Attention, distraction, and cognitive control under load
Abstract
The extent to which people can focus attention in the face of irrelevant distractions has been shown to critically depend on the level and type of information load involved in their current task. The ability to focus attention improves under task conditions of high perceptual load but deteriorates under conditions of high load on cognitive control processes such as working memory. I review recent research on the effects of load on visual awareness and brain activity, including changing effects over the life span, and I outline the consequences for distraction and inattention in daily life and in clinical populations.
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Load theory proposes that attention selection operates at each level of processing and depends on task demands at each level.
“One recent influential view is load theory (Lavie, 2005(Lavie, , 2010)), which proposes that attention selection operates at each level of processing (which is capacity-limited) and depends on task demands at each level.”
From Anxiety and attention to threat: cognitive mechanisms and treatment with attention bias modification (2016) · cites this paper as Lavie, 2010
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“Studies using such load manipulations have shown that irrelevant distraction (measured, for example, with response competition and attentional capture effects) is increased with higher cognitive control load (Lavie et al., 2004; Fig.”
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- Authors
- Lavie, N.
- Affiliations
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London
- Venue
- Current Directions in Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2010-06
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 143-148
- ISSN
- 0963-7214 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-8721
- OpenAlex
- W2095898844
- Semantic Scholar
- e4470654b2e921d6823d6760a2c038fa6da3401d
- Cited by
- 673
- References
- 23
- Citations by year
- 2026: 44 · 2025: 49 · 2024: 38 · 2023: 46 · 2022: 45 · 2021: 54 · 2020: 51 · 2019: 75 · 2018: 53 · 2017: 39 · 2016: 40 · 2015: 36 · 2014: 35 · 2013: 31 · 2012: 17
- FWCI
- 13.38
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Current Directions in Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Wellcome Trust
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition › Visual Attention and Saliency Detection
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
- Keywords
- attention, distraction, cognitive control, information load, perceptual load, working memory, visual awareness, brain activity, aging, inattention, clinical populations
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