Are Individual Differences in Absentmindedness Correlated with Individual Differences in Attention

We administered the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (CFQ) and one of two versions of the Attention Network Test (ANT) to 200 participants. Orthogonal subtraction scores based on performance (reaction time and error rate) from selected conditions of the ANT provided measures of the efficacy of three attention components: alerting, orienting, and executive control, while the total CFQ score provided a global measure of absentmindedness. Executive control was not associated with the CFQ in either experiment. When alertness was generated by a warning tone, greater alerting effects in reaction time were associated with higher CFQ scores (greater absentmindedness). The orienting effects in accuracy obtained from the two versions of the ANT varied with absentmindedness in opposite directions, suggesting that these two tests tap different aspects of orienting.

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