Improved Attention and Performance Monitoring in High Procrastinating Students After Positive Relative to Negative Norm-Referenced Feedback

Procrastination is an irrational delay of task completion. Previous studies have demonstrated that individuals who often procrastinate present deficits in attentional control and performance monitoring and that these dysfunctions might be differentially manifested depending on the motivational context. Building upon these results, the present event-related potential (ERP) study aimed to investigate the impact of norm-referenced feedback on executive functions among students with high (HP; N = 75) or low (LP; N = 77) procrastination levels. Participants completed the parametric Go/No-Go task, while receiving either positive or negative false feedback indicating how well they performed in comparison to others. The results indicated that positive (as opposed to negative) feedback led to higher self-reported arousal and increased post-error slowing in HP (vs. LP) participants. Moreover, neurophysiological measures indicated lower neural activation linked to attentional control (P300) and performance monitoring (ERN, CRN and Pe) in HP than LP participants, while the groups did not differ in these indices during the positive feedback condition. Obtained findings indicate that HP might be more sensitive to the motivating effects of success and more vulnerable to the detrimental influence of failure

“I can’t focus now, I will study tomorrow” - The link between academic procrastination and resistance to distraction.

Procrastination is a tendency to delay tasks, despite knowing that it might lead to negative consequences. Previous studies have shown that students who frequently procrastinate, present difficulties with maintaining attention during task completion. These problems might be related to decreased resistance to distraction caused by task-irrelevant stimuli appearing in the surrounding environment. In the present study we verified this hypothesis investigating the relationship between procrastination and susceptibility to distraction with the use of behavioral and neurophysiological measures. We recruited high (HP) and low (LP) procrastinating students and asked them to perform an Auditory Visual Distraction task which required participants to respond to visual stimuli and ignore the preceding sounds. Although HP (vs. LP) did not show increased orientation of attention towards distracting sounds, they were still less attentive to task-relevant stimuli. These results indicate that procrastination-related attentional deficits might be linked to other sources of distraction, such as mind-wandering episodes

Can poor control over thoughts and emotions contribute to higher tendency to delay tasks? The relationship between procrastination, emotional dysregulation and attentional control.

A tendency to procrastinate has been previously linked to low attentional control and poor emotion regulation skills. Building upon on these findings, in the present study we investigated whether the relationship between procrastination and attention can be mediated by emotion dysregulation and dispositional mind-wandering. Participants completed questionnaires along with the Attentional Networks Test for Interactions and Vigilance — executive and arousal components. The results showed that procrastination is inversely related to some indices of executive and arousal vigilance. Moreover, the emotion dysregulation and dispositional mind wandering fully mediated these relationships. Obtained findings suggest that lower attentional control might exacerbate chronic procrastination through difficulties in managing emotional reactions and poor control over the focus of one’s thoughts