On the use of adjustable distraction as a measure to determine sustained attention during movie clips

Secondary task reaction time has been applied to measure the cognitive effects of movies, but has generally not produced convincing results when utilized to measure presence. We hypothesize that mixed results could be due to factors which prolong simple reaction time. This paper seeks to investigate the stability of a time independent alternative method (the adjustable distraction method) by testing it in relation to two other methods (heart rates and subjective intensity ratings) applied for measuring presence. In a comparison study 23 subjects were exposed to the three methods, with the aim of finding common and discrete patterns in the obtained results. The study showed that both the subjective ratings and the heart rates shared a common pattern, while the adjustable distraction method showed a discrete pattern. We speculate that this pattern emerged due to the great variance found in the participants' ability to perceive vibrations. In future research of the method we recommend extending it with a screening process to create uniform vibration perception thresholds.