Relationship between Intrinsic Task Motivation and Attentional Lapses among Young Adults

Description

Satakshi Bansal¹, Dushyant Raghav², and Pooja Saini³ (Department of Clinical Psychology, Madhav University, Rajasthan^1,3 and Department of Psychology & Mental Health, Gautam Buddha University, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh²)

Attention is a mental capacity which tends to vary during the course of carrying out any given task, leading to attention lapses (ALs) such as mind-wandering, distractibility, and transient attention loss. Although cognitive limitations are often identified as the cause of such lapses, motivational factors, especially intrinsic task motivation (ITM), could also play an important part in attention allocation. This research aimed at examining the link between ITM and ALs in young people. A quantitative correlational research design was adopted with a cross-sectional approach and a purposive sample of 110 participants (students & working persons) aged between 18 and 25 years. Data was obtained through online self-reported measures using the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI) (Ryan, 1982; Deci et al., 1994) measuring Interest/Enjoyment, Effort/Importance, and Value/Usefulness, and the Mind-Wandering Questionnaire (MWQ) (Mrazek et al., 2013). Descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation coefficients, and one-sample t-tests were applied. All ITM subscales were significantly higher than their respective theoretical midpoints, along with attentional lapses. Significant negative correlations were found between mind wandering and Interest/Enjoyment (r = −.306, p = .001) and Effort/Importance (r = −.279, p = .003), indicating that higher interest and effort were associated with fewer mind-wandering tendencies. No significant correlation was found for Value/Usefulness (r = +.041, p = .668). A weak but significant negative correlation was also found between IMI Total and mind wandering (r = −.223, p = .019). These findings suggest that motivation, particularly interest and effort, may play an important role in attentional stability.