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Effects of distraction on memory and cognition: a commentary

Overview of attention for article published in Frontiers in Psychology, July 2014
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About this Attention Score

  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (98th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (94th percentile)

Mentioned by

news
9 news outlets
blogs
2 blogs
twitter
7 X users
facebook
1 Facebook page

Citations

dimensions_citation
40 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
170 Mendeley
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Title
Effects of distraction on memory and cognition: a commentary
Published in
Frontiers in Psychology, July 2014
DOI 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00841
Pubmed ID
Authors

Fergus I M Craik

Abstract

This commentary is a review of the findings and ideas reported in the preceding nine articles on the effects of distraction on aspects of cognitive performance. The articles themselves deal with the disruptive effects of distraction on recall of words, objects and events, also on visual processing, category formation and other cognitive tasks. The commentary assesses the part played by "domain-general" suppression of distracting information and the "domain-specific" competition arising when tasks and distraction involve very similar material. Some forms of distraction are meaningfully relevant to the ongoing task, and Treisman's (1964) model of selective attention is invoked to provide an account of findings in this area. Finally, individual differences to vulnerability to distraction are discussed; older adults are particularly affected by distracting stimuli although the failure to repress distraction can sometimes prove beneficial to later cognitive performance.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 7 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 170 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
South Africa 1 <1%
Unknown 169 99%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Bachelor 31 18%
Student > Ph. D. Student 26 15%
Student > Master 16 9%
Student > Postgraduate 14 8%
Student > Doctoral Student 10 6%
Other 25 15%
Unknown 48 28%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Psychology 66 39%
Neuroscience 14 8%
Engineering 6 4%
Medicine and Dentistry 6 4%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 5 3%
Other 24 14%
Unknown 49 29%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 83. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 11 March 2024.
All research outputs
#514,089
of 25,466,764 outputs
Outputs from Frontiers in Psychology
#1,054
of 34,529 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#4,596
of 239,913 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Frontiers in Psychology
#23
of 386 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,466,764 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 97th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 34,529 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 13.3. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 96% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 239,913 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 98% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 386 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 94% of its contemporaries.