Overload but guide: impact of environment saturation on attention and working memory under real and digital conditions

Психологические исследования: электронный научный журнал. 2025. Vol. 18. No. 101. Article 6.

Anufrieva A., Gorbunova E. S.

The digital environment surrounds us everywhere. However, little is known about the differences between digital and real environments impact on cognitive functions. Initially, the present study aims to juxtapose attention and working memory (WM) under digital and real conditions. In Experiment 1, attention and WM were compared under real (paper) and digital (computer) conditions using modifications of classical methods. The findings demonstrated that attentional sustainability and visual WM were superior in real conditions. This may speak to the overloading influence of the digital environment (vs. real). Experiment 2 was conducted to elucidate mechanisms influencing attentional shifting and sustainability in digital environments with varying the saturation (SAT). SAT is an environmental interactivity that determines who or what (human or artifact) initiates an action and monitors its progress. We varied aspects of SAT, such as perceptual feedback (the hover effect) - changes in the state or colour of interface elements in response to human actions. According to findings, the attentional sustainability task was executed more successfully in a saturated digital environment, yet this pattern was not observed for attentional shifting. Thus, the digital environment overloads attention compared to the real due to greater SAT. However, reduced SAT in the digital environment leads to worse attention compared to the one where SAT is present. Consequently, SAT in the digital environment plays the guiding role.

Keywords: внимание, attention, working memory, рабочая память, цифровизация, Digitalization of life, человек-цифровое взаимодействие, HDI

Publication based on the results of: Cognitive processes in the information environment: phenomena and explanatory models (2025)