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Visual distraction

Intervention

1 paper3 findings

C, W, M, H: cells, worms or flies, mice, humans. Dark: independent labs found the same change there. Light: one lab or one study. Outline: nothing yet.

Labs are independent when their papers share no last author and no institution.

Against: findings that point the other way from most findings on the same outcome.

On aging: the drug’s trials ARN judged to be about aging, of every trial that tests it for any use.

No results posted: trials that ended more than a year ago with no results on ClinicalTrials.gov and no paper in ARN’s record.

Company ties: findings with an author at a company, or from a paper whose competing-interests statement declares ties to one.

  • 1 lab in 1 country
  • Funder: Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
  • Humans1

Outcomes

3

Rate of discourse topic divergence

upin humans1

1 study

  1. Visual distraction increases rate of discourse topic divergence in humans.

    “responses diverged from the original topic more quickly than in the other conditions. This effect was only present in older participants.”

    Human trialmeaningful distractors compared with other conditions; effect present only in older participantsimages of meaningful concepts

    Effects of visual distractors on discourse coherence in young and older adults: A test of the inhibitory deficit hypothesis

    Psychology and aging3 Jul 2025

Speech rate

downin humans1

1 study

  1. Visual distraction decreases speech rate in humans.

    “Participants also spoke more slowly under distraction.”

    Human trialeffect did not differ between age groups

    Effects of visual distractors on discourse coherence in young and older adults: A test of the inhibitory deficit hypothesis

    Psychology and aging3 Jul 2025

Global discourse coherence

downin humans1

1 study

  1. Visual distraction impairs global discourse coherence in humans.

    “The overall global coherence of responses was lower when participants were distracted (cf. no distraction) but this effect was not larger for meaningful distractors.”

    Human trialcompared with no distraction; effect did not differ between age groupsmeaningful concept images or meaningless abstract patterns

    Effects of visual distractors on discourse coherence in young and older adults: A test of the inhibitory deficit hypothesis

    Psychology and aging3 Jul 2025

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