Mechanisms and measurement of attention in laboratory tasks versus naturalistic learning contexts

Abstract Translation of laboratory-derived metrics to quantify learning in naturalistic settings is an important goal in neuroscience. In the current study we tested if a common neural metric of visual attention, alpha-range (8–12 Hz) oscillations, generalizes from laboratory to naturalistic learning. We recorded electroencephalography (EEG) in eighty 6–10-year-old children while they participated in naturalistic learning activities and during a laboratory spatial working memory task ( n = 51 final sample). We found that alpha power during the activities did not correlate with event-related alpha power modulations (ERMs) during stimulus processing in the laboratory task, a common indicator of visual attention. By contrast, multiple control analyses showed the expected relationships among baseline activity, task-related modulation and behavioral performance. These results suggest that alpha ERMs during task processing reflect different neural processes of visual attention than alpha power during learning activities – potentially reflecting additional contributions from arousal, motivation or motor activity in naturalistic environments. These findings suggest that laboratory-derived neural metrics of visual attention may not directly generalize to naturalistic learning, highlighting the need to consider multiple contributing processes when translating laboratory-derived neural metrics to naturalistic learning.