Botvinick Matthew M, Bylsma Lauren M
Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 19104-6241, USA.
Psychon Bull Rev. 2005 Dec;12(6):1011-7. doi: 10.3758/bf03206436.
We report here a novel and counterintuitive effect of distraction on routine sequential action. The effect, predicted by a recent computational model of sequential behavior, relates to the tendency for a momentary distraction, such as a brief interruption, to lead to subsequent slips of action. The specific prediction is that errors should be more likely following a distraction occurring toward the middle of a subtask sequence than following a distraction occurring at the end of a subtask. This was tested and confirmed in an experiment involving repeated performance of an everyday task (coffee making) under conditions involving frequent interruption. The observed effect provides differential support for existing models of sequential behavior and offers a highly constraining benchmark for future theories.
我们在此报告分心对常规连续动作产生的一种新颖且有违直觉的效应。这种效应由近期的一种连续行为计算模型所预测，它与瞬间分心（比如短暂中断）导致后续动作失误的倾向有关。具体预测是，在子任务序列中间出现分心比在子任务末尾出现分心后，犯错的可能性更大。这一点在一项实验中得到了测试和证实，该实验要求在频繁中断的条件下反复执行一项日常任务（煮咖啡）。观察到的这种效应为现有的连续行为模型提供了不同的支持，并为未来的理论提供了一个极具限制性的基准。
