Abstract
Previous dual-task studies showed that the selection and/or execution of a response interfere with concurrent visual encoding (action-induced blindness). Four experiments examined how the lateralization of stimuli and responses might affect action-induced blindness. Participants responded to tones (S1) by pressing keys with the left or right hand (R1), and simultaneously identified stimuli (S2) presented to the left or right visual field. Results revealed a complex pattern of cross-talk effects between response preparation and visual encoding. Firstly, preparing a response generally impaired concurrent visual encoding. Secondly, action-induced blindness was equally present for ipsilaterally and contralaterally presented stimuli. Thirdly, response preparation facilitated processing of visual stimuli at ipsilateral locations, probably a case of action-centered attention. Finally, the facilitatory effect of R1–S2 correspondence on visual encoding was complemented by a S2–R1 correspondence effect on response execution. Thus, acting while seeing can have both beneficial and detrimental effects on identification performance at the same time.
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Acknowledgements
The experiments were conducted while the first author was at the Max Planck Institute of Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Munich, Germany. We wish to thank two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions on a previous version of the paper and Silvia Bauer, Diana Berari, Veronika Gärtner, and Anja Kriegs for carrying out the experiments.
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Müsseler, J., Wühr, P., Danielmeier, C. et al. Action-induced blindness with lateralized stimuli and responses. Exp Brain Res 160, 214–222 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-004-2009-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-004-2009-8