Processing stages in overlapping tasks: Evidence for a central bottleneck.

Abstract

This article examines the attentional limits responsible for task slowing in the overlapping task (refractory period) paradigm. Five experiments are reported in which stimulus factors were manipulated in visual search tasks performed in isolation or temporally overlapping with another task. Bottleneck models suggest that second-task slowing is caused by postponement of "attention-demanding" stages of the second task, while earlier "automatic" stages proceed unhindered. A prediction was derived from this class of models, namely that in the overlapping task condition the effect of second task factors that slow automatic stages should be reduced, whereas the effect of factors slowing later nonautomatic stages should be unchanged. The data (Experiments 1-4) exhibit such a pattern and suggest that encoding and comparison stages of the second task, but not response selection, occur in parallel with work on the first task. The absence of overadditive interactions in these experiments, and also the effects of manipulating first-task factors in Experiment 5, seems to argue against capacity sharing as the source of the slowing in this task combination. Some implications of these results for attention theory are discussed.

Cites (5)

1. Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions
   Stroop, J. R. · 1935 · Journal of Experimental Psychology
2. Controlled and automatic human information processing: I. Detection, search, and attention.
   Schneider, Walter, Shiffrin, Richard M. · 1977 · Psychological Review
3. The discovery of processing stages: Extensions of Donders' method
   Sternberg, Saul · 1969 · Acta Psychologica
4. Components of attention
   Posner, Michael I., Boies, Stephen J. · 1971 · Psychological Review
5. On the time relations of mental processes: An examination of systems of processes in cascade.
   McClelland, James L. · 1979 · Psychological Review

Show all 5 references

Cited by (20)

1. Dual-task interference in simple tasks: data and theory
   Pashler, Harold · 1994 · Psychological Bulletin
2. Conscious, preconscious, and subliminal processing: a testable taxonomy
   Dehaene, Stanislas, Changeux, Jean-Pierre, Naccache, Lionel, Sackur, Jérôme, Sergent, Claire · 2006 · Trends in Cognitive Sciences
3. Executive control of cognitive processes in task switching
   Rubinstein, Joshua S., Meyer, David E., Evans, Jeffrey E. · 2001 · Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance
4. Role of outcome conflict in dual-task interference.
   David Navon, Jeff O. Miller · 1987 · Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception & Performance
5. Dependence and independence in responding to double stimulation: A comparison of stop, change, and dual-task paradigms.
   Logan, Gordon D., Burkell, Jacqueline · 1986 · Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance

See all 595