Effects of a concurrent auditory task on visual search performance in a driving-related image-flicker task

摘要

The effect of a concurrent auditory task on visual search was investigated using an image-flicker technique. Participants were undergraduate university students with normal or corrected-to-normal vision who searched for changes in images of driving scenes that involved either driving-related(e.g., traffic light)or driving- unrelated(e.g., mailbox)scene elements. The results indicated that response times were significantly slower if the search was accompanied by a concurrent auditory task. In addition, slower overall responses to scenes involving driving-unrelated changes suggest that the underlying process affected by the concurrent auditory task is strategic in nature.