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Prolonging the response movement inhibits the feed-forward motor program in the sustained attention to response task

Wilson, Kyle M.; de Joux, Neil R.; Finkbeiner, Kristin M.; Russell, Paul N.; Retzler, Jenny R.; Helton, William S.

Authors

Kyle M. Wilson

Neil R. de Joux

Kristin M. Finkbeiner

Paul N. Russell

Jenny R. Retzler

William S. Helton



Abstract

Despite widespread use in clinical and experimental contexts, debate continues over whether or not the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) successfully measures sustained attention. Altering physical aspects of the response movement required to SART stimuli may help identify whether performance is a better measure of perceptual decoupling, or response strategies and motor inhibition. Participants completed a SART where they had to manually move a mouse cursor to respond to stimuli, and another SART where this extra movement was not required, as in a typical SART. Additionally, stimuli were located at either a close or a far distance away. Commission errors were inversely related to distance in the manual movement condition, as the farther distance led to longer response times which gave participants more time to inhibit prepotent responses and thus prevent commission errors. Self-reported measures of mental demand and fatigue suggested there were no differences in mental demands between the manual and automatic condition; instead the differences were primarily in physical demands. No differences were found for task-unrelated thoughts between the manual and automatic condition. The movement effect combined with participants' subjective reports are evidence for time dependent action stopping, not greater cognitive engagement. These findings support a response strategy perspective as opposed to a perceptual decoupling perspective, and have implications for authors considering using the SART. Applied implications of this research are also discussed.

Citation

Wilson, K. M., de Joux, N. R., Finkbeiner, K. M., Russell, P. N., Retzler, J. R., & Helton, W. S. (2018). Prolonging the response movement inhibits the feed-forward motor program in the sustained attention to response task. Acta Psychologica, 183, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2018.01.001

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jan 2, 2018
Online Publication Date Jan 18, 2018
Publication Date Feb 28, 2018
Deposit Date Mar 28, 2018
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Acta Psychologica
Print ISSN 0001-6918
Electronic ISSN 1873-6297
Publisher Elsevier
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 183
DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2018.01.001
Keywords Attention; SART; Sustained attention; Speed–accuracy trade-off; Response inhibition; Mind-wandering
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/917522
Publisher URL https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691817302822?via%3Dihub

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