Abstract
The Theory of Visual Attention (TVA; Bundesen, 1990) provides a quantitative account of visual attentional selectivity and capacity but does not include a parameter relating to sustained attention. We conducted two studies to examine the relationship between sustained attention and the TVA parameters relating to selectivity and capacity. In the first study (n=46; mean age=41, SD=10), we investigated the effects of self alerting during a combined whole and partial report task (CombiTVA). In the second study, 70 participants (aged 20–69), performed the CombiTVA and the Sustained Attention to Response Task (Robertson, Manly, Andrade, Baddeley, & Yiend, 1997). The results indicated that attentional selectivity and capacity were unaffected by self alerting, unrelated to sustained attention ability and robust to the adverse effects of time-on-task. These findings are in keeping with the idea of independent functions relating to sustained attention and attentional selectivity and capacity.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to the Irish Research Council for the Humanities & Social Sciences and the European Science Foundation for supporting this research.