Parallel response selection in dual-task situations.
Semantic priming and response priming were studied in a dual-task procedure. In two experiments, reaction times to the first and second stimuli were faster when the finger required for the Task 1 response was the same as the finger required for the Task 2 response. Such priming suggests that Task 2 response information was generated prior to the completion of Task 1 response selection. These data pose a potential challenge to the response-selection bottleneck (RSB) theory of dual-task performance, since they may indicate a violation of the discrete-stage processing assumption on which the underlying locus-of-slack logic depends. Accommodating these data while preserving the essential bottleneck character of RSB theory may be possible but may also alter the very nature of the bottleneck itself.
Watter
Scott
S
Department of Psychology, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada. watter@mcmaster.ca
Logan
Gordon D
GD
D002755:Choice Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008128:Logic; D011930:Reaction Time; D012660:Semantics