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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/11375/15298
Title: Backward Compatibility Effects in Dual-Task Performance: Implications for Central Information Processing
Authors: Thomson, Sandra J.
Advisor: Watter, Scott
Department: Psychology
Keywords: psychological refractory period;divided attention;dual-task;response selection;bottleneck;backward crosstalk;Cognitive Psychology;Cognitive Psychology
Publication Date: Oct-2013
Abstract: <p>The psychological refractory period (PRP) paradigm has been used extensively to investigate the cognitive processing stages involved in dual-task performance. Interpretations of PRP data have often attributed the difficulty in simultaneously performing two cognitive tasks to a strict serial processing bottleneck in the response selection stage. However, a number of studies have also demonstrated backward response compatibility effects (BCEs) on Task 1 reaction time in dual-task performance, which suggest that response information for Task 2 may be activated in parallel with Task 1 response selection. The goal of this thesis was to examine the nature of the Task 2 processing that operates in parallel with Task 1 response selection in a PRP task, and to consider the implications of this parallel processing for models of dual-task performance. The results of the empirical studies presented here provide converging evidence that the BCE represents automatically activated response information for Task 2 acting on Task 1 response selection. This Task 2 response information can also contribute to Task 2 performance. Models of dual-task performance must account for both the parallel activation of response information and the serial selection of a response for each task.</p>
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/11375/15298
Identifier: opendissertations/8350
9368
4616774
Appears in Collections:Open Access Dissertations and Theses

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