Modulating rest-break length induces differential recruitment of automatic and controlled attentional processes upon task reengagement

Rest breaks are commonly administered as a countermeasure to reduce on-the-job fatigue, both physical and mental. However, this practice makes the assumption that recovery from fatigue, as measured by the reversal of performance declines, is the sole effect of taking a break on behavior. Here, through administering rest breaks of differing lengths in between blocks of a mentally demanding symbol decoding task, we show that this assumption may not be strictly true. First, we replicate previous work by showing that taking a longer break leads to two correlated effects: greater immediate rebound in performance, and greater subsequent time-on-task decline. Using fMRI, we reveal that time-on-task in this paradigm is associated with increasing recruitment of fronto-parietal areas associated with top-down control, and decreasing deactivation in the default-mode network. Finally, by analyzing individual differences, we reveal a potential neural basis for our behavioral observation: greater recovery following long breaks is associated with greater activity in the putamen, an area associated with the automatic generation of motor responses, followed by greater activity in left middle frontal gyrus by the end of those task periods. Taken together, this suggests a shift in the implicit engagement of automatic and controlled attentional processing following longer breaks. This shift may be undesirable or detrimental in real-world situations where maintaining a stable level of attention over time is necessary. •Longer breaks during a task lead to more recovery but steeper time-on-task declines.•Greater recovery correlates with putamen activity on task reengagement.•Greater prefrontal activity occurs at the end of blocks following long breaks.•Automatic and controlled processes may both play a role in time-on-task declines.