Inattention over time-on-task: The role of motivation in mitigating temporal increases in media multitasking

Allison C. Drody ^1* Effie J. Pereira ² James Danckert ¹ Daniel Smilek ¹

• ¹ University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada
• ² Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

Numerous studies have demonstrated that attention and performance decline with time-ontask. In modern contexts, this gradual fading of attention can manifest as increases in media multitasking over time. Across two studies, we investigated whether increasing individuals' motivation to perform well on a task mitigates temporal increases in media multitasking. Study 1 reanalysed data from Ralph and colleagues ( 2021), who provided participants with standard or motivating instructions before having them complete a sustained attention task with the option to media multitask. Results revealed that increases in media multitasking and corresponding decreases in task performance over time were attenuated as a function of increased motivation. Study 2 extended this work by critically assessing in-the-moment motivation through thought probes throughout the task. Patterns of media multitasking and performance resembled those of Study 1.Moreover, motivation was found to decrease with time-on-task for both groups, however this decline was more gradual in the motivated group. Our findings suggest that increasing the value individuals assign to attending to their current task may aid in prolonging sustained attention. These findings align with recent theories of vigilance that attribute temporal decrements in attention and performance to varying cost-benefit analyses rather than a depletion of resources over time.