On the Division of Attention: A Disproof of the Single Channel Hypothesis

Allport, D. A.; Antonis, Barbara; Reynolds, Patricia

doi:10.1080/00335557243000102

Cited by 551 publications

(288 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…To do this, you have to keep task-switching (one moment speaking, the next moment listening). Yet, we know that in general multi-tasking and task switching are really challenging [2]. Try writing a letter while listening to someone talking to you!…”

Section: Problems Posed By Dialoguementioning

confidence: 99%

Why is conversation so easy?

Garrod

Pickering

2004

Trends in Cognitive Sciences

520

360

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Section: Problems Posed By Dialoguementioning

confidence: 99%

Why is conversation so easy?

Garrod

Pickering

2004

Trends in Cognitive Sciences

520

360

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Several experiments have demonstrated such effects (e.g. Allport, Antonis, & Reynolds 1972;Schumacher, et al 1997). EPIC predicts that perfect time-sharing is possible where there is a lack of input interference (e.g.…”

Section: Perfect Time-sharingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Serial modules in parallel: The psychological refractory period and perfect time-sharing.

Byrne

Anderson

2001

Psychological Review

148

209

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This paper describes ACT-R/PM, an integrated theory of cognition, perception, and action which consists of the ACT-R production system and a set of perceptual-motor modules like those found in EPIC (Meyer & Kieras, 1997a, 1997b. Each module (including cognition) is essentially serial, but they run in parallel with one another. ACT-R/PM can model simple dual tasks such as the psychological refractory period (PRP), including subtle results previously explained with EPIC. The principal difference between the theories is that in EPIC, productions implementing central cognition can fire in parallel whereas in ACT-R/PM they fire serially. Three PRP-like experiments were run employing more demanding cognitive requirements, and indicated that cognitive processing for the two tasks did not overlap. ACT-R's activation-based retrieval processes are critical in accounting for the timing of these tasks and for explaining the dual-task performance decrement. integrated theories that seriously attempt to integrate cognition, perception, and action. This is surprising, since there are numerous domains to which such a theory might be applicable, such as mental workload, manual tracking, divided attention, time and motion analysis, paced tasks and time stress, resource-conflict matrices, some kinds of errors, the eye-hand span in typewriting, and many more. This is not to say there have been no theories concerned with such integration. The Model Human Processor (MHP) of Card, Moran, and Newell (1983) was originally presented as a summary of the state of the field's current knowledge about cognition and performance. The MHP, while never implemented as a computational model, specified the timing for cognition,

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“…For example, Allport, Antonis, and Reynolds (1972) found that people could attend to and repeat (shadow) continuous auditory speech while processing unrelated visual scenes or sightreading piano music. Additional work indicated that while shadowing, if participants were presented with a series of words to remember, recall was worse if the words were presented in auditory rather than visual mode.…”

Section: Modality Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reducing cognitive load by mixing auditory and visual presentation modes.

Mousavi¹,

Low²,

Sweller³

1995

Journal of Educational Psychology

694

420

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This article reports findings on the use of a partly auditory and partly visual mode of presentation for geometry worked examples. The logic was based on the split-attention effect and the effect of presentation modality on working memory. The split-attention effect occurs when students must split their attention between multiple sources of information, which results in a heavy cognitive load. Presentation-modality effects suggest that working memory has partially independent processors for handling visual and auditory material. Effective working memory may be increased by presenting material in a mixed rather than a unitary mode. If so, the negative consequences of split attention in geometry might be ameliorated by presenting geometry statements in auditory, rather than visual, form. The results of 6 experiments supported this hypothesis.In recent years, working memory limitations have been identified as a major factor that needs to be considered when instruction is designed. Researchers have used cognitive load theory (e.g., Sweller, 1988Sweller, , 1989Sweller, , 1993Sweller, , 1994 to suggest that many commonly used instructional procedures are inadequate because they require learners to engage in unnecessary cognitive activities that impose a heavy working memory load. Alternatives that reduce extraneous cognitive load have been devised. This research has been generated by the following assumptions concerning our basic cognitive architecture: (a) People have a very limited working memory that is able to hold and process only a few items of information at a time; (b) People have a huge long-term memory that is effectively unlimited in size; (c) Schema acquisition is a primary learning mechanism. Schemata are defined as cognitive constructs that permit people to categorize information in the manner in which it will be used (see Low & Over, 1990Low, Over, Doolan, & Michell, 1994;Sweller & Low, 1992 functions of storing information in long-term memory and of reducing working memory load by permitting people to treat multiple elements of information as a single element; (d) Automation of cognitive processes, including automatic use of schemata, is a learning mechanism that also reduces working memory load by effectively bypassing working memory. Automated information can be processed without conscious effort.A limited working memory is central to this architecture and central to cognitive load theory. Recent work has expanded researchers' knowledge of working memory characteristics and in turn, this work has the potential to expand the instructional techniques generated by cognitive load theory. In this article, we discuss the split-attention effect that previous research has suggested is a cognitive load phenomenon. The split-attention effect occurs when learners are required to divide their attention among and mentally integrate multiple sources of information. Mentally integrating multiple sources of information results in less effective acquisition of information than if learners are presented the same mater...

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On the Division of Attention: A Disproof of the Single Channel Hypothesis

Cited by 551 publications

References 23 publications

Why is conversation so easy?

Why is conversation so easy?

Serial modules in parallel: The psychological refractory period and perfect time-sharing.

Reducing cognitive load by mixing auditory and visual presentation modes.

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