Abstract
The current research examined whether the total processing, from stimulus to response, must be consistent for automatic processing to improve task performance. Consistent versus inconsistent attending and responding (i.e., response translation) were factorially combined. Results showed that the consistency of attending produced substantial practice effects. However, consistency of the motor response translation component did not affect the asymptotic performance level. The results indicate that automatic processing develops for consistent components of a task even when the entire task is not consistent.
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This research was supported in part by funds from Office of Naval Research Personnel and Training Contract N000014-78-C- 0012 (NR 150-409) and NIMH Grant 5 R01 MH31425.
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Fisk, A.D., Schneider, W. Consistent attending versus consistent responding in visual search: Task versus component consistency in automatic processing development. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 22, 330–332 (1984). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03333834
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03333834