Attention switching is not a fatigable process: methodological comments on Axelrod and Guzy (1972).
Guzy and Axelrod investigated auditory attention switching by means of the click-counting paradigm and concluded that attention switching is a fatigable process. In the present comment it is shown that this conclusion is based on a faulty analysis of the data: The scores subjected to the analysis of variance were transformed such that they were no longer linear combinations of the factorial effects. Reanalyzing the data in the correct way renders perfectly linear conting functions that deviate from theoretical fatigue functions. It is concluded that the attention-switching mechanism is not fatigable.
D001288:Attention; D001307:Auditory Perception; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D006185:Habituation, Psychophysiologic; D006801:Humans