Dividing attention without alternation or automaticity.

Abstract

The 1st of 2 experiments with a total of 8 undergraduates examined whether Ss would take intermittent advantage of the redundancy of stories to switch to a writing task. Some Ss were trained to copy words while reading highly redundant material (short stories); others were trained with less redundant encyclopedia articles. On reaching criterion, each S was switched to the other type of reading material. Three of the 4 Ss trained with stories transferred their skill immediately to the encyclopedia, suggesting that they had not been using the redundancy of the stories to accomplish their task. In Exp II, 2 Ss were trained to copy complete sentences while reading. Several tests then showed that they understood the meaning of the sentences. Results strengthen the hypothesis that the ability to divide attention is constrained primarily by the individual's level of skill, not by the size of a fixed pool of resources. Postulated capacity limits may provide plausible accounts of unskilled performance but fail to explain the achievements of practiced individuals. (39 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)