Psychological refractory period

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The term psychological refractory period (PRP) refers to the period of time during which the response to a second stimulus is significantly slowed because a first stimulus is still being processed. [1] This delay in response time when one is required to divide attention can exhibit a negative effect that is evident in many fields of study. The PRP can be used to investigate many areas of research that study processes which require divided attention, such as reading aloud, language, or driving and talking on the phone. PRP effects related to personality, age, and level of alcohol or caffeine intake have also been investigated.

Contents

Methods

PRP is a product of the psychological refractory period paradigm, a paradigm in which two different stimuli are presented in rapid succession, each requiring a fast response. [1] Stimulus onset asynchrony, the time that lapses between the presentations of the two stimuli, acts as the independent variable in this paradigm, and the reaction time to the second stimulus acts as the dependent variable . [1]

Figure 1. Model of the central bottleneck accounting for the psychological refractory period. Execution of one task requires three stages: Stage 1 entails the analysis of the perceptual characteristics of the stimulus, Stage 2 entails a decision about what the task-set requires, Stage 3 is the execution of the actual response. Shaded stages cannot overlap, but if they do, for example when the time intervening between the two tasks (SOA) is short, the one that has priority (i.e., the first task) will delay (SLACK) the execution of the second. This phenomenon is known as the psychological refractory period. BottleneckInterefencePRP.svg
Figure 1.Model of the central bottleneck accounting for the psychological refractory period. Execution of one task requires three stages: Stage 1 entails the analysis of the perceptual characteristics of the stimulus, Stage 2 entails a decision about what the task-set requires, Stage 3 is the execution of the actual response. Shaded stages cannot overlap, but if they do, for example when the time intervening between the two tasks (SOA) is short, the one that has priority (i.e., the first task) will delay (SLACK) the execution of the second. This phenomenon is known as the psychological refractory period.

An example of a PRP paradigm might be that there is a task 1 which requires participants to push the keyboard-letter 'n' with the right index finger when a square frame was green. [1] There is also a task 2 which requires participants to push the keyboard-letter 'v' with the left index finger when the digit displayed was a '3' and to push the letter 'c' with the left middle finger if the digit displayed was a '4'. [1] If the temporal distance between the two tasks is varied, for example 150 ms in one and 1000ms in another, the time to respond to the second task will be longer when the interval occurring between the two tasks is 150 ms than when it is 1000 ms. [1] Referring to figure 1, the SLACK intervening between the execution of the first and second task will be absorbed when the interval intervening between the two tasks is long rather than when it is short.

Results

Researchers have used the PRP paradigm design to study various topics in psychology, and various results indicate how these areas of psychology are negatively affected by the psychological refractory period delay.

Personality and intelligence

PRP is not dependent on personality. [2] Upon experimentation, participants were tested with a PRP paradigm in which the first task was an auditory task and the second task was a visual two choice task. Results indicated that there is an overall decrease in reaction time, exhibiting a psychological refractory period effect, however, there was no effect due to varying levels of extroversion and introversion. [2]

Language

PRP studies have challenged the notion that central attention does not play a role in reading aloud. [3] Upon experimentation, participants were primed with exception words (pin, mint, hint, lint) and pseudohomophones (brain and brane). [3] In the PRP paradigm they were first asked to read the words aloud quickly, and then asked to respond to a tone by responding to the letter string (counterbalance order of words). [3] Results indicated that the phonological process of reading aloud is not automatic it utilizes central attention, because reading aloud also exhibits a PRP effect. [3] It was also determined that other language areas other than reading aloud are affected by PRP. Grammar whether it be open words such as nouns, or closed words such as determiners, pronoun, prepositions, conjunctions etc. require central attention. [4]

Driving

The PRP affects not only simple dual tasks such as the way we read or speak, it also can affect more complicated tasks such as driving . [5] Hal Pashler and his colleagues tested subjects in a driving simulation, and as they drove they would occasionally hear a tone. [5] Once they heard the tone, they had to call out the number of the tone. The car in front of them would occasionally brake, causing the participant to brake. [5] The results indicated that when they had to respond to a tone, they took longer to brake, which could potentially translate into a longer distance needed to slow driving or potential collisions. [5]

Alcohol and caffeine

Alcohol impairs both speed and accuracy performance in PRP tasks, and while caffeine can reduce speed impairments, accuracy remains poor. [6] Participants in this study performed a PRP task that measured dual-task interference. [6] Performance was tested under 2 active doses and 1 placebo dose of caffeine in combination with 1 active dose and 1 placebo dose of alcohol. [6] Results indicated that alcohol impaired PRP performance for both speed and accuracy, and the combination of caffeine and alcohol impaired PRP performance for accuracy but not speed. Therefore, although caffeine may counterbalance alcohol in terms of reaction time, it fails to counterbalance in terms of accuracy.

Aging

PRP becomes more apparent as we age. [7] However, studies have aimed to determine if dual-task practice can help remove elderly disadvantages. It was previously determined from experimentation with young adults that practice reduces reaction time in both simple and PRP conditions; however, after consecutive days the PRP effect was still found to be evident, and therefore was still a function of stimulus onset asynchrony. [8] However, this finding was further tested with older adults. Young and old participants were assigned to practice 7 blocks of PRP paradigm design. [7] The first task required a vocal response to an auditory stimulus, followed by a manual response to a visual stimulus second task. [7] Results showed that practice did not reduce PRP differences between the old and young. They administered the experiment again with either a less complicated first task or less complicated second task. [7] Results showed that previous practice helped reduce PRP only for older adults. Therefore, older adults have a difficult time switching from task 1 to task 2 that is most profound when either the first or second task is difficult.

These differences could be due to the fact that older adults have a reduced ability to bypass the central bottleneck, through task automatization. [9] Older and younger participants first learned to perform an auditory vocal task. They then participated in a PRP paradigm, with a manual response to a visual stimulus, followed by a highly practiced auditory vocal task. Results indicated that there was a processing bottleneck in all but 1 of the older adults. Therefore, older adults either have the ability to use automatic-memory retrieval and bypass the bottleneck and it is just less likely to be used, or they have actual lost the ability entirely.

Theories

During the psychological refractory period, a network of brain regions in both the back and front of the brain are activated. These areas are notable for processing visual information as well as cognitive and motor information respectively. [10] This PRP effect is most likely to be evident when an individual is stressed or is experiencing exhaustion. [10] The PRP is likely caused by a combination of two approaches; the bottleneck approach and the capacity approach. These concepts vary in specific mechanisms, however, they both propose an overall limit to the amount of mental activity in which we can engage in. [11]

Metaphor of the bottleneck

The bottleneck mechanism occurs when the first stimulus is being processed, any other stimuli cannot be processed. [12] The processing of the second stimulus is postponed which slows down reaction time. Neurons that take in information send this information to specific neural networks in different locations. [10] However, when some specific information is sent in one direction, there is a slight delay before new sensory information can be sent to another direction. [10]

Capacity view

The PRP can also be explained by the capacity view. Limited mental resources must be shared when doing two tasks at once. [13] This lacks a bottleneck metaphor; tasks can be performed simultaneously as long as the common pool of resource from which both the tasks pull from is not emptied. The capacity could either be a unitary pool or divided into two pools of mental resources, separated according to input modality (auditory or visual), and response required (vocal or manual). [14] Therefore, if two tasks are in separate modalities they should not interfere with each other. However, despite this separation, there is a maximum to the amount of capacity that can be devoted to them together. Although this idea enjoys some success, it is criticized because it fails to specifically define a mental resource. The definition tends to be circular in that limited resources define why an individual is not able to share two tasks, while the fact that individuals are not able to do two tasks at once is due to limited mental resources. [15]

Related Research Articles

The interference theory is a theory regarding human memory. Interference occurs in learning. The notion is that memories encoded in long-term memory (LTM) are forgotten and cannot be retrieved into short-term memory (STM) because either memory could interfere with the other. There is an immense number of encoded memories within the storage of LTM. The challenge for memory retrieval is recalling the specific memory and working in the temporary workspace provided in STM. Retaining information regarding the relevant time of encoding memories into LTM influences interference strength. There are two types of interference effects: proactive and retroactive interference.

Iconic memory is the visual sensory memory register pertaining to the visual domain and a fast-decaying store of visual information. It is a component of the visual memory system which also includes visual short-term memory (VSTM) and long-term memory (LTM). Iconic memory is described as a very brief, pre-categorical, high capacity memory store. It contributes to VSTM by providing a coherent representation of our entire visual perception for a very brief period of time. Iconic memory assists in accounting for phenomena such as change blindness and continuity of experience during saccades. Iconic memory is no longer thought of as a single entity but instead, is composed of at least two distinctive components. Classic experiments including Sperling's partial report paradigm as well as modern techniques continue to provide insight into the nature of this SM store.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stroop effect</span> Effect of psychological interference on reaction time

In psychology, the Stroop effect is the delay in reaction time between congruent and incongruent stimuli.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cocktail party effect</span> Ability of the brain to focus on a single auditory stimulus by filtering out background noise

The cocktail party effect refers to the phenomenon wherein the brain focuses a person's attention on a particular stimulus, usually auditory. This focus excludes a range of other stimuli from conscious awareness, as when a partygoer follows a single conversation in a noisy room. This ability is widely distributed among humans, with most listeners more or less easily able to portion the totality of sound detected by the ears into distinct streams, and subsequently to decide which streams are most pertinent, excluding all or most others.

Attentional blink (AB) is a phenomenon that reflects temporal limitations in the ability to deploy visual attention. When people must identify two visual stimuli in quick succession, accuracy for the second stimulus is poor if it occurs within 200 to 500 ms of the first.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Change blindness</span> Perceptual phenomenon

Change blindness is a perceptual phenomenon that occurs when a change in a visual stimulus is introduced and the observer does not notice it. For example, observers often fail to notice major differences introduced into an image while it flickers off and on again. People's poor ability to detect changes has been argued to reflect fundamental limitations of human attention. Change blindness has become a highly researched topic and some have argued that it may have important practical implications in areas such as eyewitness testimony and distractions while driving.

Inhibition of return (IOR) refers to an orientation mechanism that briefly enhances the speed and accuracy with which an object is detected after the object is attended, but then impairs detection speed and accuracy. IOR is usually measured with a cue-response paradigm, in which a person presses a button when they detect a target stimulus following the presentation of a cue that indicates the location in which the target will appear. The cue can be exogenous, or endogenous. Inhibition of return results from oculomotor activation, regardless of whether it was produced by exogenous signals or endogenously. Although IOR occurs for both visual and auditory stimuli, IOR is greater for visual stimuli, and is studied more often than auditory stimuli.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Affect (psychology)</span> Experience of feeling or emotion

Affect, in psychology, refers to the underlying experience of feeling, emotion, attachment, or mood. In psychology, "affect" refers to the experience of feeling or emotion. It encompasses a wide range of emotional states and can be positive or negative. Affect is a fundamental aspect of human experience and plays a central role in many psychological theories and studies. It can be understood as a combination of three components: emotion, mood, and affectivity. In psychology, the term "affect" is often used interchangeably with several related terms and concepts, though each term may have slightly different nuances. These terms encompass: emotion, feeling, mood, emotional state, sentiment, affective state, emotional response, affective reactivity, disposition. Researchers and psychologists may employ specific terms based on their focus and the context of their work.

The dot-probe paradigm is a test used by cognitive psychologists to assess selective attention.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mental chronometry</span> Study of processing speed on cognitive tasks

Mental chronometry is the scientific study of processing speed or reaction time on cognitive tasks to infer the content, duration, and temporal sequencing of mental operations. Reaction time is measured by the elapsed time between stimulus onset and an individual's response on elementary cognitive tasks (ECTs), which are relatively simple perceptual-motor tasks typically administered in a laboratory setting. Mental chronometry is one of the core methodological paradigms of human experimental, cognitive, and differential psychology, but is also commonly analyzed in psychophysiology, cognitive neuroscience, and behavioral neuroscience to help elucidate the biological mechanisms underlying perception, attention, and decision-making in humans and other species.

Echoic memory is the sensory memory that registers specific to auditory information (sounds). Once an auditory stimulus is heard, it is stored in memory so that it can be processed and understood. Unlike most visual memory, where a person can choose how long to view the stimulus and can reassess it repeatedly, auditory stimuli are usually transient and cannot be reassessed. Since echoic memories are heard once, they are stored for slightly longer periods of time than iconic memories. Auditory stimuli are received by the ear one at a time before they can be processed and understood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human multitasking</span> Ability to perform activities simultaneously

Human multitasking is the concept that one can split their attention on more than one task or activity at the same time, such as speaking on the phone while driving a car. Multitasking can result in time wasted due to human context switching and becoming prone to errors due to insufficient attention. If one becomes proficient at two tasks, it is possible to rapidly shift attention between the tasks and perform the tasks well.

Priming is the idea that exposure to one stimulus may influence a response to a subsequent stimulus, without conscious guidance or intention. The priming effect refers to the positive or negative effect of a rapidly presented stimulus on the processing of a second stimulus that appears shortly after. Generally speaking, the generation of priming effect depends on the existence of some positive or negative relationship between priming and target stimuli. For example, the word nurse might be recognized more quickly following the word doctor than following the word bread. Priming can be perceptual, associative, repetitive, positive, negative, affective, semantic, or conceptual. Priming effects involve word recognition, semantic processing, attention, unconscious processing, and many other issues, and are related to differences in various writing systems. Research, however, has yet to firmly establish the duration of priming effects, yet their onset can be almost instantaneous.

Perceptual learning is learning better perception skills such as differentiating two musical tones from one another or categorizations of spatial and temporal patterns relevant to real-world expertise. Examples of this may include reading, seeing relations among chess pieces, and knowing whether or not an X-ray image shows a tumor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">P3b</span>

The P3b is a subcomponent of the P300, an event-related potential (ERP) component that can be observed in human scalp recordings of brain electrical activity. The P3b is a positive-going amplitude peaking at around 300 ms, though the peak will vary in latency from 250 to 500 ms or later depending upon the task and on the individual subject response. Amplitudes are typically highest on the scalp over parietal brain areas.

Dichotic listening is a psychological test commonly used to investigate selective attention and the lateralization of brain function within the auditory system. It is used within the fields of cognitive psychology and neuroscience.

Subliminal stimuli are any sensory stimuli below an individual's threshold for conscious perception, in contrast to supraliminal stimuli. A 2012 review of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies showed that subliminal stimuli activate specific regions of the brain despite participants' unawareness. Visual stimuli may be quickly flashed before an individual can process them, or flashed and then masked to interrupt processing. Audio stimuli may be played below audible volumes or masked by other stimuli.

Unconscious cognition is the processing of perception, memory, learning, thought, and language without being aware of it.

Broadbent's filter model is an early selection theory of attention.

Hal Pashler is Distinguished Professor of Psychology at University of California, San Diego. An experimental psychologist and cognitive scientist, Pashler is best known for his studies of human attentional limitations. and for his work on visual attention He has also developed and tested new methods for enhancing learning and reducing forgetting, focusing on the temporal spacing of learning and retrieval practice.

References

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  2. 1 2 Indermühle, Rebekka; Troche, Stefan J.; Rammsayer, Thomas H. (1 January 2011). "Personality and the psychological refractory period: No evidence for an extraversion- or intelligence-related effect". Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science. 43 (3): 214–221. doi:10.1037/a0024156.
  3. 1 2 3 4 O'Malley, Shannon; Reynolds, Michael G.; Stolz, Jennifer A.; Besner, Derek (1 January 2008). "Reading aloud: Spelling-sound translation uses central attention". Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition. 34 (2): 422–429. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.34.2.422. PMID   18315417.
  4. ↑ Ayora, Pauline; Janssen, Niels; Dell'Acqua, Roberto; Alario, F.-Xavier (2009). "Attentional requirements for the selection of words from different grammatical categories". Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition. 35 (5): 1344–1351. doi:10.1037/a0016373. ISSN   1939-1285. PMID   19686027.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Levy, J.; Pashler, H.; Boer, E. (1 March 2006). "Central Interference in Driving: Is There Any Stopping the Psychological Refractory Period?". Psychological Science. 17 (3): 228–235. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01690.x. PMID   16507063. S2CID   1156889.
  6. 1 2 3 Marczinski, Cecile A.; Fillmore, Mark T. (1 January 2006). "Clubgoers and their trendy cocktails: Implications of mixing caffeine into alcohol on information processing and subjective reports of intoxication". Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology . 14 (4): 450–458. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.515.5761 . doi:10.1037/1064-1297.14.4.450. PMID   17115872.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Maquestiaux, François; Hartley, Alan A.; Bertsch, Jean (1 January 2004). "Can Practice Overcome Age-Related Differences in the Psychological Refractory Period Effect?". Psychology and Aging. 19 (4): 649–667. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.541.1732 . doi:10.1037/0882-7974.19.4.649. PMID   15584790.
  8. ↑ Guan, HW (2005). "Practice and fractionated reaction time in the psychological refractory period paradigm". Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport. 76 (1): A56.
  9. ↑ Maquestiaux, François; Laguë-Beauvais, Maude; Ruthruff, Eric; Hartley, Alan; Bherer, Louis (1 January 2010). "Learning to bypass the central bottleneck: Declining automaticity with advancing age". Psychology and Aging. 25 (1): 177–192. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.707.2332 . doi:10.1037/a0017122. PMID   20230138.
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  11. ↑ Navon, D; Miller, J (May 2002). "Queuing or sharing? A critical evaluation of the single-bottleneck notion". Cognitive Psychology. 44 (3): 193–251. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.211.3765 . doi:10.1006/cogp.2001.0767. PMID   11971632. S2CID   8849597.
  12. ↑ Lien, Mei-Ching; Ruthruff, Eric; Johnston, James C. (1 April 2006). "Attentional Limitations in Doing Two Tasks at Once. The Search for Exceptions". Current Directions in Psychological Science. 15 (2): 89–93. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.605.5509 . doi:10.1111/j.0963-7214.2006.00413.x. S2CID   30360032.
  13. ↑ Navon, David; Gopher, Daniel (1 January 1979). "On the economy of the human-processing system". Psychological Review. 86 (3): 214–255. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.86.3.214.
  14. ↑ Christopher D. Wickens; Justin G. Hollands (2000). Engineering psychology and human performance (3. ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ [u.a.]: Prentice-Hall. ISBN   978-0-321-04711-3.
  15. ↑ Robert S. Wyer Jr., ed. (1997). The automaticity of everyday life. Hillsdale, NJ [u.a.]: Erlbaum. pp. 157–179. ISBN   978-0-8058-1699-0.
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