In this study, participants will be asked to do the following things:~Before their usual shift in the emergency department, arrive ten minutes early to rate their mood and complete a Digit Span Backwards (DSB) task that tests their memory of different sets of numbers.~Five hours into their shift, they will take a ten minute break.~During this break, they will be randomly assigned to view either a picture presentation of nature slides or urban slides.~After the presentation, they will complete the Digit Span Backwards task again, they will rate their mood again, then return to their shift.~Participation in this study will last up to 30 minutes. Approximately fifty individuals will participate in this study.
The purpose of this research study is to find out about how looking at different types of pictures can affect people's attention spans. Attention Restoration Theory (ART) suggests that there are two types of attention. One type (directed attention) can become tired and cause people to make mistakes. The other type (involuntary attention) gives directed attention a chance to rest, so people make less mistakes. Certain types of pictures are good at capturing involuntary attention. We think that capturing involuntary attention will help emergency physicians make less mistakes on tests of attention. This study will allow us to learn more about it.