Anti-distraction learning: focused attention, task engagement, and flow under cognitive interference

Yang, Shengying; Chen, Sinian; Gui, Jing; Liu, Pinxi · 2026 · DOAJ

DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1795811

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Summary

This study investigates how individuals sustain flow experience—a state of deep immersion and focused engagement—within contemporary learning environments characterized by persistent cognitive interference and environmental noise. While existing literature extensively documents the disruptive effects of distractions on task performance, less attention has been paid to how immersive states emerge when interruptions are routine rather than occasional. The authors address this gap by examining the regulatory roles of focused attention and task engagement in mediating the relationship between disruptive conditions and flow. The research aims to determine whether flow depends solely on distraction-free environments or can be maintained through active attentional regulation and behavioral persistence amidst ongoing interference. The researchers collected questionnaire data from 647 individuals engaged in everyday learning activities. The study modeled cognitive interference and environmental noise as contextual conditions, focused attention and task engagement as mediating mechanisms, and flow experience as the outcome variable. To evaluate the proposed relationships, the authors employed hierarchical regression analysis, bootstrap mediation tests, and alternative model specifications within a scripted analytical environment. This design allowed for the simultaneous examination of how attentional stabilization and behavioral engagement influence the likelihood of achieving flow under disruptive conditions. The results indicate that both cognitive interference and environmental noise remain significantly associated with flow experience even after accounting for regulatory mechanisms. Focused attention demonstrated the strongest association with flow and mediated the relationship between cognitive interference and immersive experience, suggesting that attentional stabilization is central to sustaining immersion during disruption. Conversely, task engagement contributed to continued task activity but showed a smaller, negative indirect pathway to flow, indicating that behavioral persistence does not necessarily translate into experiential immersion. Additionally, the study found no support for a sequential mediation pathway linking interference, focused attention, task engagement, and flow. These findings suggest that immersive experience can persist under continuing disruption, challenging the notion that flow requires distraction-free environments. Instead, flow in contemporary learning contexts may emerge through the repeated stabilization of attention during ongoing interruptions. The study concludes that attentional regulation preserves experiential continuity, while task engagement sustains behavioral continuity, allowing immersion to remain achievable in interference-rich environments. This distinction implies that while behavioral persistence keeps individuals engaged in tasks, it is the active regulation of attention that facilitates the psychological state of flow. The research highlights the importance of viewing attention not merely as a resource depleted by interference, but as an active regulatory system that can shield task processing from external distraction, thereby supporting immersive learning despite persistent environmental noise.

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• cognitive