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Abstract
The ability to sustain attention is a fundamental cognitive process that is required for many everyday activities. Current measurement approaches focus on either objective behavioral indicators (like reaction time [RT] variability or task accuracy) or subjective self-reports of task-unrelated thoughts (TUTs) as being suitable assessments for sustained attention. However, both types of indicators come with their own unique sources of measurement error, which reduce our accuracy in measuring sustained attention ability and weaken the conclusions we can draw from their findings. In this integrated dissertation, three papers are presented to argue that the covariation between objective and subjective indicators is a more construct-valid way to measure the ability to sustain attention than is either indicator type on its own. The results generally supported this claim, with some caveats. Theoretical implications, remaining concerns, and future directions are discussed to further improve the measurement of sustained attention ability.