A ‘Distraction Effect’ of Noise Bursts

Perception ◽  
1972 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shirley Fisher
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Noise Burst ◽  
Processing Stage ◽  
Distraction Effect ◽  
Close Analysis ◽  
Response Task

The experiment was designed to investigate the effects of 2 s, 80 dB noise bursts on a five-choice serial response task, using ‘close’ analysis of data. A localised effect of noise burst onset was reported. This effect was confined to the distribution of ‘first responses’, following noise burst onset but not ‘offset’, and occurred on only a proportion of trials. Detailed analysis of the occurrence of the brief delays suggested that there was no systematic occurrence, that the information processing stage of the on-going serial response might be important, and, finally, that ‘distraction’ and not ‘paralysis’ provided a better description of the mechanism of the effect.

The ‘Distraction Effect’ and Information Processing Complexity

Perception ◽  
1973 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shirley Fisher
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Single Channel ◽  
Processing System ◽  
Processing Load ◽  
Distraction Effect ◽  
Stimulus Response ◽  
Serial Task ◽  
Response Task ◽  
Additional Explanation

It was found earlier that a transient ‘distraction effect’ was apparent when 80 dB noise bursts occurred at random during an on-going serial-response task. Experiments are now reported in which the information processing ‘load’ of the on-going serial task was varied (a) by the introduction of increased stimulus predictability, or (b) by the introduction of stimulus–response incompatibility. On the notion that the information processing system acts as a single channel, with increased stimulus predictability there should be a reduced distraction effect, because there would be more capacity available for responding to noise bursts whilst maintaining serial task performance; the reverse should be true for the case of increased stimulus–response incompatibility. Results suggested that the ‘distraction effect’ was reduced in both cases. An additional explanation suggesting that the information processing load of the task itself determined whether or not the noise bursts were providing effective rivalry with the task signals is considered.

scholarly journals Effect of inhibition indexed by auditory P300 on transmission of visual sensory information

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. e0247416
Author(s):  
Amirmahmoud Houshmand Chatroudi ◽  
Reza Rostami ◽  
Ali Motie Nasrabadi ◽  
Yuko Yotsumoto
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Information Processing ◽  
Effective Connectivity ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Processing Stage ◽  
Memory Updating ◽  
Auditory P300 ◽  
Brain Correlates ◽  
Working Memory Updating

Early electroencephalographic studies that focused on finding brain correlates of psychic events led to the discovery of the P300. Since then, the P300 has become the focus of many basic and clinical neuroscience studies. However, despite its wide applications, the underlying function of the P300 is not yet clearly understood. One line of research among the many studies that have attempted to elucidate the underlying subroutine of the P300 in the brain has suggested that the physiological function of the P300 is related to inhibition. While some intracranial, behavioral, and event-related potential studies have provided support for this theory, little is known about the inhibitory mechanism. In this study, using alpha event-related desynchronization (ERD) and effective connectivity, based on the causal (one-way directed) relationship between alpha ERD and P300 sources, we demonstrated that P300’s associated inhibition is implemented at a higher information processing stage in a localized brain region. We discuss how inhibition as the primary function of the P300 is not inconsistent with ’resource allocation’ and ’working memory updating’ theories about its cognitive function. In light of our findings regarding the scope and information processing stage of inhibition of the P300, we reconcile the inhibitory account of the P300 with working memory updating theory. Finally, based on the compensatory behavior of alpha ERD at the time of suppression of the P300, we propose two distinct yet complementary working memory mechanisms (inhibition and desynchronizing excitation) that render target perception possible.

Interviewing academic elites: a discourse analysis of shifting power relations

2020 ◽  
pp. 146879412092420
Author(s):  
Kaushalya Perera
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
Contextual Factors ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Cooperative Interaction ◽  
Close Analysis ◽  
Interactional Features

In interviews with privileged individuals such as academics, power relations become particularly salient and explicit. Investigating how shifts in power relations are manifested in the interview allows us to understand the workings of power in academia as well as in the research process. This article presents a close analysis of selected segments of interviews with academics in elite positions to illustrate this. Comparisons between collaborative and non-cooperative interaction in the interview show interactional features that characterise such dynamics. By providing a reflexive and detailed analysis of interview episodes that characterise both cooperation and a refusal to cooperate, the article illustrates the significance of understanding discursive and contextual factors that are relevant to the management of interviews.

The Microstructure of Dual-Task Interaction. 1. The Patterning of Main-Task Responses within Secondary-Task Intervals

Perception ◽  
1975 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 267-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shirley Fisher
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Dual Task ◽  
Secondary Task ◽  
Main Task ◽  
Task Instructions ◽  
Random Occurrence ◽  
Attention Process ◽  
Serial Task ◽  
Response Task ◽  
The Way

The patterning or microstructure of a situation where subjects were presented with two sets of information from two independent ‘high decision’ information processing tasks, was investigated. Thirty-two subjects worked at the five-choice serial-response task (designated by instructions to be the main task), whilst being presented with a transformation task which required that seven had to be added to a presented auditory digit (designated by instructions to be the secondary task). Results suggested that subjects were not able to process two streams of information in parallel, and that the way in which the attention process was ordered was partly a function of task instructions and partly a function of the random occurrence of each digit in relation to the on-going serial task. Results also gave support to the view that the locus of disruption was the production of the response to the secondary task. Explanations of this effect are considered.

Multimodal Measures of the Energetic Demands of Information Processing in a Suboptimal Environment

1993 ◽  
Vol 37 (19) ◽  
pp. 1393-1397
Author(s):  
Arthur M. Ryan ◽  
Richard W. Backs
Keyword(s):  
Feature Extraction ◽  
Information Processing ◽  
Visual Memory ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Processing Stage ◽  
Allocation Policy ◽  
Response Choice ◽  
Variable Capacity ◽  
Auditory Noise ◽  
Choice Processing

Twenty-four male volunteers participated in a study in which the feature extraction and response choice information processing stages of a visual memory task and the environment in which the task was performed were manipulated in order to assess the specificity of energetic demands. Ambient auditory noise was a state variable that was predicted to directly affect the energetic mechanism supporting the feature extraction processing stage and to indirectly affect the energetic mechanism supporting the response choice processing stage. Several classes of dependent measures were taken including performance, cardiovascular, pulmonary, and metabolic in order to isolate effects upon energetic mechanisms. The present study did not support the proposition of multiple energetic mechanisms. Instead, the combination of a single variable-capacity energetic resource with a flexible allocation policy to the processing stages was a better fit to the results.

Hue-Tone Sensory Interaction: A Negative Result

1971 ◽  
Vol 33 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1327-1330 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ira H. Bernstein ◽  
Thomas R. Eason ◽  
D. L. Schurman
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Sensory Interaction ◽  
Tone Frequency ◽  
Processing Stage ◽  
Location Selection ◽  
Color Selection ◽  
Selective Effects

Choice reaction times (RT) were obtained from four trained Ss to red vs blue targets in four conditions. In three conditions, a noninformative tone occurred on half the trials and could be (a) low frequency, (b) high frequency, or (c) either high or low frequency. Tone never occurred in the fourth condition. As previously observed, tone occurrence produced a nonselective reduction in RT. Contrary to some studies where tone selectivity facilitated detection of blue as opposed to red targets, no such selective effects were obtained. As prior studies (Bernstein & Edelstein, 1971) have found tone frequency to interact with RT to targets differing in location (above vs below fixation), it was concluded that the information-processing stage for color selection is different from the stage for location selection.

Laterality Effects in Visual Information Processing: Hemispheric Specialisation or the Orienting of Attention?

1982 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Schwartz ◽  
Kim Kirsner
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Visual Fields ◽  
Verbal Ability ◽  
Cognitive Capacity ◽  
Perceptual Information ◽  
Stimulus Probability ◽  
Processing Stage ◽  
Match Task ◽  
Hemispheric Specialisation

The notion that visual laterality patterns may be attributable to attentional allocation rather than hemispheric specialisation was examined in three experiments. In Experiment I, high verbal ability subjects were found to be less lateralised on a letter name match task than low verbals. In Experiment II, stimulus probability was shown to affect laterality patterns for name but not for physical matches. Again, low verbals were affected more than highs. Experiment III produced results identical to those of Experiment II although, in the latter experiment, visual fields were defined vertically rather than horizontally from the midline. Together, these results support the following generalisations: (1) visual asymmetries have their locus in a post-perceptual information processing stage; (2) visual asymmetries may be altered by manipulating stimulus probability; (3) verbal ability differences in laterality may not reflect neuroanatomical differences but merely cognitive capacity and (4) it may be unnecessary to invoke differential hemispheric specialisation in order to account for visual lateral asymmetries.

scholarly journals Linking the brain with behaviour: the neural dynamics of success and failure in goal-directed behaviour

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda K Robinson ◽  
Anina N Rich ◽  
Alexandra Woolgar
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Perceptual Information ◽  
Information Coding ◽  
Perceptual Decision Making ◽  
Time Resolved ◽  
Incorrect Decision ◽  
Stimulus Response ◽  
Response Task

The human brain is extremely flexible and capable of rapidly selecting relevant information in accordance with task goals. Regions of frontoparietal cortex flexibly represent relevant task information such as task rules and stimulus features when participants perform tasks successfully, but less is known about how information processing breaks down when participants make mistakes. This is important for understanding whether and when information coding recorded with neuroimaging is directly meaningful for behaviour. Here, we used magnetoencephalography (MEG) to assess the temporal dynamics of information processing, and linked neural responses with goal-directed behaviour by analysing how they changed on behavioural error. Participants performed a difficult stimulus-response task using two stimulus-response mapping rules. We used time-resolved multivariate pattern analysis to characterise the progression of information coding from perceptual information about the stimulus, cue and rule coding, and finally, motor response. Response-aligned analyses revealed a ramping up of perceptual information prior to a correct response, suggestive of internal evidence accumulation. Strikingly, when participants made a stimulus-related error, and not when they made other types of errors, patterns of activity initially reflected the stimulus presented, but later reversed, and accumulated towards a representation of the incorrect stimulus. This suggests that the patterns recorded at later timepoints reflect an internally generated stimulus representation that was used to make the (incorrect) decision. These results illustrate the orderly and overlapping temporal dynamics of information coding in perceptual decision-making and show a clear link between neural patterns in the late stages of processing and behaviour.

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