Task Versus Component Consistency in the Development of Automatic Processes: Consistent Attending Versus Consistent Responding

摘要

Previous visual search experiments have shown that training to consistently respond to a stimulus results in substantial improvements in performance. The current research examines whether the total processing, from stimulus to response, must be consistent for this improvement to occur. The experiment factorially combined consistent versus inconsistent attending and responding. In a multiple frame target detection paradigm, subjects detected single character targets in rapidly presented frames of four characters. Results showed inconsistent motor responding slowed detection improvement and reaction time. However, after extended training, no differences in detection accuracy existed between consistent and inconsistent motor responding if attending was consistent. The present research indicates that the notion of consistency need not relate to the entire task. Even if some stages of processing are inconsistent, consistency within a stage can lead to development of automatic processing. Implications for the development of automatic component processes are discussed. (Author)