Effects of information processing load in abstinent and nonabstinent smokers' psychomotor task performance

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.

Download Full-text

The effects of alcohol alone or in combination with other drugs on information processing, task performance and subjective responses

Human Psychopharmacology Clinical and Experimental ◽

10.1002/(sici)1099-1077(199801)13:1<1::aid-hup939>3.0.co;2-0 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 1-9 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

J. S. Kerr ◽

I. Hindmarch

Keyword(s):

Information Processing ◽

Task Performance ◽

Subjective Responses ◽

Processing Task

Download Full-text

Time Estimation Methods—Do They Influence Prospective Duration Estimates?

Perception ◽

10.1068/p220091 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 22 (1) ◽

pp. 91-101 ◽

Cited By ~ 100

Author(s):

Dan Zakay

Keyword(s):

Information Processing ◽

Positive Relationship ◽

Negative Relationship ◽

Estimation Method ◽

Time Estimation ◽

Estimation Methods ◽

Clock Time ◽

Processing Load ◽

Attentional Model ◽

Time Length

The validity of an attentional model of prospective time estimation was tested in three experiments. In the first experiment two variables were manipulated: (1) nontemporal information processing load during the estimated interval, and (2) time estimation method, ie production of time simultaneously with the performance of a second task, or reproduction of time immediately upon termination of a task whose duration has to be measured. As predicted, a positive relationship between produced time length and information processing load demanded by a simultaneous task, and a negative relationship between reproduced time length and information processing load during the estimated interval, were found. The results were replicated in a second experiment in which verbal estimates of time were also measured and the objective duration of the estimated interval was varied. The pattern of results obtained for verbal estimates was similar to that obtained for reproduced ones. The results of a third experiment indicated that produced and reproduced times were positively correlated with clock time. The results are interpreted as supporting an attentional model of prospective time estimation.

Download Full-text

Distinguished Scholars Invited Essay: Becoming a Good Sport and a Better Performer: A Social Information Processing View of Authentic Leadership

Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies ◽

10.1177/1548051817740323 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 25 (2) ◽

pp. 141-152

Author(s):

Chester A. Schriesheim ◽

Yonghong Liu

Keyword(s):

Information Processing ◽

Task Performance ◽

Social Information Processing ◽

High Performance ◽

Authentic Leadership ◽

Social Information ◽

Social Information Processing Theory ◽

Processing Theory ◽

Contrast Analysis ◽

And Behavior

Drawing on social information processing theory, this study investigates the mechanisms by which authentic leadership affects subordinate task performance through subordinate attitudes and behavior. Sportsmanship, conceptualized as a behavioral indicator of employee positivity and persistence in pursuing high performance, is argued to be a potentially important outcome for authentic leadership. Data collected from 203 matched subordinate–supervisor dyads in six organizations from six diverse industries were subjected to contrast analysis with bootstrapping. The results suggest that the indirect effect of authentic leadership on subordinate sportsmanship is mainly via a cognitive process, as opposed to an affective one. Furthermore, it is the employee’s sportsmanship that transmits the effects of authentic leadership on employee task performance. Implications and future directions are discussed.

Download Full-text

Vigilance, Workload, and Boredom: Two Competing Models

Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting ◽

10.1177/154193120204601701 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 46 (17) ◽

pp. 1531-1535 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Caroline R. Alikonis ◽

Joel S. Warm ◽

Gerald Matthews ◽

William N. Dember ◽

Edward M. Hitchcock ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Information Processing ◽

Beneficial Effect ◽

Direct Cost ◽

Task Engagement ◽

Processing Load ◽

High Workload ◽

Perceived Workload ◽

Competing Models ◽

Musical Selection ◽

High Information

Two models that seek to explain the high workload associated with vigilance tasks are the direct-cost and indirect-cost views. The former attributes the elevated workload to the high information-processing demand of the task; the latter attributes it to efforts to combat the boredom associated with monotonous vigilance tasks. A recent study by Hitchcock et al. (1999) provided support for the direct-cost view by showing that it is possible to lower the workload of vigilance through reductions in the information-processing load while leaving task-induced boredom unaffected. This study provides converging evidence for the direct-cost view: allowing observers to listen to a stress-reducing musical selection, Heart Zones, during a vigil lowered boredom while leaving the perceived workload of the task unaffected. The beneficial effect of the musical selection was limited to boredom; it had no impact upon post-vigil feelings of loss of task engagement and distress.

Download Full-text

Baseball Players’ Eye Movements and Higher Coincident-Timing Task Performance

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.1177/0031512520905435 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 127 (3) ◽

pp. 571-586

Author(s):

Ikumi Tochikura ◽

Daisuke Sato ◽

Daiki Imoto ◽

Atsuo Nuruki ◽

Koya Yamashiro ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Information Processing ◽

Eye Movements ◽

Task Performance ◽

Visual Information ◽

Absolute Error ◽

Visual Information Processing ◽

Baseball Players ◽

Mobile Targets ◽

Timing Task

Previous studies have reported that baseball players have higher than average visual information processing abilities and outstanding motor control. The speed and position of the baseball and the batter are constantly changing, leading skilled players to acquire highly accurate visual information processing and decision-making. This study sought to clarify how movement of the eyes is associated with baseball players’ higher coincident-timing task performance. We recruited 15 right-handed baseball players and 15 age-matched track and field athletes. On a computer-based coincident-timing task, we instructed participants to stop a computer image of a moving target by pressing a button at a designated point. We presented bidirectional moving targets with various velocities, presented in a random order. The targets’ moving angular velocity varied between 100, 83, 71, 63, 56, 50, and 46 deg/s. We conducted 168 repetitions (42 reps × 4 sets) of this coincident-timing task and measured participants’ eye movements during the task using Pupil Centre Corneal Reflection. Mixed-design analysis of variance results revealed participant group effects in favor of baseball players for timing absolute error and low absolute error, as predicted from prior visual processing and decision-making research with baseball players. However, in contrast to prior research, we found significantly shorter smooth-pursuit onset latency in elite baseball players, and there were no significant group differences for saccade onset and offset latencies. This may be explained by the difference in our research paradigm with mobile targets randomly presented at various velocities from the left and right. Our data showed baseball players’ higher than normal simultaneous timing execution for making decisions and movements based on visual information, even under laboratory conditions with randomly moving mobile targets.

Download Full-text

Daily Task Performance and Information Processing among People with Schizophrenia and Healthy Controls: A Comparative Study

British Journal of Occupational Therapy ◽

10.4276/030802214x14098207541117 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 77 (9) ◽

pp. 466-474 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Ginette Aubin ◽

Julie Lamoureux ◽

Isabelle Gélinas ◽

Christine Chapparo ◽

Emmanuel Stip ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Information Processing ◽

Comparative Study ◽

Task Performance ◽

Healthy Controls ◽

Daily Task

Download Full-text

Temporal prediction of the arrival point of a moving target

Internal Medicine Review ◽

10.18103/imr.v2i8.145 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 2 (8) ◽

Author(s):

Ryo Koshizawa

Keyword(s):

Cerebral Cortex ◽

Information Processing ◽

Task Performance ◽

Functional Properties ◽

Visual Information ◽

Moving Target ◽

Font Size ◽

Temporal Prediction ◽

Individual Participant ◽

Arrival Point

Coincidence-anticipation timing (CAT), a form of temporal prediction, is necessary not only in sports, but in many everyday situations. This review summarizes temporal prediction of a moving target at an arrival point in terms of both task performance and the functional properties of the cerebral cortex during CAT. In terms of CAT task performance, temporal accuracy during a CAT task depends on both the specific task conditions, and individual participant characteristics or conditions that might affect information processing in the cerebral cortex. In terms of the functional properties of the cerebral cortex during CAT, as it is possible to continuously gaze at a moving target to a non-occluded arrival point, participants need only to ascertain its velocity, which relies mainly upon the functional properties of the parietal. However, as it is impossible to continuously gaze at the moving target when the arrival point is occluded, participants need to transfer from processing the visual information gained during the visible section of movement to predicting the target’s movement in the occluded section, which relies mainly upon the functional properties of the premotor. In addition, the premotor mainly contribute toward facilitation of information processing by training in the CAT task. Future establishment of a strategy for accurate temporal prediction of moving targets, informed by further studies in CAT tasks, might allow for more accurate temporal prediction to be made, even without formal training.

Download Full-text

Study of the Single Channel Hypothesis and Input Regulation within a Continuous, Simultaneous Task Situation

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology ◽

10.1080/17470216508416406 ◽

1965 ◽

Vol 17 (1) ◽

pp. 37-46 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Louis M. Herman

Keyword(s):

Information Processing ◽

Task Performance ◽

Discrimination Task ◽

Single Channel ◽

Task Characteristics ◽

Performance Support ◽

Information Processing Model ◽

Task Relevance ◽

Decision Type ◽

Single Versus

Subjects performed simultaneously on an auditory tracking and an auditory discrimination task, with each, task presented to a separate ear. Information transmitted on the tasks was measured as a function of ability to predict task characteristics, input information-rate, and input discriminability. Based on comparison of single-versus simultaneous-task performance, support was found for a single, central decision-type channel in information processing, having as one primary limit the rate at which information can be accepted. Discriminability of inputs also was found to be a limit on information processing rate. Although ability to predict a task's characteristics facilitated performance on that task, in this experiment it did not result in facilitation of performance on the second task. Relevance of these findings to certain aspects of Broadbent's information-processing model is discussed.

Download Full-text