| In the era of intelligent media,the rapid development of the Internet and information technology has not only increased the time of individuals’ online activities,but also changed the way individuals use media,that is,more and more people tend to engage in media multitasking activities.The relationship between media multitasking and cognition is not only a major scientific frontier subject,but also an important practical problem that needs to be solved urgently.As an important part of the cognitive process,attention plays an important role in the daily work,study and life of individuals.However,the relationship between media multitasking and attention has not yet reached a unified conclusion.Moreover,previous studies mainly focused on cognitive processing of static stimuli,while few studies have explored media multitaskers’ attention abilities for dynamic cues.Therefore,this study is to explore the differences in attention control among media multitasking users of different degrees in a dynamic stimulus environment.The following three studies were carried out:To test the applicability of the Media Multitasking Scale(MMS)to Chinese college students,the first study selected 400 college students to complete the scale as well as Media Multitasking Questionnaire(MMQ)and Attentional Control Scale(ACS).The results of the study found that the reliability and validity indexes of the scale were good,which was suitable for college students.The average media multitasking index of college students was 3.72±1.22,while individuals were most likely to multitask when they were using instant social media,and media multitasking could negatively predict attention control.The second study conducted multiple identity tracking task to explore the dynamic visual attention difference between the high media multitaskers(HMM)and the low media multitaskers(LMM)under different cognitive loads.The results of the study found that the tracking accuracy rate of the HMM was significantly lower than that of the LMM[F(1,44)=4.88,p<0.05,η2=0.10].When tracking 4 targets,there is no significant difference in tracking accuracy between two groups,but when tracking 5 targets,the tracking accuracy of the HMM is significantly lower than that of the LMM[F(1,44)=5.77,p<0.05].In addition,when there was no difference in characteristics between the target stimulus and the interference stimulus,the tracking accuracy of subjects in the HMM is significantly lower than that of the LMM group[F(1,44)=7.78,p<0.01];but there was no significant difference of the two groups in other situations.This study indicated that the relationship between media multitasking and attention might be affected by cognitive load.However,this study still focused on general neutral stimuli,so the further exploration in different contextual stimuli would conduct in the next study.The third study examined the dynamic visual attention of HMM and LMM in different scenarios.The results found that the average tracking capacity of HMM was lower than LMM[F(1,45)=4.20,p<0.05,η2=0.09].When the interference stimulus was neutral,the tracking capacity of HMM to neutral stimulus was significantly lower than that of LMM[F(1,45)=5.45,p<0.05],but there was no significant difference in the tracking capacity of media-related stimulus between the two groups.When the interference stimulus was media-related,the tracking capacity of media-related stimuli in HMM was significantly lower than that in LMM[F(1,45)=7.75,p<0.01],but there was no significant difference in the tracking capacity of media-related stimuli between the two groups.It was found that the relationship between media multitasking and dynamic visual attention was moderated by cognitive load,and the influence of media multitasking on attention was not only reflected in neutral scenes,but also in specific media-related scenes.The findings not only enriched the existing research on media multitasking and cognition,but also provided important reference for the guidance and intervention of media multitasking behavior. |
PDF Full Text Request