Subjective estimates of total processing time in dual-tasking: (some) good news for bad introspection

  • Previous studies have shown severe distortions of introspection about dual-task interference in the Psychological Refractory Period (PRP) paradigm. The present study investigated participants’ ability to introspect about the total trial time in this paradigm, as this temporal information may arguably be more relevant for strategic task scheduling than subjective estimates of each task within the dual task. To this end, participants provided estimates of their reaction times (IRTs) for the two subtasks in one half of the experiment, and estimates of the total trial time (ITTs) in the other half of the experiment. Although the IRT results showed the typical unawareness of the PRP effect, ITTs reflected the effects of SOA and Task 2 difficulty on objective total trial time. Additional analyses showed that IRTs were influenced by the introspective task order; that is, the ITT pattern carried over to IRTs when IRTs were assessed in the second half of the experiment. Overall, the presentPrevious studies have shown severe distortions of introspection about dual-task interference in the Psychological Refractory Period (PRP) paradigm. The present study investigated participants’ ability to introspect about the total trial time in this paradigm, as this temporal information may arguably be more relevant for strategic task scheduling than subjective estimates of each task within the dual task. To this end, participants provided estimates of their reaction times (IRTs) for the two subtasks in one half of the experiment, and estimates of the total trial time (ITTs) in the other half of the experiment. Although the IRT results showed the typical unawareness of the PRP effect, ITTs reflected the effects of SOA and Task 2 difficulty on objective total trial time. Additional analyses showed that IRTs were influenced by the introspective task order; that is, the ITT pattern carried over to IRTs when IRTs were assessed in the second half of the experiment. Overall, the present results show that people are able to accurately introspect about total trial time in the PRP paradigm and thus provide some good news for bad introspection in the PRP paradigm.show moreshow less

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Metadaten
Author:Daniel Bratzke, Donna BryceORCiDGND
URN:urn:nbn:de:bvb:384-opus4-1043083
Frontdoor URLhttps://opus.bibliothek.uni-augsburg.de/opus4/104308
ISSN:0340-0727OPAC
ISSN:1430-2772OPAC
Parent Title (English):Psychological Research
Publisher:Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Type:Article
Language:English
Year of first Publication:2023
Publishing Institution:Universität Augsburg
Release Date:2023/05/11
Tag:Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous); Developmental and Educational Psychology; Experimental and Cognitive Psychology; General Medicine
Volume:87
Issue:5
First Page:1560
Last Page:1568
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-022-01762-z
Institutes:Philosophisch-Sozialwissenschaftliche Fakultät
Philosophisch-Sozialwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Psychologie
Philosophisch-Sozialwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Psychologie / Lehrstuhl für Psychologie
Dewey Decimal Classification:1 Philosophie und Psychologie / 15 Psychologie / 150 Psychologie
Licence (German):CC-BY 4.0: Creative Commons: Namensnennung (mit Print on Demand)