The Impact of Auditory Distraction on Reading Comprehension

Abstract

Background noise disrupts attention and impairs performance on cognitive tasks, but the degree to which noise is disruptive may depend on the task and the individual. Previous research suggests that a perceptually difficult task may shield attention from distractions, and that this “shield effect” is moderated by individual differences in working memory capacity (WMC). Here we examined the effect of auditory distraction on reading comprehension as a function of perceptual difficulty, type of auditory distraction, and WMC. Results indicated a main effect of perceptual difficulty, in which higher perceptual difficulty increased comprehension performance, and a main effect of distraction, in which content-related distraction significantly impaired comprehension performance. However, the auditory distraction effect did not vary as a function of perceptual difficulty or WMC. Overall, contrary to previous research, the results indicate neither a shield effect of perceptual difficulty against auditory distraction nor a relationship between the shield effect and WMC.