Is the alerting-congruency interaction that is seen in experiments with stimulus-response motor associations moderated by a concurrent working-memory load

Bibliographic Data

ID21282907
AuthorsLily Patterson, Lily Ashare Patterson (Bates College), Todd A Kahan (0000-0001-8613-5667, Bates College, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume225
Pages103541
Publication date2022-05-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueActa Psychologica (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0001-6918 • E-ISSN: 1873-6297
PublisherElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.actpsy.2022.103541
PMID35203012
OpenAlexW4212981510
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited39

The mechanisms underlying attention, distraction, and cognitive control have been widely studied, and results consistently show that reaction times are affected by alerting cues as well as by concurrent distraction. In addition, when distractors have pre-existing directional motor associations, alerting and distractor congruency interact in a manner where distractors have a larger effect when people are alerted to an upcoming target relative to when people are not alerted to the target's presentation. However, does a concurrent working memory load moderate this interaction in multitasking experiments, and if so, does it magnify or suppress this effect? The current study (N = 40) finds that although a memory-load significantly slows reaction times it does not moderate the alerting-congruency interaction. Discussion focuses on theoretical and applied implications of this empirical result

Cognition · Cognitive Load · Cognitive psychology · Distraction · Human multitasking · Stimulus (psychology) · Working memory · EEG and Brain-Computer Interfaces · Human-Automation Interaction and Safety · Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies · Neuroscience · Psychology

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