How can we achieve a good measurement of attentional control?

Attentional control refers to the basic ability necessary to maintain a goal and goal-relevant features in the face of distraction. Many researchers conceptualize attentional control as a psychometric construct that can explain individual differences across experimental tasks and situations. However, recent research has challenged this idea by observing difficulties with establishing reliable and valid measures of attentional control. The goal of the present theoretical review is threefold: (1) to review and discuss the current methodological challenges that contribute to these difficulties, (2) to move beyond these methodological challenges to highlight theoretical challenges, and (3) to propose an approach combining formal modeling with experimental and correlational methods to address these methodological and theoretical challenges.