An auditory attention task: a note on the processing of verbal information.
On an auditory attention task subjects were required to reproduce spatial relationships between letters from auditorily presented verbal information containing the prepositions "before" or "after." It was assumed that propositions containing "after" induce a conflict between temporal, and semantically implied, spatial order between letters. Data from 36 subjects showing that propositions with "after" are more difficult to process are presented. A significant, general training effect appeared. 200 mg caffeine had a certain beneficial effect on performance of 18 subjects who had been awake for about 22 hours and were tested at 6 a.m.; however, the beneficial effect was not related to amount of conflict but concerned items without and with conflict. On the other hand, the effect of caffeine for 18 subjects tested at 4 p.m. after normal sleep was slightly negative.
National Defense Research Establishment, Sundbyberg, Sweden.
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D000328:Adult; D001143:Arousal / Q000187:drug effects; D001288:Attention / Q000187:drug effects; D002110:Caffeine / Q000494:pharmacology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000187:drug effects; D011340:Problem Solving / Q000187:drug effects; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000187:drug effects; D012660:Semantics; D012892:Sleep Deprivation; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000187:drug effects
D002110:Caffeine