Interference between conversation and a concurrent visuomotor task.

ABSTRACT: We report 2 experiments during which participants conversed with either a confederate (Experiment 1) or a close friend (Experiment 2) while tracking a moving target on a computer screen. In both experiments, talking led to worse performance on the tracking task than listening. We attribute this finding to the increased cognitive demands of speech planning and monitoring. Growth curve analyses of task performance during the beginning and end of conversation segments revealed dynamical changes in the impact of conversation on visuomotor task performance, with increasing impact during the beginning of speaking segments and decreasing impact during the beginning of listening segments. At the end of speaking and listening segments, this pattern reversed. These changes became more pronounced wit

SUBMITTER: Boiteau TW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3720820 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature