{"pk":49923,"title":"Short Intervention during Sustained Attention Tasks Preserve Performance Without Reducing Mind-Wandering","subtitle":null,"abstract":"Despite extensive evidence that performance declines over time in sustained attention tasks, questions remain about whether interventions such as short breaks can address this issue. This study investigated the effects of a rest-break vs. task-switch during the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) on task performance and mind-wandering (MW) frequency. In addition to measuring performance via accuracy and reaction time (RT), drift-diffusion modeling (DDM) was implemented to assess performance, and the effectiveness of the interventions was evaluated across different mental states (on-task vs. off-task). Results showed that both interventions preserved accuracy compared to the no-break group. The rest-break intervention maintained stable no-go drift rates, while the task-switch intervention showed an increase in boundary separation. However, neither intervention reduced rates of MW. Additionally, the effects of interventions were more pronounced when participants reported being on-task. These findings suggest that short breaks can help sustain performance, yet do not necessarily halt MW.","language":"eng","license":{"name":"","short_name":"","text":null,"url":""},"keywords":[{"word":"Psychology; Other; Computational Modeling; Quantitative Behavior"}],"section":"Papers with Poster Presentation","is_remote":true,"remote_url":"https://escholarship.org/uc/item/61r4n434","frozenauthors":[{"first_name":"Siyu","middle_name":"","last_name":"Chen","name_suffix":"","institution":"Emory University","department":""},{"first_name":"Andrea","middle_name":"","last_name":"Stocco","name_suffix":"","institution":"University of Washington","department":""},{"first_name":"Brianna","middle_name":"","last_name":"Yamasaki","name_suffix":"","institution":"Emory University","department":""}],"date_submitted":null,"date_accepted":null,"date_published":"2025-01-01T18:00:00Z","render_galley":null,"galleys":[{"label":"PDF","type":"pdf","path":"https://journalpub.escholarship.org/cognitivesciencesociety/article/49923/galley/37885/download/"}]}