capacity and multitasking

Question 1

Why is capacity limited

Answer 1

• limited sizw

- resources shared between tasks

Question 2

what shows competition for shared resources

Answer 2

dual-task interference

Question 3

what is retrospective memory

Answer 3

where was i? whats left to be done?

Question 4

what is prospective memory

Answer 4

monitoring for trigger conditions

remembering the meaning of the trigger

Question 5

What did Strayer et al’s study on cell phoens and drinking when driving show

Answer 5

• mobile: slower reactions
• alcohol: more aggressive
• no sig difference between effects of talking on hand held phone and hands free

Question 6

what did Strayers review study show

Answer 6

Just talking on a mobile when driving:

• reduced anticipatory glances
• reduces later recognition memory of objects
• reduced amplictude of P300 to onset of brake light
• increased unsafe lane change

Question 7

why does talking to a passenger have less consequences than handless phone

Answer 7

• they are sensitive to drivers load

Question 8

possible sources of dual-task interference

Answer 8

• competition for use of specialsised domain-specific resources
• competition for use of general purpose processing capacity
• limited capacity of executive control mechanisms

Question 9

what is the central processor

Answer 9

assumed to be required for pattern recognition, access to memory, decision making, action selection……

Posner identified it with consciousness

Question 10

What did Allport Antonis and Reynolds fina=s about demeanding tasks combined with interferences

Answer 10

• reading Y3 music students
• tasks: A: read grade 2 or 4 piano. B: shadow prose from Austean novel or text on Old Norse
• little practice

Results:

• rate of shadowing text was no different with and without concurrent sigh reading
• concurrent shadowing also did not increase sight reading errors
• more showing errors in harder rext adn more sight reading errors in grade 4

no interference really

Question 11

Why did Allport say the central processor seems unnecessary?

Answer 11

pairs of complex input-output translation tasks can be combined with little or no interference if they use non-overlapping modules

Question 12

In Speike et al’s experiment after 85 hours of practise at reading stories at the same time as writing and reading stories concerent with writing category of spoken word, why did some participants show little dual-task interference

Answer 12

• practising one task automates it

- practising combining tasks develops optimal control strategies

Question 13

what is broadbents objection to allport-style experiments

Answer 13

• predictability
• lag between input and output
• could still be a central processor

Question 14

what is the psychological refractory period (PRP) (Welford)

Answer 14

A PRP occurs even when stimuli and responses for the two tasks are in different modalities.

two choice reaction time tasks, stimulus onsets separated by a variable, v short interval

Question 15

what is Pashler’s theory

Answer 15

response selection is the bottleneck: cna be performed for only one task at a time. If the second stimulus meanwhile arrives and is identified, it must wait until the response selection mechanism is free

Question 16

when observed, PRP effect could arise not from structural bottlenck but from///

Answer 16

cautious control strategy participants adapt to avoid producing response to the second stimulus first

if Ps are more liberal, the PRP effect disappears (Schumacher et al)