Impulsivity, caffeine, and proofreading: A test of the Easterbrook hypothesis.
Abstract
Easterbrook's (1959) suggestion that arousal is inversely related to the range of cue utilization has been frequently cited as an explanation for the curvilinear relationship between arousal and performance. There is very little empirical support for this position, however. As a test of the Easterbrook hypothesis, 60 undergraduates who varied in their impulsivity level were given caffeine or placebo and then asked to proofread several passages. Estimates of sensitivity were calculated using signal detection techniques. It was predicted that high arousal would reduce sensitivity to interword errors, which require a broad range of cue utilization, but that the observed levels of arousal would not affect sensitivity to intraword errors, which require a minimal range of cue utilization. A significant crossover interaction between impulsivity and drug for interword errors indicated that caffeine increased the error detection rate of the (less aroused) more impulsive subjects but lowered the error detection rate of the (more aroused) less impulsive subjects. The results of this study support the suggestion that arousal has direct effects on the capacity for simultaneous information processing, independent of its effects on performance speed.
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Caffeine has been shown to narrow attention and increase selectivity of information processing.
“whilst caffeine has been shown to narrow attention and thus increase selectivity of information processing [42,43]”
From Central and peripheral effects of sustained caffeine use: tolerance is incomplete (2002) · cites this paper as [42]
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“A study by Anderson and Revelle (1982) examined whether caffeine intake vs. placebo interacted with impulsivity (low or high) to affect proofreading accuracy for intraword vs. interword errors.”
Background
- Authors
- Anderson, K. J., & Revelle, W.
- Affiliations
- Haverford College (US)
- ORCID
- Revelle, William
- Venue
- Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance
- Published
- 1982
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 614-624
- ISSN
- 0096-1523 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1277
- OpenAlex
- W2005944441
- Cited by
- 78
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2022: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 3
- FWCI
- 3.08
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception & Performance (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Coffee research and impacts
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Human-Automation Interaction and Safety
- Keywords
- arousal, impulsivity, caffeine, proofreading, error detection, cue utilization, signal detection theory, performance speed
- MeSH terms
- Arousal, Attention, Caffeine, Discrimination Learning, Humans, Impulsive Behavior, Reading
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