title: Motor limitation in dual-task processing with different effectors.
abstract: According to the extended bottleneck model, dual-task interference does not arise only from a central bottleneck but also from processing limitations at the motor stage. Evidence for this assumption has previously been found only for same-effector tasks but not for different-effector tasks. In order to examine the existence of motor interference with different effectors, we used the psychological refractory period paradigm and employed response sequences of different length in Task 1 (R1 sequence length). Experiment 1 incorporated vocal response sequences in Task 1 and a manual response in Task 2. In Experiment 2, the assignment of the effectors to the two tasks was reversed. In both experiments, the long R1 sequence prolonged reaction time for Task 2 (RT2), and this effect was reduced with decreasing temporal overlap of the two tasks. Thus, the present experiments demonstrate motor interference between different-effector tasks. This interference may be due to on-line programming or to central response monitoring.
authors.affiliation: Psychologisches Institut, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany. daniel.bratzke@uni-tuebingen.de
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bratzke
authors.forename: Rolf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ulrich
authors.forename: Bettina
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rolke
authors.forename: Hannes
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Schröter
authors.forename: Ines
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Jentzsch
authors.forename: Hartmut
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Leuthold
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011930:Reaction Time; D012033:Refractory Period, Psychological