Attention sustainability and shifting in the digital environment

Perception. 2021. Vol. 50. No. 1S. P. 69–69.

Anufrieva A., Gorbunova E. S.

The digital environment surrounds us everywhere and
influences our cognitive system. Very few studies aimed
to find mechanisms of how the digital environment influences
visual attention. In two experiments, we attempted
to investigate how the complexity of the digital environment
affects visual attention and user’s performance.
Attentional sustainability and shifting were measured in
“simple” and “complex” conditions. Participants were presented
with an online planner. In the “simple” condition, no
element changed its state or colour under the user’s action.
In complex condition, each element was interactive (changed
its state and colour under the user’s action). Modified
Burdon test was used to estimate sustainability and shifting
of attention. In both tasks, participants were asked to
remember three words and search for slots with those
words on the planner for 1 minute. In the shifting task, in
addition, participants switched their target word by auditory
signal, which occurred every 15 seconds. Obtained
results showed that attention is less sustainable in “simple”
condition, what was reflected in lower accuracy of the
Burdon test performance. There were no differences in
estimated attentional shifting. We suggest that attention is
directed by the interface’s cues (changes in state and colour)
in the “complex” condition, whereas such guidance
is absent in the “simple” condition. At that point, visual
cues may organize attention and improve efficiency in the
case of the “complex” environment.

Keywords: attention, design of digital systems