Channel Capacity and Locus of Interference under Dual Task Conditions

1978 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 659-666 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wade R. Helm ◽  
Robert P. Fishburne ◽  
Wayne L. Waag
Keyword(s):  
Dual Task ◽  
Secondary Task ◽  
Response Selection ◽  
Processing System ◽  
Processing Capacity ◽  
Joint Function ◽  
Maximum Information ◽  
Attention Effect ◽  
Task Processing ◽  
Task Conditions

Two experiments were performed in order to determine subjects' maximum information-processing capacity under dual task conditions and to provide empirical evidence regarding the localization of the divided attention effect. The results suggest that performance on the primary task deteriorates as a joint function of both primary and secondary task processing loads. These data support the locus of interference being within the control-processing (memory-dependent) and response-selection stages of the processing system.

The Effects of Verbal Interference on Psychomotor Performance under Dual Task Conditions

1974 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 471-475
Author(s):  
Wade R. Helm ◽  
Robert P. Fishburne ◽  
Wayne L. Waag
Keyword(s):  
Dual Task ◽  
Psychomotor Performance ◽  
Secondary Task ◽  
Response Selection ◽  
Processing System ◽  
Primary Task ◽  
Response Analysis ◽  
Maximum Information ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Task Conditions

Two experiments were performed in order to determine S's maximum information processing capacity under dual task conditions and to provide emperical evidence regarding the localization of the divided attention effect. The measurement of psychomotor performance (primary task) was obtained by using the Response Analysis Tester (RATER). Verbal interference (secondary task) was composed of three tasks requiring varying degrees of monitoring, short term memory and long term memory. The results suggest performance on the primary task to deteriorate as a joint function of both primary and secondary task processing loads. These data provide support to the locus of interference to be within the control processing (memory-dependent) and to response selection stages of the processing system. The possibility of a limited dual channel capacity is discussed.

A Dual-Task Paradigm to Study the Interference Reduction in the Simon Task

2015 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 75-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabel Suarez ◽  
Franck Vidal ◽  
Boris Burle ◽  
Laurence Casini
Keyword(s):  
Dual Task ◽  
Interference Effect ◽  
Secondary Task ◽  
Simon Task ◽  
Critical Factor ◽  
Response Speed ◽  
Exact Nature ◽  
Distribution Analysis ◽  
Secondary Tasks ◽  
Task Conditions

Analyzing RT distributions in the Simon task reveals that congruency effects decrease for the longest RTs. Four experiments were carried out to examine whether this decrease of the congruency effect with response speed was under a top-down control or due to bottom-up mechanisms. We specifically manipulated the availability of attentional resources by requiring participants to perform a Simon task concurrently to different secondary tasks. RT distribution analysis (in particular delta functions) was performed under both single-task and dual-task conditions. Results show that the reduction of the interference effect with time could be affected when the Simon task was performed concurrently with a secondary task. Nonetheless, the type of the secondary task seems to be a critical factor. Therefore, the data suggest that the mechanisms responsible for the reduction of the interference effect with time are under some attentional control but the exact nature of these mechanisms remains to be explored.

Does Working Memory Enhance or Interfere With Speech Fluency in Adults Who Do and Do Not Stutter? Evidence From a Dual-Task Paradigm

2016 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 415-429 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naomi Eichorn ◽  
Klara Marton ◽  
Richard G. Schwartz ◽  
Robert D. Melara ◽  
Steven Pirutinsky
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Dual Task ◽  
Secondary Task ◽  
Clinical Intervention ◽  
Speaking Rate ◽  
Unique Combination ◽  
Speech Fluency ◽  
Dual Task Paradigm ◽  
Task Conditions ◽  
Speaking Task

Purpose The present study examined whether engaging working memory in a secondary task benefits speech fluency. Effects of dual-task conditions on speech fluency, rate, and errors were examined with respect to predictions derived from three related theoretical accounts of disfluencies. Method Nineteen adults who stutter and twenty adults who do not stutter participated in the study. All participants completed 2 baseline tasks: a continuous-speaking task and a working-memory (WM) task involving manipulations of domain, load, and interstimulus interval. In the dual-task portion of the experiment, participants simultaneously performed the speaking task with each unique combination of WM conditions. Results All speakers showed similar fluency benefits and decrements in WM accuracy as a result of dual-task conditions. Fluency effects were specific to atypical forms of disfluency and were comparable across WM-task manipulations. Changes in fluency were accompanied by reductions in speaking rate but not by corresponding changes in overt errors. Conclusions Findings suggest that WM contributes to disfluencies regardless of stuttering status and that engaging WM resources while speaking enhances fluency. Further research is needed to verify the cognitive mechanism involved in this effect and to determine how these findings can best inform clinical intervention.

scholarly journals Retrieval of a well-established skill is resistant to distraction: Evidence from an implicit probabilistic sequence learning task

PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (12) ◽  
pp. e0243541 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teodóra Vékony ◽  
Lilla Török ◽  
Felipe Pedraza ◽  
Kate Schipper ◽  
Claire Pleche ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dual Task ◽  
Sequence Learning ◽  
Secondary Task ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Concurrent Task ◽  
Sequence Information ◽  
Task Effect ◽  
Task Conditions

The characteristics of acquiring new sequence information under dual-task situations have been extensively studied. A concurrent task has often been found to affect performance. In real life, however, we mostly perform a secondary task when the primary task is already well acquired. The effect of a secondary task on the ability to retrieve well-established sequence representations remains elusive. The present study investigates whether accessing well-acquired probabilistic sequence knowledge is affected by a concurrent task. Participants acquired non-adjacent regularities in an implicit probabilistic sequence learning task. After a 24-hour offline period, participants were tested on the same probabilistic sequence learning task under dual-task or single-task conditions. Here, we show that although the secondary task significantly prolonged the overall reaction times in the primary (sequence learning) task, access to the previously learned probabilistic representations remained intact. Our results highlight the importance of studying the dual-task effect not only in the learning phase but also during memory access to reveal the robustness of the acquired skill.

Expertise, attention, and memory in sensorimotor skill execution: Impact of novel task constraints on dual-task performance and episodic memory

2002 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 1211-1240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sian L. Beilock ◽  
Sarah A. Wierenga ◽  
Thomas H. Carr
Keyword(s):  
Recognition Memory ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Dual Task ◽  
Secondary Task ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Attention And Memory ◽  
Task Constraints ◽  
Episodic Memories ◽  
Task Conditions

Two experiments explored the attention and memory processes governing sensorimotor skill. Experiment 1 compared novice and experienced golf putting performance in single-task (putting in isolation) and dual-task conditions (putting while performing an auditory word search task). At specific intervals, participants also produced episodic descriptions of specific putts. Experiment 2 assessed novice performance following training on the same putting task. In Experiment 1, experienced golfers did not differ in putting accuracy from single- to dual-task conditions and, compared to novices, had higher recognition memory for words heard while putting but diminished episodic memories of specific putts. However, when using an s-shaped arbitrarily weighted “funny putter” designed to disrupt the mechanics of skill execution, experienced golfers produced extensive episodic memories of specific putts but showed decreased dual-task putting accuracy and recognition memory for secondary task words. Trained novices produced results intermediate between the untrained novices and experienced golfers. As predicted by current theories of practice-based automaticity, expertise leads to proceduralized control that does not require constant attention. Resources are free to devote to secondary task demands, yet episodic memory for primary task performance is impoverished. Novel task constraints (e.g., a funny putter) increase attention to execution, compromising secondary task performance but enhancing memory for skill execution.

Automatisation Deficits in Balance for Dyslexic Children

1992 ◽  
Vol 75 (2) ◽  
pp. 507-529 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela J. Fawcett ◽  
Roderick I. Nicolson
Keyword(s):  
Motor Skills ◽  
Dual Task ◽  
Secondary Task ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Reading Process ◽  
Normal Children ◽  
Single Task ◽  
Series Of Experiments ◽  
Task Conditions

Traditional theories of dyslexia have focused on components of the reading process. The Dyslexic Automatisation Deficit hypothesis takes a broader view, attributing deficits to an inability to become completely fluent in cognitive and motor skills. A series of experiments compared the balance of 15-yr.-old and 11-yr.-old groups of dyslexic children and normal children matched for age and IQ under single-task and dual-task conditions. There were no group differences in the single-task conditions. However, introduction of a concurrent secondary task led to a dissociation in that, whereas the balance of normal children was unaffected, the dyslexic children's balance was significantly impaired. It was concluded that the normal children balanced automatically whereas the dyslexic children did not. These results directly support the proposed framework.

Localizing practice effects in dual-task performance

2007 ◽  
Vol 60 (6) ◽  
pp. 860-876 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jörg Sangals ◽  
Maria Wilwer ◽  
Werner Sommer
Keyword(s):  
Dual Task ◽  
Response Selection ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Practice Effects ◽  
Stimulus Response ◽  
Central Processing ◽  
Dual Task Performance ◽  
Central Bottleneck ◽  
Task Processing

Practice effects on dual-task processing are of interest in current research because they may reveal the scope and limits of parallel task processing. Here we used onsets of the lateralized readiness potential (LRP), a time marker for the termination of response selection, to assess processing changes after five consecutive dual-task sessions with three stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) and priority on Task 1. Practice reduced reaction times in both tasks and the interference between tasks. As indicated by the LRP, the reduction of dual-task costs can be explained most parsimoniously by a shortening of the temporal demands of central bottleneck stages, without assuming parallel processing. However, the LRP also revealed a hitherto unreported early activation over the parietal scalp after practice in the short SOA condition, possibly indicating the isolation of stimulus–response translation from other central processing stages. In addition, further evidence was obtained from the LRP for a late motoric bottleneck, which is robust against practice.

Chronometric Evidence for Central Postponement in Temporally Overlapping Tasks

1989 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harold Pashler ◽  
James C. Johnston
Keyword(s):  
Dual Task ◽  
Single Channel ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Response Selection ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Dual Task Condition ◽  
Capacity Sharing ◽  
Bottleneck Capacity ◽  
Task Conditions

When the stimuli from two tasks arrive in rapid succession (the overlapping tasks paradigm), response delays are typically observed. Two general types of models have been proposed to account for these delays. Postponement models suppose that processing stages in the second task are delayed due to a single-channel bottleneck. Capacity-sharing models suppose that processing on both tasks occurs at reduced rates because of sharing of common resources. Postponement models make strong and distinctive predictions for the behaviour of variables slowing particular second-task stages, when assessed in single- and dual-task conditions. In Experiment 1, subjects were required to make manual classification responses to a tone (S1) and a letter (S2), presented at stimulus onset asynchronies of 50, 100, and 400 msec, making R1 responses to S1 as promptly as possible. The second response, R2, but not R1, was delayed in the dual task condition, and the effects of two S2 variables (degradation and repetition) on R2 response times in dual- and single-task conditions closely matched the predictions of a postponement model with a processing bottleneck at the decision/response-selection stage. In Experiment 2, subjects were encouraged to emit both responses close together in time. Use of this response grouping procedure had little effect on the magnitude of R2 response times, or on the pattern of stimulus factor effects on R2, supporting the hypothesis that the same underlying postponement process was operating. R1 response times were, however, dramatically delayed, and were now affected by S2 difficulty variables. The results provide strong support for postponement models of dual-task interference in the overlapping tasks paradigm, even when response times are delayed on both tasks.

scholarly journals Retrieval of a well-established skill is resistant to distraction: evidence from an implicit probabilistic sequence learning task

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teodóra Vékony ◽  
Lilla Török ◽  
Felipe Pedraza ◽  
Kate Schipper ◽  
Claire Plèche ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dual Task ◽  
Sequence Learning ◽  
Secondary Task ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Concurrent Task ◽  
Sequence Information ◽  
Task Effect ◽  
Task Conditions

AbstractThe characteristics of acquiring new sequence information under dual-task situations have been extensively studied so far. Such a concurrent task has often been found to affect performance. In real life, however, we mostly perform a secondary task when the primary one is already well-acquired. The effect of a secondary task on the ability to retrieve well-established sequence representations remains elusive. The present study investigates whether accessing a well-acquired probabilistic sequence knowledge is affected by a concurrent task. Participants acquired non-adjacent regularities in a perceptual-motor implicit probabilistic sequence learning task. After a 24-hour offline period, participants were tested on the same sequence learning task under dual-task or single-task conditions. Here we show that although the secondary task significantly prolonged the overall reaction times in the primary task, the access to the previously learned probabilistic representations remained intact. Our results highlight the importance of studying the dual-task effect not only in the learning phase but also during memory access.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document