Summary
We often choose to distract our minds, either externally (e.g., looking at our phone) or internally (e.g., thinking about weekend plans). It is currently not clear how, when, or why we (choose to) become distracted, nor do we have a mechanistic understanding of flow states, in which there is minimal distraction. This is a pressing issue, as distraction is omnipresent in our society, obstructing our capacity to focus both on personal goals and the many challenges humanity faces. To advance our understanding on how distraction occurs, we must overcome the current practice in which different attentional states are studied in isolation. I propose to capture the different research fields on attention in a single space defined by the dimensions “direction” (external vs. internal) and “locus” (on-task vs. distracted), distinguishing four attentional states (i.e., On-Task-External, On-Task-Internal, External Distraction, and Mind Wandering). The objective of the MIND-FLOW project is to map the dynamical transitions between these states and to causally influence the amount of time people spend in each of them. I will use behavioral measures, eye-tracking, and pupillometry to capture these states and quantify the dwelling times and a transition matrix through computational modeling. Inspired by recent empirical work on attention switching and neurobiological models of mind wandering, I hypothesize (i) the existence of an Off-Focus state through which these dynamical transitions occur, (ii) that internal bias and goal value determine which areas are visited most, and (iii) that contextual manipulations can alter the relative times spent in each area. I will test these predictions by a model-comparison approach and within-subject experimental manipulations of context volatility and task difficulty. Bridging these different fields of attentional research will increase cross-talk between them and provide building blocks for interventions targeting healthy attentional engagement.
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More information & hyperlinks
| Web resources: | https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101152092 |
| Start date: | 01-08-2025 |
| End date: | 31-07-2027 |
| Total budget - Public funding: | - 210 911,00 Euro |
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Original description
We often choose to distract our minds, either externally (e.g., looking at our phone) or internally (e.g., thinking about weekend plans). It is currently not clear how, when, or why we (choose to) become distracted, nor do we have a mechanistic understanding of flow states, in which there is minimal distraction. This is a pressing issue, as distraction is omnipresent in our society, obstructing our capacity to focus both on personal goals and the many challenges humanity faces. To advance our understanding on how distraction occurs, we must overcome the current practice in which different attentional states are studied in isolation. I propose to capture the different research fields on attention in a single space defined by the dimensions “direction” (external vs. internal) and “locus” (on-task vs. distracted), distinguishing four attentional states (i.e., On-Task-External, On-Task-Internal, External Distraction, and Mind Wandering). The objective of the MIND-FLOW project is to map the dynamical transitions between these states and to causally influence the amount of time people spend in each of them. I will use behavioral measures, eye-tracking, and pupillometry to capture these states and quantify the dwelling times and a transition matrix through computational modeling. Inspired by recent empirical work on attention switching and neurobiological models of mind wandering, I hypothesize (i) the existence of an Off-Focus state through which these dynamical transitions occur, (ii) that internal bias and goal value determine which areas are visited most, and (iii) that contextual manipulations can alter the relative times spent in each area. I will test these predictions by a model-comparison approach and within-subject experimental manipulations of context volatility and task difficulty. Bridging these different fields of attentional research will increase cross-talk between them and provide building blocks for interventions targeting healthy attentional engagement.Status
SIGNEDCall topic
HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01-01Update Date
22-11-2024
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