Expectancy and dual-task interference.

Abstract

This research deals with the relationship between expectancy and attention. In two experiments, expectancy concerning the modality of a probe stimulus was manipulated. In Experiment 1, the frequencies of probes in auditory and visual modalities were varied. In Experiment 2, a cue prior to each trial indicated the relative probabilities of the two types of probes. In both experiments, expectancy effects were observed in a single-task condition during which the subject's only task was to respond to the probes and in a dual-task condition in which probes were inserted in the study phase of a pattern recognition task. If maintaining an expectancy requires attention, then diverting attention from the probe task to the pattern recognition task should have attentuated the effects of expectancy. In fact, the pattern recognition task did not alter frequency effects but did significantly reduce cueing effects. We conclude that expectancy as determined by frequency results from automatic activation, whereas expectancy as determined by cueing involves attention.

Isolating attentional systems: A cognitive-anatomical analysis

“…A single key was pressed irrespective of target location. The advantage of the cued over the uncued location in RT has been confirmed many times (Hughes & Zimba, 1985;Jonides, 1981;Lansman, Farr, & Hunt, 1984;Posner, 1980) and has often been attributed to the covert shift of attention to the cued location.…”

“…There is already some evidence that dual tasks influence the ability to shift attention toward a cue. In one study researchers found that cuing the modality of a probe (visual vs. auditory) produced significantly faster RTs for the cued modality (Lansman et al, 1984), but these cuing effects were reduced or eliminated when perfonned during a dual task. In another study, when counting backward, the subjects were affected less by spatial cues during a dual task than during a spatial orienting task alone (Posner, Cohen, Choate, Hockey, & Maylor, 1984).…”

Phenomenology of attention: I. Color, location, orientation, and spatial frequency.

“…Attention is often discussed as if it were a single, unitary mechanism. Recent behavioral research indicates that different methods of manipulating attention may tap different mechanisms (e.g., Briand & Klein, 1987; Lansman, Farr, & Hunt, 1984; Miller, 1988; Muller & Rabbitt, 1989; Nakayama & Mackeben, 1989). Indeed, physiological research indicates that there are perhaps dozens of neural structures that may mediate attention (Colby, 1991).…”

Quantitative Measures of Presence in Virtual Environments: The Roles of Attention and Spatial Comprehension

“…The more of what we see and hear that is dominated by the virtual world, the more attention that should be focused there, and vice versa. ______________________________________________________________________________________ In this experiment, we constructed a divided attention task similar to those used in traditional dual-task paradigm experiments [5][6][7][8]. We designed a virtual world experience with a content rich storyline that could be used in a question and answer session after each trial.…”