Using Cognitive Capacity in Reading Text

1979 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 395-400 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce K. Britton ◽  
Timothy S. Holdredge ◽  
Robert D. Westbrook ◽  
Cheryl Curry
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Secondary Task ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Primary Task ◽  
Cognitive Capacity ◽  
Equivalent Condition ◽  
Spare Capacity ◽  
Reading Task ◽  
Reading Text

Use of cognitive capacity in reading was measured with a secondary task. In this technique, reaction times to clicks which occur rarely and unpredictably during a primary task are used to measure the capacity demands of the primary task. As the primary task uses more capacity, less spare capacity is available and secondary task performance declines—reaction time to the clicks slows down. Results for 24 undergraduates showed that reaction times to clicks were slower while subjects were reading than in an otherwise equivalent condition in which they were not reading. This indicates that the reading task uses capacity even though it is very highly practiced.

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 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.

Instructional Objectives in Text: Managing the Reader's Attention

1985 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce K. Britton ◽  
Shawn M. Glynn ◽  
K. Denise Muth ◽  
M. J. Penland
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Task ◽  
Reading Time ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Text Structure ◽  
Cognitive Capacity ◽  
Learning College ◽  
Content Structure ◽  
Instructional Objectives ◽  
Time Reading ◽  
Relevant Material

It is well established that the provision of instructional objectives before reading a text increases the learning of objective-relevant material in the text. The purpose of the present study was to identify some of the mechanisms by which objectives affect learning. College students studied text under three conditions: with specific objectives, with a general objective, and with no objectives. The objective-relevant material was located either high or low in the content structure of the text. The dependent measures were secondary task reaction time—a measure of cognitive capacity use—reading time, and free recall for objective-relevant material. The results indicated that with specific objectives, the secondary-task reaction times while reading objective-relevant material were longer, reading times were longer, and recall was greater than with either a general objective or with no objectives. Reading times were significantly correlated with recall, but secondary task reaction times were not. In addition, more information was recalled when the objective-relevant material was located high in the text structure. The interpretation of these results is that, with specific objectives, students devote more cognitive capacity to objective-relevant material, spend more time reading it, and recall more of it than when they do not have specific objectives.

Change Detection on Periphery and Dual-Task Performance

2002 ◽  
Vol 46 (17) ◽  
pp. 1645-1648 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mon-Chu Chen ◽  
Filipe Fortes ◽  
Roberta Klatzky ◽  
William Long
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Visual Field ◽  
Change Detection ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Dual Task ◽  
Detection Rate ◽  
Peripheral Vision ◽  
Primary Task ◽  
Peripheral Stimulus ◽  
Dual Task Performance

A variation of the Wickens' Task was performed to examine the assumption that people can detect certain stimuli on their periphery without decreasing the performance of the primary task. Participants were instructed to respond to a change in a peripheral stimulus without shifting their gaze from a primary task in the center of their visual field. Our data suggests that both type and magnitude of change have a significant effect on detection rate and reaction time. The data also suggests that the performance of the primary task did not decay after the change of the stimuli occurred. Based on these findings, we argue that people can detect various types of changes without shifting gaze and without degrading task performance. Therefore, an interface particularly designed for peripheral vision is possible, and it will potentially provide benefits to both productivity and safety.

Metrics for quantifying cognitive factors that may underlie individual variation in exoskeleton use

2021 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 216-220
Author(s):  
Aditi Gupta ◽  
Ryan McKindles ◽  
Leia Stirling
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Individual Variation ◽  
Simon Task ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Cognitive Factors ◽  
System Operation ◽  
Subject Variability ◽  
Strategy Parameters ◽  
Outcome Metrics

Individual differences in adaptation to exoskeletons have been observed, but are not well understood. Kinematic, kinetic, and physiologic factors are commonly used to assess these systems. Parameters from experimental psychology and gait literature wereadapted to probe the lower extremity perception-cognition-action loop using measures of reaction times, gait task performance, and gait strategy. Parameters were measured in 15 subjects via two tasks: (1) a modified Simon task and (2) a speed-achievement task with secondary go/no-go cues on a self-paced treadmill. Outcome metrics were assessed for significantly different intra- versus inter-subject variability. Reaction time measures from the modified Simon task, as well two speed-achievement metrics and one gait-strategy characteristic we re found to show significant differenc es in intra- versus inter-subject variability. These results suggest that select cognitive factors may differentiate between individuals and be potential predictors for individual variation during exoskeleton system operation.

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.

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