Directed Attention as a Common Resource for Executive Functioning and Self-Regulation

Abstract

Research on executive functioning and on self-regulation have each identified a critical resource that is central to that domain and is susceptible to depletion. In addition, studies have shown that self-regulation tasks and executive-functioning tasks interact with each other, suggesting that they may share resources. Other research has focused specifically on restoring what we propose is the shared resource between self-regulation and executive functioning. Utilizing a theory-based natural environment intervention, these studies have found improvements in executive-functioning performance and self-regulation effectiveness, suggesting that the natural environment intervention restores this shared resource.

The propagation of self-control: Self-control in one domain simultaneously improves self-control in other domains.

“…Without additional assumptions, the limited resource model does not make different predictions for simultaneous versus sequential acts of self-control (Kaplan & Berman, 2010;Muraven & Baumeister, 2000). As a result, theoretical reasons for expecting different outcomes for simultaneous as opposed to sequential acts of self-control have long been absent, which may also explain why there is such a dearth of research studying simultaneous self-control exertion.…”

Attention Restoration Theory: A systematic review of the attention restoration potential of exposure to natural environments

“…This ability is finite and may become fatigued. Attention fatigue may occur when there is a need to focus on a specific stimulus or task with little or no intrinsically motivational draw, while suppressing distractions that may be inherently more interesting, with an example being filling in a tax return while your children are playing in the yard (Kaplan 1995;Kaplan and Berman 2010). Attentional fatigue is important, not least because it is associated with poorer decision making and lower levels of self-control, which in turn have been linked to a variety of healthrelated issues such as obesity via increasingly understood neural and behavioral pathways (Fan and Jin 2013;Hare, Camerer, and Rangel 2009;Vohs et al 2008).…”

“…More than half the world's population lives in urban areas. From a psychological perspective, urban lifestyles impose increasing demands on our cognitive resources (Kaplan and Berman 2010). According to ART these enhanced demands on directed attention may be linked to attention fatigue (Kaplan 1995;Kaplan and Kaplan 1989).…”

“…Relaxing settings (such as places of worship) and activities (such as sleep) may provide restorative opportunities, but ART argues that nature may be particularly useful because it has an "aesthetic advantage" (Herzog et al 2010;Kaplan and Berman 2010;Kaplan and Kaplan 1989). It is suggested that sending time in the natural world allows individuals the opportunity for "reflection" and consideration of unresolved issues (Herzog et al 1997;Kaplan and Berman 2010).…”

Ambivalent stereotypes link to peace, conflict, and inequality across 38 nations

“…For instance, income inequality worsens social cohesion (e.g., refs. 4,5), quality of governance supports wellbeing (6), and natural environments improve self-regulation (7). Here, conflict within and between societies can predict group stereotypes.…”