Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Attention: feedback focuses a wandering mind

Neurofeedback that tracks attentional focus in real time using fMRI and alerts subjects to impending lapses by modulating the difficulty of the task itself has been demonstrated to improve behavioral performance.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Real-time neurofeedback.

Katie Vicari/Nature Publishing Group

References

  1. Kane, M.J. et al. Psychol. Sci. 18, 614–621 (2007).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Schooler, J.W. et al. Trends Cogn. Sci. 15, 319–326 (2011).

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. deBettencourt, M.T., Cohen, J.D., Lee, R.F., Norman, K.A. & Turk-Browne, N.B. Nat. Neurosci. 18, 470–475 (2015).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Kane, M.J. & Engle, R.W. Psychon. Bull. Rev. 9, 637–671 (2002).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Unsworth, N., Fukuda, K., Awh, E. & Vogel, E.K. Cogn. Psychol. 71, 1–26 (2014).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. Turner, M.L. & Engle, R.W. J. Mem. Lang. 28, 127–154 (1989).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Mrazek, M.D. et al. J. Exp. Psychol. Gen. 141, 788–798 (2012).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Unsworth, N., Redick, T.S., Lakey, C.E. & Young, D.L. Intelligence 38, 111–122 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Morrison, A.B. & Chein, J.M. Psychon. Bull. Rev. 18, 46–60 (2011).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Thorndike, E.L. & Woodworth, R.S. Psychol. Rev. 8, 247–261 (1901).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Jaeggi, S.M., Buschkuehl, M., Jonides, J. & Perrig, W.J. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 105, 6829–6833 (2008).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  12. Klingberg, T., Forssber, H. & Westerberg, H. J. Clin. Exp. Neuropsychol. 24, 781–791 (2002).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Caroll, J.B. Human Cognitive Abilities: a Survey of Factor-Analytic Studies (Cambridge University Press, 1993).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  14. Redick, T.S. et al. J. Exp. Psychol. Gen. 142, 359–379 (2013).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Mrazek, M.D., Franklin, M.S., Phillips, D.T., Baird, B. & Schooler, J.W. Psychol. Sci. 24, 776–781 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Edward Awh or Edward K Vogel.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Awh, E., Vogel, E. Attention: feedback focuses a wandering mind. Nat Neurosci 18, 327–328 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3962

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3962

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing