Attention Training

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Attention
• Interventions: Behavioral: breath attention training; Behavioral: working memory attention training

• Registration Number: NCT01518738
• Lead Sponsor: University of Wisconsin, Madison

Brief Summary

The purpose of this study is to understand whether attention training is effective in moderating mind wandering.

Detailed Description

Our subjective worlds are built from those things in our internal and external environments that capture our attention. Environments can be ambiguous with respect to which objects are most important for our attention, and the characteristics of stimuli that allow them to dominate attention are thus of great interest. Self-relevant objects, such as internally generated experience (e.g. thought), may receive substantial attention, but research on this dimension has been hampered by the difficulty of measuring such objects experimentally. The proposed study seeks to make headway in this area using several behavioral (accuracy, response time, response pattern) measures, with the hypothesis that internally generated experience will vie for attention in a way reflected by behavior. Such research will extend previous work the investigators' lab has done studying stimulus parameters that influence attention, and as a whole may present a more complete picture of how objects and attention interact to shape our worlds.

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2012-01-13
• Study First Submitted QC: 2012-01-23
• Study First Posted: 2012-01-26
• Study Start: 2012-02
• Primary Completion: 2012-11
• Study Completion: 2012-11
• Status Verified: 2014-06
• Last Update Submitted: 2014-06-03
• Last Update Posted: 2014-06-05

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 94

Inclusion Criteria

• Must be able to use a computer

Exclusion Criteria

Not provided

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
breath attention training	breath attention training	-
working memory attention training	working memory attention training	-

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
change in mind wandering frequency after intervention	before intervention and up to 100 weeks later	mind wandering will be assessed with self-report to intermittent queries such as "just now, was your attention on the present task or unrelated concerns?" Frequency of endorsement will serve as a measure of frequency of mind wandering (ranging in units from 0 - 100% of the time).

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

University of Wisconsin Brogden Psychology Building; 🇺🇸 Madison, Wisconsin, United States