Gaschler Robert, Kemper Maike, Zhao Fang, Pumpe Ina, Ruderisch Charlotte-Barbara, Röttger Eva, Haider Hilde
FernUniversität in Hagen, Hagen, Germany.
Humboldt-Universität Berlin, Germany; Research Cluster Image Knowledge Gestaltung, Germany.
Acta Psychol (Amst). 2018 Nov;191:76-86. doi: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2018.09.004. Epub 2018 Sep 15.
Everyday multitasking often is characterized by predictable sequences. While such sequential regularities are present in setups using the Serial Reaction Time Task (SRTT), many laboratory studies on dual-tasking performance use random sequences of stimuli in either of the two tasks. In the current study, following single-task training on the SRTT, participants completed trials where they were confronted with an additional visual-manual task with either a random (Experiment 1) or a partially predictable (Experiment 2) stimulus sequence. In the SRTT, we cued participants with respect to which of the four stimulus options were yet to occur (before a new round with all four options would start). We randomly mixed a sequence to be practiced with random sequences of the same length and with the same constraint. Thus, we were able to vary predictability of upcoming stimuli (from chance to 100%) as well as sequence knowledge (practiced vs. random sequence) in order to assess how cueing and sequence knowledge, as two potential bases of prediction, would affect performance in single- and dual-tasking. Results suggest that both cueing and sequence knowledge-based prediction can lead to shorter RTs in dual-tasking. In previous studies, the disruption of sequence learning by adding a task with a random stimulus sequence has been linked to the effects of automatic prediction between events in the two tasks. In line with these studies, dual-task performance did not impede usage of sequence knowledge when a task with a predictable (rather than random) sequence of stimuli was added to the SRTT.
日常多任务处理通常具有可预测的序列特征。虽然在使用序列反应时任务（SRTT）的设置中存在这种序列规律性，但许多关于双任务表现的实验室研究在两个任务中的任何一个中都使用随机刺激序列。在当前研究中，在对SRTT进行单任务训练后，参与者完成了一些试验，在这些试验中，他们面临一个额外的视觉手动任务，该任务具有随机（实验1）或部分可预测（实验2）的刺激序列。在SRTT中，我们提示参与者关于四个刺激选项中的哪一个尚未出现（在新一轮所有四个选项开始之前）。我们将一个要练习的序列与相同长度和相同约束的随机序列随机混合。因此，我们能够改变即将到来的刺激的可预测性（从偶然到100%）以及序列知识（练习过的与随机序列），以便评估作为预测的两个潜在基础的提示和序列知识如何影响单任务和双任务中的表现。结果表明，基于提示和序列知识的预测都可以导致双任务中更短的反应时间。在先前的研究中，通过添加具有随机刺激序列的任务来破坏序列学习与两个任务中事件之间的自动预测效应有关。与这些研究一致，当将具有可预测（而不是随机）刺激序列的任务添加到SRTT时，双任务表现并不妨碍序列知识的使用。
