Lecture 9

Question 1

What determines the limits of multi-tasking?

Answer 1

Task-general resources, task-specific resources, executive functions and automaticity/practice

Question 2

What is Kahneman’s Capacity Theory of Attention?

Answer 2

Attention has cognitive effort (one central mental resource.) When there is limited amount available at any given time, arousal determines the availability of resources and mental resources rest in a central pool. Allocation of attention controlled by central processor. Task demands, bottom-up and top-down processes all affect this allocation. This suggests that multi-tasking is affected by task general resources and task difficulty matters.

Question 3

What is a psychological refractory period (PRP)?

Answer 3

Observed in dual tasks involving two stimuli in rapid succession and two responses. PRP is the period of time during which response to a second stimulus is significantly slowed because the first stimulus is being processed. Classically attributed to an attentional bottleneck in the response selection (making a decision) stage. Response for the second task has to wait until the first one is done.