Sustained Attention in the Presence of a Smartphone: Does Reward Expectation Matter?

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Abstract
Empirical evidence on whether the presence of a smartphone reduces attentional resources is mixed, suggesting additional factors are involved. The current study examines one such factor, namely the presence (or absence) of reward expectations. In a lab experiment, 111 participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions (no smartphone present, smartphone present, or smartphone present with induced reward-message expectation). They completed a Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) before and after the manipulation. Results indicate that the presence of a smartphone reduced reaction-time performance on the SART, but that reward expectations did not lead to an additional performance decrement. Exploratory analysis indicated that individuals higher in online vigilance showed greater attentional disruption in both the smartphone presence and reward expectation conditions. Together, these findings suggest that smartphone-related attentional costs may depend more on reward history and stable individual differences than on momentary reward anticipation.