Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38012476›Full record

ArticleAttention, perception & psychophysics2024

A combined experimental-correlational approach to the construct validity of performance-based and self-report-based measures of sustained attention.

Matthew S Welhaf, Michael J Kane

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Attention, perception & psychophysics, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Effects of emotional valence of mind wandering on sustained attention performance.Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition · 2025
    Pooled it
  2. Article
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  7. Age-Related Differences in Mind Wandering: The Role of Emotional Valence.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2024
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Matthew S WelhafDepartment of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, P.O. Box 26170, Greensboro, NC, 27402-6170, USA. wmatt@wustl.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2826-5268
Michael J KaneDepartment of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, P.O. Box 26170, Greensboro, NC, 27402-6170, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6965-5430

Funding

AGING AND DEVELOPMENTT32AG000030 · NIA · WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · PI DENISE HEAD, Jeffrey M Zacks · 1985 to 2026
$9.7M
NIA NIH HHS T32 AG000030
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The ability to sustain attention is often measured with either objective performance indicators, like within-person RT variability, or subjective self-reports, like mind wandering propensity. A more construct valid approach, however, may be to assess the covariation in these performance and self-report measures, given that each of these is influenced by different sources of measurement error. If the correlation between performance-variability and self-report measures reflects the sustained attention construct, then task manipulations aimed at reducing the sustained attention demands of tasks should reduce the correlation between them (in addition to reducing mean levels of variability and mind wandering). The current study investigated this claim with a combined experimental-correlation approach. In two experiments (Ns ~ 1,500 each), participants completed tasks that either maximized or minimized the demand for sustained attention. Our demand manipulations successfully reduced the mean levels of sustained attention failures in both the objective and subjective measures, in both experiments. In neither experiment, however, did the covariation between these measures change as a function of the sustained attention demands of the tasks. We can therefore claim only minimal support for the construct validity of our measurement approach to sustained attention.

Indexed as

AttentionHumansSelf ReportConstruct representationConstruct validityMind-wanderingReaction time variabilitySustained attention

Identifiers

PMID38012476
PMCPMC11134599

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.