Sustained attention is more closely related to long-term memory than to attentional control

Abstract

Individuals differ in their ability to sustain attention. However, whether differences in sustained attention reflect differences in processes related to attentional control and working memory or long-term memory (LTM) remains underexplored. In Experiment 1, we conducted an online study (n = 136) measuring participants sustained attention, attention control and working memory, and LTM. We measured sustained attention with an audio-visual continuous performance task (avCPT) in which participants responded to images while inhibiting responses to infrequent targets; attention control and working memory with Flanker, change localization, and Simon tasks; and LTM with recognition and source memory tests. Factor analyses revealed that sustained attention formed a distinct factor from attention control and working memory and LTM. Individual differences in the sustained attention factor robustly predicted individual differences in LTM and, to a lesser extent, attention control and working memory. In Experiment 2, to test how neural signatures of sustained attention related to attention control and working memory and LTM, we analyzed fMRI functional connectivity patterns collected as 20 participants performed the avCPT. A pre-trained connectome-based model of sustained attention predicted participants performance on out-of-scanner LTM, but not attention control and working memory, tasks. Together these results suggest that individual differences in sustained attention, although correlated with attention control and working memory, are more closely related to LTM.