Acute Physical Exercise Affected Processing Efficiency in an Auditory Attention Task More Than Processing Effectiveness

2014 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephan Dutke ◽  
Thomas Jaitner ◽  
Timo Berse ◽  
Jonathan Barenberg
Keyword(s):  
Physical Exercise ◽  
Cognitive Load ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Secondary Task ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Auditory Attention ◽  
Primary Task ◽  
Processing Efficiency ◽  
Attention Task ◽  
Acute Physical Exercise

Research on effects of acute physical exercise on performance in a concurrent cognitive task has generated equivocal evidence. Processing efficiency theory predicts that concurrent physical exercise can increase resource requirements for sustaining cognitive performance even when the level of performance is unaffected. This hypothesis was tested in a dual-task experiment. Sixty young adults worked on a primary auditory attention task and a secondary interval production task while cycling on a bicycle ergometer. Physical load (cycling) and cognitive load of the primary task were manipulated. Neither physical nor cognitive load affected primary task performance, but both factors interacted on secondary task performance. Sustaining primary task performance under increased physical and/or cognitive load increased resource consumption as indicated by decreased secondary task performance. Results demonstrated that physical exercise effects on cognition might be underestimated when only single task performance is the focus.

Does Secondary Task Measure Outcome Conflict or Resource Allocation?

1992 ◽  
Vol 36 (18) ◽  
pp. 1398-1402
Author(s):  
Pamela S. Tsang ◽  
Tonya L. Shaner
Keyword(s):  
Resource Allocation ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Dual Task ◽  
Secondary Task ◽  
Tracking Error ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Primary Task ◽  
Memory Probe ◽  
Temporal Predictability ◽  
Task Measure

The secondary task technique was used to test two alternative explanations of dual task decrement: outcome conflict and resource allocation. Subjects time-shared a continuous tracking task and a discrete Sternberg memory task. The memory probes were presented under three temporal predictability conditions. Dual task performance decrements in both the tracking and memory tasks suggested that the two tasks competed for some common resources, processes, or mechanisms. Although performance decrements were consistent with both the outcome conflict and resource allocation explanations, the two explanations propose different mechanisms by which the primary task could be protected from interference from the concurrent secondary task. The primary task performance could be protected by resource allocation or by strategic sequencing of the processing of the two tasks in order to avoid outcome conflict. In addition to examining the global trial means, moment-by-moment tracking error time-locked to the memory probe was also analyzed. There was little indication that the primary task was protected by resequencing of the processing of the two tasks. This together with the suggestion that predictable memory probes led to better protected primary task performance than less predictable memory probes lend support for the resource explanation.

Yoked Design and Secondary Task in Adaptive Training

1982 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-24
Author(s):  
David F. Johnson ◽  
Robert C. Haygood ◽  
William M. Olson
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Secondary Task ◽  
Task Difficulty ◽  
Primary Task ◽  
Average Level ◽  
Difficulty Level ◽  
Adaptive Training ◽  
Level Of Difficulty

This paper describes two methodological innovations in the study of adaptive training. The first is the use of a yoked design to insure that the average level of task difficulty for fixed-difficulty subjects is the same as the average level of difficulty reached by adaptive subjects. The second is the demonstration of the feasibility of using a secondary (subsidiary, non-loading) task to furnish the adaptive criterion for changing the difficulty level of the primary task. The results of two experiments are reported. Both experiments demonstrate the feasibility and utility of yoked design and adaptation on secondary task performance in adaptive training.

scholarly journals Cognitive Load in eCommerce Applications—Measurement and Effects on User Satisfaction

2009 ◽  
Vol 2009 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Schmutz ◽  
Silvia Heinz ◽  
Yolanda Métrailler ◽  
Klaus Opwis
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Load ◽  
Dual Task ◽  
User Satisfaction ◽  
Secondary Task ◽  
Design Guidelines ◽  
Interactive Systems ◽  
Primary Task ◽  
Strong Correlations ◽  
General Satisfaction ◽  
Nasa Tlx

Guidelines for designing usable interfaces recommend reducing short term memory load. Cognitive load, that is, working memory demands during problem solving, reasoning, or thinking, may affect users' general satisfaction and performance when completing complex tasks. Whereas in design guidelines numerous ways of reducing cognitive load in interactive systems are described, not many attempts have been made to measure cognitive load in Web applications, and few techniques exist. In this study participants' cognitive load was measured while they were engaged in searching for several products in four different online book stores. NASA-TLX and dual-task methodology were used to measure subjective and objective mental workload. The dual-task methodology involved searching for books as the primary task and a visual monitoring task as the secondary task. NASA-TLX scores differed significantly among the shops. Secondary task reaction times showed no significant differences between the four shops. Strong correlations between NASA-TLX, primary task completion time, and general satisfaction suggest that NASA-TLX can be used as a valuable additional measure of efficiency. Furthermore, strong correlations were found between browse/search preference and NASA-TLX as well as between search/browse preference and user satisfaction. Thus we suggest browse/search preference as a promising heuristic assessment method of cognitive load.

scholarly journals Real-World Media Multitasking Shows Few Effects on Lab-Based Volitional Multitasking Performance

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesus Lopez ◽  
Joseph M Orr
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Performance Measures ◽  
Real World ◽  
Secondary Task ◽  
Primary Task ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Media Multitasking ◽  
Desktop Computer ◽  
Opposite Pattern ◽  
Computer Environment

Media multitasking (e.g., listening to podcasts while studying) has been linked to decreased executive functioning. However, the tasks used to establish this finding do not approximate a real-world volitional multitasking environment. A novel experimental framework was designed to mimic a desktop computer environment where a “popup” associated with a secondary task would occasionally appear. Participants could select the popup and perform a difficult word stem completion trial or ignore the popup and continue performing the primary task which consisted of math problems. We predicted that individuals who are more impulsive, more frequent media multitaskers, and individuals who prefer to multitask(quantified with self-report questionnaires) would be more distracted by the popups, choose to perform the secondary task more often, and be slower to return to the primary task compared to those who media multitask to a lesser degree. We found that as individuals media multitask to a greater extent, they are slower to return to the previous (primary) task set and are slower to complete the primary task overall whether a popup was present or not, among other task performance measures. Our findings suggest that overall, more frequent media multitaskers show a marginal decrease in task performance, including an increased return cost, but those who prefer to multitask show the opposite pattern of effects with some performance measures. Impulsivity was not found to influence any task performance measures. Further iterations of this paradigm are necessary to elucidate the relationship between media multitasking and task performance, if one exists.

Controlling for Individual Differences in a Dual-Task Setting: Equating the Baselines of Single Task Performance

2001 ◽  
Vol 45 (13) ◽  
pp. 916-920
Author(s):  
Bradley Chase ◽  
Holly M. Irwin-Chase ◽  
Jaclyn T. Sonico
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Stimulus Duration ◽  
Dual Task ◽  
Secondary Task ◽  
Human Performance ◽  
Visual Task ◽  
Primary Task ◽  
Individual Participant ◽  
The Individual

Individual differences in human performance is an issue that confounds many studies and has not been properly controlled in the ergonomics/human factors literature. This paper examines the concept of individual differences in performance primarily from the perspective of cognitive performance. A study was designed to test the effect of a secondary visual task on a primary visual task. In one condition, participants performed the dual task, while assigning no weight to the secondary task. In the second condition, the primary task was performed simultaneously with the secondary task. The effect of the added workload was measured via the effect on primary task performance. In the baseline portion of the task participants had their baseline (80–90% accuracy) of performance collected by adjusting the stimulus duration. The individual participant stimulus duration was then used as the experimental stimulus duration and the effect of secondary task performance on primary task performance was measured.

Cross-Adaptive Operator Loading Tasks

1967 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 395-404 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles R. Kelley ◽  
Michael J. Wargo
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Performance Measures ◽  
Secondary Task ◽  
Primary Task ◽  
Difficulty Level ◽  
Operator Performance ◽  
Sensitive Index ◽  
Adaptive Technique ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Problem Data

Performance measures often fail to indicate the amount of effort expended by an operator in reaching various levels of task performance. Secondary or loading task techniques have been developed to overcome this problem. However, with the loading task technique, a problem of interpretation arises when both primary and secondary task measures vary with operator performance. The cross-adaptive operator loading technique, which automatically adjusts the difficulty level of the loading task on the basis of primary task performance, is suggested as a solution to this problem. Data are presented which demonstrate that the cross-adaptive technique effectively standardizes scores on the primary task while casting all the variance in performance to the loading task scores. The cross-adaptive secondary scores thereby become a single unambiguous and sensitive index of effort expended to reach a pre-established level of task performance. Procedures for the implementation of the cross-adaptive techniques are discussed and guidelines for its use are suggested.

Individual Differences in Secondary Task Performance and Subjective Estimation of Workload

1985 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 311-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn A. Bloem ◽  
Diane L. Damos
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Verbal Memory ◽  
Secondary Task ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Primary Task ◽  
Classification Task ◽  
Residual Capacity ◽  
Task Differences

This experiment had two purposes. First, it attempted to replicate the easy-to-hard prediction for residual capacity described by Lansman and Hunt (1982) for two complex task combinations. Second, it examined the relation between individual differences in resource capacity, as indicated by the easy-to-hard prediction, and the subjective experience of workload. One task combination involved a verbal-memory task paired with a vowel-consonant classification task. The other combination involved a paired-associate task with a name-classification task. The easy-to-hard prediction was not replicated for either task combination; easy primary task performance provided a better prediction of hard primary task performances than did secondary task performance. Measures of residual capacity were not related to subjective ratings of workload, however, the workload scales were sensitive to between-task differences.

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