Dr Sophie Forster

I am interested in attention, with a particular focus on understanding forms of attentional failure that are common to daily life – for example, becoming distracted by entirely irrelevant stimuli in the external environment, or by our own thoughts. My research addresses questions such as ‘What makes certain people particularly vulnerable to distraction?’, ‘What makes certain stimuli particularly distracting, or particularly powerful to engage our attention?’ and ‘Is distraction from both external and internal (i.e. mind-wandering) sources determined by common mechanisms?’. Another aim of my research is to establish objective laboratory correlates of subjectively reported attention problems (e.g., in the context of clinical disorders such as Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder).

Publications

Forster, S., Robertson, D.J., Jennings, A., Asherson, P., Lavie, N. (in press). Plugging the attention deficit: Increasing perceptual load counters increased distraction in adults with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Neuropsychology.

Forster, S., Lavie, N. (in press). Distracted by your mind?: Individual differences in distractibility predict mind wandering. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition

Forster, S. (2013). Distraction and mind-wandering under load. Frontiers in Psychology. 4: 283

Bishop, S.J., Forster, S. (2012). Trait anxiety, neuroticism and the brain basis of vulnerability to affective disorder. In: J. Armony, P. Vuilleumier (Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Human Affective Neuroscience, Cambridge University Press, UK.

Forster, S., Lavie, N. (2011). Entirely irrelevant distractors can capture and captivate attention. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review 18 (6), 1064-1070

Forster, S., Lavie, N. (2009). Harnessing the wandering mind: High perceptual load minimizes task-unrelated thoughts. Cognition. 111 (3), 345-355.

Forster, S., Lavie, N. (2008). Failures to Ignore Entirely Irrelevant Distractors: The Role of Load. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied. 14, 73-78.

Forster, S., Lavie, N. (2008). Attentional capture by entirely irrelevant distractors. Visual Cognition. 16(2-3), 200-214.

Forster, S., Lavie, N. (2007). High perceptual load makes everybody equal: Eliminating individual differences in distractibility with load. Psychological Science. 18(5), 377-382.

Forster, Sophie (2013) Distraction and mind-wandering under load. Frontiers in Psychology, 4. p. 283. ISSN 1664-1078

Bishop, Sonia and Forster, Sophie (2013) Trait anxiety, neuroticism and the brain basis of vulnerability to affective disorder. In: The Cambridge handbook of human affective neuroscience. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107001114

Forster, Sophie and Lavie, Nilli (2011) Entirely irrelevant distractors can capture and captivate attention. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 18 (6). pp. 1064-1070. ISSN 1531-5320

Forster, Sophie and Lavie, Nilli (2009) Harnessing the wandering mind: the role of perceptual load. Cognition, 111 (3). pp. 345-355. ISSN 0010-0277

Forster, Sophie and Lavie, Nilli (2008) Failures to ignore entirely irrelevant distractors: the role of load. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 14 (1). pp. 73-83. ISSN 1076-898X

Forster, Sophie and Lavie, Nilli (2008) Attentional capture by entirely irrelevant distractors. Visual Cognition, 16 (2-3). pp. 200-214. ISSN 1350-6285

Forster, Sophie and Lavie, Nilli (2007) High perceptual load makes everybody equal: eliminating individual differences in distractibility with load. Psychological Science, 18 (5). pp. 377-381. ISSN 0956-7976