Attention Contagion Online: Attention Spreads Between Students in a Virtual Classroom

(In)attentiveness can spread between students in the same learning environment, affecting their learning (Forrin et al., 2021). The present study is the first to investigate whether this phenomenon-attention contagion-extends to virtual classrooms when students have their webcams on. Undergraduate student participants (n = 74) watched a prerecorded lecture along with research confederates who were visible in "webcam video thumbnails." The confederates behaved either attentively or inattentively. Consistent with attention contagion, students who watched the lecture with attentive (vs. inattentive) confederates reported being more attentive and they learned more of the lecture content-performing 12% better on a postlecture quiz. They also perceived the lecture as more important, suggesting that social inferences (e.g., "this lecture is important") may undergird attention contagion. These novel findings indicate that the influence of webcams on students' learning depends, in part, on whether classmates are visibly attentive or inattentive. Attention is contagious online. General Audience Summary The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly affected education systems worldwide by causing an abrupt transition to online learning. Following this transition, undergraduate students reported a decreased ability to pay attention to lectures (Hicks et al., 2021), highlighting the timeliness of research that elucidates factors influencing attention online. We investigated one potentially important factor: the (in)attentiveness of students' classmates. Specifically, we tested the hypothesis that (in)attentiveness spreads between students (i.e., "attention contagion") during an online lecture. In a simulated virtual classroom, undergraduate student research participants-who had their webcams on-watched a 30-min video lecture. Four of those students (seemingly other participants) visible in "webcam video thumbnails" during the lecture were, in fact, members of the research team trained to behave attentively or inattentively. When the four visible students were attentive (vs. inattentive), their classmates reported being more attentive, estimated engaging less often in inattentive behaviors (e.g., checking their phone), and performed 12% better on a subsequent lecture-content quiz. Thus, we found strong support for (in)attentiveness spreading in virtual classrooms-and that this "attention contagion" meaningfully affects learning. Moreover, students' impressions of the importance o