Dear Colleagues,

we would like to invite you to upcoming Brain Imaging Meeting organized by Laboratory of Brain Imaging (LOBI) and Laboratory of Language Neurobiology (LLN). The seminar will take place on Wednesday Feb. 24, 2021 at 2.30 PM, via google meet platform under the link: https://meet.google.com/jgm-qefb-mre

During the meeting Paweł Jakuszyk Msc - LLN will present a talk entitled:

Can I have your attention please: The impact of smartphone-related distractions on sustained attention in light and heavy smartphone users - an EEG study

Smartphones have become ubiquitous in the modern world. However, it remains vague whether and how a relation with mobile devices affects our cognitive functioning. Hence, in this study we investigated the impact of smartphone-related auditory distractions and smartphone usage on sustained attention. 31 participants were asked to perform a Continuous Performance Task in 3 separate conditions: one with a smartphone-related distractor, one with a neutral auditory distractor, and finally one without any distracting sounds. In addition to behavioral measures, electrophysiological methods were utilized in order to test in-depth effects on attentional and distractor processing. In order to examine whether smartphone usage has an effect on our attentional processing and to obtain objective usage characteristics a tracking mobile application was installed on participant’s smartphones. The results indicated that both (smartphone related and neutral) distractors had no impact on task performance. However, the participants exhibited a stronger orienting reaction towards a smartphone related distractor. Moreover, increased social media app usage appeared to change attentional target processing and prolonged the indexing of the distracting stimuli. These findings show preliminary evidence that smartphone usage might negatively influence our ability to keep attention focused on one task, as well as our capability to filter out and process smartphone-related auditory distractions. The matter of smartphone-related cognitive alterations is quite contemporary and uncharted. Because of the hasty development of technology and the fact that we are becoming more and more dependent on it, further research is necessary to help us better understand those relations and their implications.

See you there!
Brain Imaging Meeting Team
https://lobi.nencki.gov.pl/meetings/