Outbreak News Affects the Attention in Everyday Life: A Cross-sectional Study

Abstract Objective: Capture of attention occurs when a goal-irrelevant salient stimulus appears in the field of attention. The COVID-19 pandemic seems to be salient enough to capture a great proportion of one’s attentional resources. The purpose of this study was to explore how the novelty of outbreak news affects attention in everyday life. Methods: 162 participants were recruited using an online invitation and divided into two samples (early and late sections). The variables—salience of news, intrusive thoughts, endogenous attention, and knowledge of COVID-19—have compared between two measurements using independent t-tests. Additionally, a correlational analysis was performed in order to reveal a model of relationships between variables. Results: It was found that despite the increase in infected cases, intrusive thoughts and attentional capture have decreased over time. To describe the relationship between salience of news and attentional capture a conceptual model is presented. Conclusion: In addition to the other physical properties of a stimulus, novelty also contributes to stimulus salience. In everyday life, novel situations can trigger intrusive thoughts and attentional capture. Nonetheless, it cannot be sustained after the novelty has worn off. The proposed model can be useful to understand further similar situations.