviation is more significant than the required results or because of more time they have used to give the results about their ability to memorize the variables. Hence, this should be done to meet the experimental conditions. The results should also exclude 22 students because of their inability to recognize the cartoons and the similar and dissimilar letters. The participants will be offered partial course credit as a reward for the study.

Design

A 2 (Distractor: present, absent) x 2 (Distractor type, cartoons, objects) repeated-measures design will be used. The target position of 6 possibilities in the circle of letters should be used. The target identity will be the letter N or X. The dependent variable will be the participant’s reaction time (RT) in MS from the onset of the stimulus display until they press the correct key to identify the target letter. The percentage of correct responses is 100%, and the average response time will be 392 milliseconds. Achieve 100% accuracy in less time with distractors images in response to the letter X or N when it pops up on the screen.

The first dependent variable will be memory, defined as the number of words a participant correctly recalls from the word list, and the independent variable is the memory-instruction (and whether words on the test sound like remember-instructed or forget-instructed words. To prevent order effects, cartoons will be allocated to blocks 1 and 2, objects to blocks 3 and 4 for half the participants and objects to blocks 1 and 2, and cartoons to blocks 3 and 4 for the other half. Target identity, target position, distractor position, and distractor identity will be fully counterbalanced across IV conditions.

Materials

The materials that will be used are E-Prime software on IBM-compatible computers. The viewing distance should be approximately 50 cm. each trial should be recorded after 392 ms, followed by the immediate stimulus display, as shown in figure 1 below. The visual angle of the screen should be one degree.

Figure 1 shows how to arrange the materials.

Procedure

The entire class of 100 students completed the study, and a viewing distance was 57cm would be maintained for each participant. Then using, a string attached to the head of the participant with masking tape should be constant throughout the experiment. Each task trial should begin with a 500ms fixation followed immediately by a stimulus display of 100ms. Six letters will be arranged in a circular formation with a radius of 2 cm. and the (target letter should be X or N). Furthermore, the participant should respond quickly while pressing the “J” key if the target is X and the “I” key if the target is an N. In the high load condition, the non-target letters will be heterogeneous and set A, B, C, D, E, and F. all letters’ stimuli should be represented in grey on a black ground.

A tone sounded if an incorrect response was made or if no response was made. Participants will complete 6 practice trials followed by 24 practice trials. After eight 48-trial blocks of the main task, in which the load condition was randomly or predetermined between blocks, participants were given a rest period (counterbalanced between participants). The analysis does not include the first three trials in each block because they were designed as warm-ups (and were, therefore, always no-distractor trials).

Planned Analysis

Correct response times within 100 to 1500 milliseconds will be analyzed. The means for trials with and without visual stimuli for the cartoon and sound distraction technique types will be calculated, and the scores will be summed across trials in this way. The hypothesis will be tested by comparing the mean reaction time for trials with and without distractors across both distractor categories, with the expectation that reaction times will be higher for trials with distractors.

Trials with cartoon distractors are compared to trials with sound distractors to determine which is more disruptive based on the average reaction times of the two groups. To rule out the notion that participants responded more quickly in the blocks with cartoon distractors, we will compare the total mean reaction times for trials (with and without distractors) with those for sound distractors. By contrasting the average reaction times of trials with and without a distractor, we may determine whether or not both sounds and cartoons were a source of distraction.

Conclusion

In summary, the fundamental symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity are ubiquitous and long-lasting in those who have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The symptoms impact cognitive, intellectual, behavioral, emotional, and social functioning. Children’s temperament will influence how easily they become distracted and how well they can focus on details. Every kid has the quality of distractibility, which is one of ten universal characteristics. As a parent, knowing a kid’s temperament and how they process information may help to tailor parenting and the surrounding environment to make a child happier and more successful.

References

Cunningham, C. A., & Egeth, H. E. (2017). The capture of attention by entirely irrelevant pictures of calorie-dense foods. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 25(2), 586–595. Web.

Mora‐Macías, J., Giráldez‐Sánchez, M. Á., López, M., Domínguez, J., & Reina‐Romo, M. E. (2019). Comparison of methods for assigning the material properties of the distraction callus in computational models. International Journal for Numerical Methods in Biomedical Engineering, 35(9), e3227. Web.

Won, B.-Y., & Geng, J. J. (2020). Passive exposure attenuates distraction during visual search. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 149(10), 1987–1995. Web.

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