A busier mind is not uniformly a more distractible one — it depends what it is busy with.
Load changes distractibility, and the direction depends on which load. Increasing visual working-memory load at encoding or maintenance reduced distractor interference, while loading verbal working memory increased it (pooled r = −.31 across 56 participants). Raising perceptual load cut task-unrelated thoughts from 60.06% to 44.87%.
Watch updates to this exact claim in PaperFren's curated coverage. Email is optional: monthly on Free, weekly on paid, or daily on Pro. Enable it in Brief settings.
Evidence over time
Study dates show publication years. Coverage and review dates show when PaperFren updated this claim. This timeline does not reconstruct unrecorded past judgments.
Sources and limits
Citation roles describe each study's relationship to this claim. Their counts do not measure evidence strength. This page reuses the published finding; it adds no new synthesis.
[1] Supports · 2014
How different types of memory load affect visual distractionThis study does not show how these visual memory load effects would apply to non-visual modalities like touch or hearing. The visual search task also specifically used a low perceptual load, meaning these findings might not apply to complex search environments where target stimuli are harder to find. Finally, several of the individual experiments relied on relatively small samples, such as only twelve participants in Experiment 2a.
Original paper[2] Supports · 2009
Can loading your vision stop your mind from wandering?The study relies entirely on self-reports via thought probes, which cannot capture unconscious thought processes that might still occur under high load. Because the sample sizes were small, with only ten participants in the first experiment and twelve in the second, the statistical power may be limited. Additionally, while high perceptual load reduces mind-wandering, testing the impact of cognitive or working memory load remains highly challenging because working memory is directly required to generate thoughts in the first place.
Original paper
Review and correction history
No recorded updates or reviewed changes for this claim yet. Its current sources are shown above.
Report an error