Journal article
Dual-task interference with equal task emphasis: Graded capacity sharing or central postponement?
Perception & psychophysics, Vol.65(5), pp.801-816
07/2003
DOI: 10.3758/BF03194816
PMID: 12956587
Abstract
Most studies using the psychological refractory period (PRP) design suggest that dual-task performance is limited by a central bottleneck. Because subjects are usually told to emphasize Task 1, however, the bottleneck might reflect a strategic choice rather than a structural limitation. To evaluate the possibility that central operations can proceed in parallel, albeit with capacity limitations, we conducted two dual-task experiments with equal task emphasis. In both experiments, subjects tended to either group responses together or respond to one task well before the other. In addition, stimulus-response compatibility effects were roughly constant across stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs). At the short SOA, compatibility effects also carried over onto response times for the other task. This pattern of results is difficult to reconcile with the possibility that subjects share capacity roughly equally between simultaneous central operations. However, this pattern is consistent with the existence of a structural central bottleneck.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Dual-task interference with equal task emphasis: Graded capacity sharing or central postponement?
- Creators
- Eric Ruthruff - NASA Ames Research Center 94035 Moffett Field CAHarold Pashler - University of California San Diego, La Jolla CaliforniaEliot Hazeltine - NASA Ames Research Center 94035 Moffett Field CA
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Perception & psychophysics, Vol.65(5), pp.801-816
- Publisher
- Springer-Verlag; New York
- DOI
- 10.3758/BF03194816
- PMID
- 12956587
- ISSN
- 0031-5117
- eISSN
- 1532-5962
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 07/2003
- Academic Unit
- Psychological and Brain Sciences; Iowa Neuroscience Institute
- Record Identifier
- 9984070888002771
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