Seli Paul
Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Conscious Cogn. 2016 Apr;41:189-98. doi: 10.1016/j.concog.2016.02.017. Epub 2016 Mar 3.
There is an ongoing debate about the mechanisms purported to underlie performance in the Sustained-Attention-to-Response Task (SART). Whereas the Attention-Lapse account posits that SART errors result from attentional disengagement, the Motor Decoupling account proposes that SART errors result from failures to inhibit a fast, prepotent motor response, despite adequate attention to the task. That SART performance might be fully accounted for by motor decoupling is problematic for a Attention-Lapse account, and for the use of the SART as an index of attention lapses. To test whether SART performance is in fact fully accounted for by motor decoupling, I examined the relation between SART performance and attention lapses while controlling for motor decoupling. The results were clear: The SART was associated with attention lapses independently of motor decoupling. Thus, the present study suggests that both accounts are correct and that the SART is a valid measure of attention lapses.
关于持续注意反应任务（SART）中表现背后的机制，目前存在着一场争论。注意力分散假说认为，SART错误是由注意力脱离引起的；而运动解耦假说则提出，SART错误是由于尽管对任务有足够的注意力，但未能抑制快速的优势运动反应所致。运动解耦可能完全解释SART表现，这对于注意力分散假说以及将SART用作注意力分散指标来说是个问题。为了测试SART表现是否实际上完全由运动解耦来解释，我在控制运动解耦的同时，研究了SART表现与注意力分散之间的关系。结果很明确：SART与注意力分散相关，且与运动解耦无关。因此，本研究表明这两种假说都是正确的，并且SART是注意力分散的有效测量指标。
