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Electrodermal responses to sources of dual-task interference.

Alan A Hartley¹, François Maquestiaux, Rayna D Brooks

¹Department of Psychology, Scripps College, Claremont, CA 91711, USA. ahartley@scrippscol.edu

Cognitive, Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience

|May 4, 2012

Summary

Dual-task interference is not caused by a voluntary attention bottleneck. Instead, a routing mechanism and temporary storage explain task delays, suggesting limitations in current neuroimaging methods.

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Neuroscience

Background:

Dual-task interference is often attributed to a response selection bottleneck.
The precise mechanisms underlying this bottleneck remain debated.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the operation of the response selection bottleneck in dual-task scenarios.
To differentiate between attentional bottleneck and routing/storage mechanisms.

Main Methods:

Three dual-task experiments manipulating task overlap (stimulus onset asynchrony [SOA]) and task difficulty.
Measurement of reaction time and electrodermal activity.
A fourth experiment assessed subjective task difficulty.

Main Results:

Increased task overlap (reduced SOA) and task difficulty both lengthened reaction times.

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Electrodermal activity was sensitive to task difficulty but not SOA, unlike reaction time.

Subjective difficulty was influenced by both task difficulty and SOA.

Conclusions:

Findings do not support a response selection bottleneck involving executive attention.
Results suggest a routing mechanism and passive storage explain dual-task delays.
Conventional neuroimaging designs may be insufficient to study the response selection bottleneck mechanism.