Abstract
Effects of physical effort have been difficult to trace in attention tasks for various reasons, such as the activating effect of the laboratory situation or the spare capacity in automated tasks. Instead, Vervaeck, Deboeck, Hueting, and Soetens (1982) proposed a dual task, reflecting quantitatively the changes that take place in the processing of information when fatigue is introduced. This is a follow-up paper with a similar method; that is, a visual-auditory dual task is presented 30 min after physical effort. The results revealed that the deterioration of performance in the more difficult part of the visual component of the task, found in the previous study, was not due to an increased distraction of fatigued subjects, but rather to a shortage of allocatable capacity. It is suggested that parallel processing occurs with one fast processing line, which is used for evaluating the requirements of the task. Combining this information with an estimation of the available allocatable capacity, subjects decide to continue or to interrupt the processing of the stimulus.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Blitz, P. S. (1976). Vermoeidheid: Doorgaan of afstappen? [Fatigue: Go ahead or step aside?]. In J. E. Hueting & R. A. Blinkhorst (Eds.), Sport, lichamelijke vorming en wetenschap (pp. 67–80). Leiden: Meander.
Brown, I. D. (1967). Car driving and fatigue. Triangle, 8, 131–137.
Craik, F. I., & Lockhart, R. S. (1972). Levels of processing: A framework for memory research. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behaviour, 11, 671–684.
Davey, C. P. (1973). Physical exertion and mental performance. Ergonomics, 16, 5.
Kahneman, D. (1973). Attention and effort. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Klahr, D. (1973). Quantification processes. In W. G. Chase (Ed.), Visual information processing (pp. 3–34, 527-546). New York: Academic Press.
Marcel, T. (1980). Concious and preconcious recognition of polyse-mous words: Locating the selective effects of prior verbal context. In R. S. Nickerson (Ed.), Attention and performance VIII (pp. 435–457). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
NääTäNEN, R. (1975). Selective attention and evoked potentials in humans: A critical review. Biological Psychology, 2, 237–307.
Vervaeck, K., Debeock, M., Hueting, J., & Soetens, E. (1982). Traces of fatigue in an attention dual task. Bulletin of the Psycho-nomic Society, 19, 151–154.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Soetens, E., Deboeck, M. & Hueting, J. Traces of fatigue in an attention dual task: II. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 22, 514–516 (1984). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03333894
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03333894