INVESTIGATING INSTRUCTIONAL MODIFICATIONS TO REVERSE ATTENTIONAL DECAY IN ADULTS

Abstract

Attention is a finite resource, and individuals can only focus on a limited amount of information at any given time. Regulating attention during instructional activities requires significant effort and poses challenges not only for children but also adults. Additionally, there is limited understanding of how long individuals can sustain selective attention during instruction. This study utilizes eye-tracking technology to objectively examine attentional decline during a college lecture and to investigate whether interpolating the lecture with instructional activity helps replenish attention and benefit learning. A sample of 64 adults watched a geography screencast lecture while a mobile eye tracker measured attention shifts throughout the lecture. The findings indicate a main effect of time on attention, with a significant interaction between time and condition on attention. Pairwise comparisons reveal a general decline in attention across all conditions, with a significant decline in the Control condition as compared to the Quiz condition. Participants in the Quiz condition had the least numerical decline as compared to the Control and Case Study conditions. Additionally, attentional decay was significantly associated with participants’ learning outcomes, though there was no significant effect of condition on learning gains —potentially due to the limited sample size.