Sequential pattern learning and its associations with inattentive and hyperactive concerns in college students

Abstract

College students frequently experience inattentive and hyperactive concerns. In multiple independent samples and three randomised experiments, we examined multiple versions of a short performance‐based measure translated from basic research on how organisms learn sequential stimuli patterns when such patterns are interleaved with information that is irrelevant to the pattern being learned. In one experiment, performance was uniquely related to self‐reported inattentive and hyperactive concerns, taking into account performance on a widely used inhibitory control task (Study 1, n = 20). In the two other experiments, randomly assigned variants of this measure demonstrated that: (a) relations among performance and inattentive and hyperactive concerns could be identified regardless of irrelevant stimuli positioning (Study 2, n = 60), and (b) one could reverse the relation between performance and inattentive and hyperactive concerns by visually enhancing distinguishing features of irrelevant stimuli (Study 3, n = 20). The findings have significant implications for multi‐method assessments of inattentive and hyperactive concerns in college settings.

Keywords:

• sequential pattern learning
• inattention and hyperactivity
• performance‐based measurement
• college undergraduates
• serial pattern learning

Notes

1. The first and the second author agreed to share primary authorship of this article, with order determined randomly by toss of a fair coin.