Sustained attention and how to improve it in the classroom

The educational system according to Epstein (2011) is continually seeking to enhance the learning experience of their students and the teacher’s ability to impart and the students‟ to retain classroom material. One such ability is to sustain attention that an individual gives to a task, be this over seconds to minutes (Kalechstein, Newton, & van Gorp, 2003). According to Schmidt et al (2009) sustained attention is a core cognitive function that plays a critical role in daily functioning and is directly linked to academic and employment performance along with learning, memory, and executive functions (Silver and Feldman (2005). There is however a major issue with sustained attention, that being sustained task led to progressively worse performance over time termed, vigilance decrement (Warm, Dember, & Hancock, 1996). The vigilance decrement has been proposed as the individual’s accuracy to critical signals that require an infrequent response (Finomore et al, 2009) and when an individual is fatigued and faced with monitoring an environment for a prolonged period without a break, the vigilance decrement is particularly severe (Van Dongen, Belenky, & Krueger, (2011). Understanding the process that causes the vigilance decrement is seen as important as according to Mallis, Banks, & Dinges, 2007) the impact to education and work setting can be problematic to the overall cognitive fatigue and performance. The Microlapse Theory of Fatigue which is consistent with the Resource Theory of fatigue suggests that sustained attention tasks are strenuous and cause depletion in resources faster than they can be replaced (Gunzelmann et al, 2010). One difference between The Microlapse Theory of Fatigue and the Resource Theory of fatigue is that The Microlapse Theory of Fatigue describes the resource that is depleted in more detail when performing sustained attention tasks and how this resource depletion impacts the individual’s cognitive performance (Warm, Parasuraman, and Matthews, 2008). The Microlapse Theory of Fatigue outlines that central cognition is related to the supervisory attentional network, as the main resource that becomes depleted during the performance of a sustained attention task (Stewart, Bekolay, & Eliasmith, 2012). In contrast, the Resource Theory of fatigue states that the mind, like a muscle, becomes tired with use and that during a sustained attention task, the mind becomes fatigued when attention is continuously required (Warm, Parasuraman, and Matthews, 2008). This continuous attention then causes cognitive resources to be depleted faster than they can be replaced (Stewart, Bekolay and Eliasmith, 2012). The Microlapse Theory of Fatigue posits that the ability of central cognition to match, select, and execute cognitive actions becomes increasingly difficult when fatigued (Stewart, Bekolay, & Eliasmith, 2012) as well as when sustained attention for a prolonged period (Gartenberg, 2012). It has been proposed by Stewart, Bekolay, & Eliasmith (2012) that the basal ganglia are taxed due to fatigue or time-on-task, cognitive actions are not matched, selected, and executed, resulting in a microlapse of attention and with increased fatigue and time-on-task, the likelihood of a microlapse also increases. This microlapse results in fewer cognitive actions from occurring and the inability to process the necessary information to respond (Gartenberg, 2012). This microlapse then causes vigilance decrement (Gartenberg et al, 2014). Opposing the Microlapse Theory of Fatigue and the Resource Theory is the Schema Theory that posits that the vigilance decrement is due to under-arousal rather than stress and over-arousal (Manly et al., 1999). It has been mentioned by Gartenberg (2016) that the under and over-arousal mechanism, the Schema Theory, involves the entrenchment of well-learned, routine responses that are represented as schemas (Manly et al, 1999). One area of concern with the Schema Theory is that when the If a task has a high routine and becomes repetitive, attentional control is required to suppress the schema and provide an alternative response and as the sustained attention task progresses, it becomes increasingly difficult for attentional control to suppress the schema and the vigilance decrement occurs (Vorauer and Turpie, 2004). Sustained attention involves several neural networks with different functions (Petersen & Posner, 2012) and there are many ways to improve one or more of these functions and thereby improve the efficiency (Tan and Posner, 2009). Research within sustained attention and vigilance decrement has found that those who regularly play action video games have demonstrated improved performance in a range of cognitive areas, including those areas that are most often used when performing sustained attention tasks (Schmidt et al, 2012). This improved performance according to Chiappe et al (2013) is driven by instant feedback of performance, variability of training, motivation, focused learning, and increasing levels of difficulty. The time needed playing action video games regarding the improvement in sustained attention and to avoid vigilance decrement is ongoing, however, it is suggested for future research that any investigation of sustained attention and the vigilance decrement should be at least 30 minutes in duration (Brooks, Speelman and Campitelli, 2015). A study by Green and Bavelier (2003) attempted to investigate video games effect on sustained attentional networks and found that those participants who had experience playing video games, the individuals who have played an action video game at least one hour per day four days per week performed better during visual attentional tasks when compared to participants who had little or no video gameplay. Regarding video games in education, Mayo (2009) suggest that well-designed computer game will encourage interaction, visualization, experimentation, exploration, randomness, expansion of thought and creativity in the virtual playing environment. Mayo (2009) also suggest that video-based format has many advantages over the traditional school approach for example a) Games can be adapted to the individual pace of the learner. b) Games can give learners immediate and continuous feedback. c) Through games complex tasks can be broken down to guide players through a series of small steps. d) Learners can control navigation. e) Game-based tasks may require learners to formulate hypotheses and to experiment. Videogames give users practice with maintaining vigilance over long periods, ignoring distractions, improving sustained attention, and making fast motor responses (Bavelier, Achtman and Föcker, 2012) though more research is needed as according to Mayo (2009) video games may be the future in improving sustained attention in education.