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Effect monitoring in dual-task performance
Robert Wirth1, Markus Janczyk2, Wilfried Kunde1
1Department of Psychology.
Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory, and Cognition
|November 3, 2017
Summary
Effect monitoring is crucial for task performance but cannot occur in parallel with other tasks. Spatially incompatible effects also slow down monitoring, impacting multitasking abilities.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive psychology
- Human-computer interaction
- Motor control
Background:
- Effective action requires both executing motor patterns and monitoring their environmental effects.
- Multitasking involves rapid succession of action production and effect monitoring.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of effect monitoring on multitasking performance.
- To determine if effect monitoring can be parallelized with other tasks.
- To examine the influence of spatial compatibility on effect monitoring duration.
Main Methods:
- Empirical investigation of multitasking scenarios.
- Performance analysis under varying task demands.
- Experimental manipulation of spatial compatibility between responses and effects.
Main Results:
- Effect monitoring significantly hinders performance when attempted in parallel with a second task.
- Monitoring spatially incompatible effects takes longer than compatible effects.
- Effect monitoring is vital for learning response-effect associations, including unpredictable outcomes.
Conclusions:
- Effect monitoring is a non-parallelizable cognitive process that impacts multitasking efficiency.
- Spatial compatibility influences the speed of effect monitoring.
- Robust learning of action-effect contingencies relies on comprehensive effect monitoring.
