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Cited by 184Memory Processes and InfluencesMind wandering and attentionCognitive Functions and Memory

Memory failure predicted by attention lapsing and media multitasking

Open access
Madore, Kevin P., Khazenzon, Anna M., Backes, Cameron W., Jiang, Jiefeng, Uncapher, Melina R., Norcia, Anthony M., Wagner, Anthony D.·2020·Nature
DOI 10.1038/s41586-020-2870-zPMC PMC7644608
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Abstract

With the explosion of digital media and technologies, scholars, educators and the public have become increasingly vocal about the role that an 'attention economy' has in our lives 1. The rise of the current digital culture coincides with longstanding scientific questions about why humans sometimes remember and sometimes forget, and why some individuals remember better than others 2-6. Here we examine whether spontaneous attention lapses-in the moment 7-12, across individuals 13-15 and as a function of everyday media multitasking 16-19-negatively correlate with remembering. Electroencephalography and pupillometry measures of attention 20,21 were recorded as eighty young adults (mean age, 21.7 years) performed a goal-directed episodic encoding and retrieval task 22. Trait-level sustained attention was further quantified using task-based 23 and questionnaire measures 24,25. Using trial-to-trial retrieval data, we show that tonic lapses in attention in the moment before remembering, assayed by posterior alpha power and pupil diameter, were correlated with reductions in neural signals of goal coding and memory, along with behavioural forgetting. Independent measures of trait-level attention lapsing mediated the relationship between neural assays of lapsing and memory performance, and between media multitasking and memory. Attention lapses partially account for why we remember or forget in the moment, and why some individuals remember better than others. Heavier media multitasking is associated with a propensity to have attention lapses and forget.

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  • Numerous studies showed that media multitasking behavior could detrimentally affect cognitive ability, such as attention and memory.

    “numerous studies showed that media multitasking behavior could detrimentally affect cognitive ability, such as attention and memory (7–9).”

    From Media multitasking, depression, and anxiety of college students: Serial mediating effects of attention control and negative information attentional bias (2022) · cites this paper as [8]

    The paper’s Abstract reports that heavier media multitasking is associated with poorer memory performance and more attention lapses, consistent with the attention-and-memory portion of the claim. It also says longitudinal research is needed to determine whether media multitasking produces those differences or vice versa, so it does not establish a detrimental causal effect. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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  • This work provides a neurobiological basis for previous findings in humans that correlated pre-retrieval brain states with memory performance.

    “This work provides a neurobiological basis for previous findings in humans that correlated pre-retrieval brain states with memory performance.”

    From Infraslow histaminergic dynamics govern priming states to gate moment-to-moment memory accessibility (2026) · cites this paper as [32]

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1 of the 51 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. [40]Green DM & Swets JA Signal Detection Theory and Psychophysics (Wiley Press: New York, NY 1966).
  2. [47]Madore KP Dataset and analytic code for Memory failure predicted by attention lapsing and media multitasking. Retrieved from https://osf.io/zj7tb (2020). PMC7644608 33116309

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Authors
Madore, K. P., Khazenzon, A. M., Backes, C. W., Jiang, J., Uncapher, M. R., Norcia, A. M., & Wagner, A. D.
Affiliations
  • Stanford University (US)
  • University of California, San Francisco (US)
Corresponding author
  • Madore, Kevin P.
  • Wagner, Anthony D.
ORCID
Venue
Nature
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2020-10-28
Volume
587
Issue
7832
Pages
87-91
ISSN
  • 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
  • 1476-4687
DOI
10.1038/s41586-020-2870-z
PMC
PMC7644608
OpenAlex
W3095623676
Cited by
184
References
51
Citations by year
2026: 39 · 2025: 33 · 2024: 30 · 2023: 27 · 2022: 34 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 1
FWCI
10.94
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Nature (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institute on Aging (R01AG065255, F32AG059341)
  • National Institute of Mental Health (R56MH111672)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Mind wandering and attention
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Functions and Memory
Keywords
attentional lapses, media multitasking, memory failure, episodic memory, forgetting, sustained attention, pupil size, individual differences in memory, attention economy, digital media
MeSH terms
Memory Consolidation, Adolescent, Adult, Attention, Electroencephalography, Female, Goals, Humans, Male, Memory, Internet, Young Adult

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