Uncorking the Central Bottleneck: Even Novel Tasks Can Be Performed Automatically.
Can people perform two novel tasks in parallel? Available evidence and prevailing theories overwhelmingly indicate that the answer is no, due to stubborn capacity limitations in central stages (e.g., a central bottleneck). Here we propose a new hypothesis, which suggests otherwise: people are capabl...
| Publicado en: | Journal of Experimental Psychology. Human Perception & Performance Vol. 50; no. 1; pp. 74 - 99 |
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| Autores principales: | , , , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
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American Psychological Association
Jan2024
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=174840872&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 174840872 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00961523 EPH jtl: Journal of Experimental Psychology. Human Perception & Performance issn: 00961523 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jan2024 vid: 50 iid: 1 pid: 34 pub: American Psychological Association artinfo: ui: 174840872 10.1037/xhp0001169 ppf: 74 ppct: 25 formats: tig: atl: Uncorking the Central Bottleneck: Even Novel Tasks Can Be Performed Automatically. aug: au: Lyphout-Spitz, Morgan Maquestiaux, François Ruthruff, Eric Chaloyard, Steeven affil: Laboratoire de Recherches Intégratives en Neurosciences et Psychologie Cognitive (LINC, UR 481), MSHE Ledoux, Université de Franche-Comté Centre de Recherches sur les Fonctionnements et Dysfonctionnements Psychologiques (CRFDP, UR 7475), Université de Rouen Normandie Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico keyword: attention automaticity central bottleneck dual-task interference preparation attention automaticity central bottleneck dual-task interference preparation ab: Can people perform two novel tasks in parallel? Available evidence and prevailing theories overwhelmingly indicate that the answer is no, due to stubborn capacity limitations in central stages (e.g., a central bottleneck). Here we propose a new hypothesis, which suggests otherwise: people are capable of fully parallel central processing (i.e., bypassing the central bottleneck), yet often fail to do so, mainly due to preparation neglect. This preparation-neglect hypothesis was evaluated in four dual-task experiments pairing novel tasks (Task 1 and Task 2) using arbitrary stimulus–response mappings. Experiment 1, using a classic psychological refractory period (PRP) procedure, replicated the finding of dozens of previous PRP studies: none of the participants bypassed the bottleneck, instead exhibiting large dual-task interference on Task 2 (445 ms). In Experiment 2, the same dual-task PRP trials were randomly intermixed with single-task trials on Task 2, to boost preparation on that task. Here, nearly half the sample of participants bypassed the central bottleneck, exhibiting small dual-task interference on Task 2 (48 ms). Two additional experiments showed that initial practice does not by itself enable bottleneck bypassing, but boosting preparation of Task 2 (via intermixing single-task trials of Task 2) does. We conclude that, when properly prepared, people are capable of far more dual-task automaticity than was previously believed. Public Significance Statement: This study examined the source of the processing limitations that people generally encounter when attempting to perform two tasks at the same time. We demonstrated that novel tasks, when properly prepared, can be performed entirely automatically (i.e., without recruiting attentional resources), thereby bypassing the processing limitations. This finding of dual-task automaticity is striking given that the tasks were neither particularly easy nor previously trained. The key enabler of dual-task automaticity was not practice but boosting advanced preparation of the to-be-performed tasks. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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