title: The cost of serially chaining two cognitive operations.
abstract: As Turing (1936, Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society) noted, a fundamental process in human cognition is to effect chained sequential operations in which the second operation requires an input from the preceding one. Although a great deal is known about the costs associated with 'independent' (unrelated) operations, e.g., from the classic psychological refractory period paradigm, far less is known about those operations to which Turing referred. We present the results of two behavioural experiments, where participants were required to perform two speeded sequential tasks that were either chained or independent. Both experiments reveal the reaction time cost of chaining, over and above classical dual-task serial costs. Moreover, the chaining operation significantly altered the distribution of reaction times relative to the Independent condition in terms of an increased mean and variance. These results are discussed in terms of the cognitive architecture underlying the serial chaining of cognitive operations.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior, Central China Normal University, Ministry of Education, Wuhan, 430079, China.
authors.forename: Zhao
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Krish
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: Suresh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Muthukumaraswamy
authors.forename: Mariano
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sigman
authors.forename: Stanislas
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dehaene
authors.forename: Kimron
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shapiro
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D012033:Refractory Period, Psychological / Q000502:physiology