Distractions abound. They can come from internal conflicts between a well-established habit and an intended goal, and they can come from external stimulation irrelevant to current goals. An example of the former is driving on the left when one is used to driving on the right; an example of the latter is ignoring a pop-up notification on a computer screen when typing a manuscript. How do such distractions affect ongoing cognition? We present a new method for studying both sorts of distraction. This talk will serve as a vehicle for introducing this method and then applying it to two issues: Is the mitigation of distraction mediated by a common mechanism? Can external sources of distraction be proactively inhibited?