Julia C. Seibold

Intentional Preparation of Auditory Attention-Switches: Explicit Cueing and Sequential Switch-Predictability

In an auditory attention-switching paradigm, participants heard two simultaneously spoken number-words, each presented to one ear, and decided whether the target number was smaller or larger than 5 by pressing a left or right key. An instructional cue in each trial indicated which feature had to be used to identify the target number (e.g., female voice). Auditory attention-switch costs were found when this feature changed compared to when it repeated in two consecutive trials. Earlier studies employing this paradigm showed mixed results when they examined whether such cued auditory attention-switches can be prepared actively during the cue–stimulus interval. This study systematically assessed which preconditions are necessary for the advance preparation of auditory attention-switches. Three experiments were conducted that controlled for cue-repetition benefits, modality switches between cue and stimuli, as well as for predictability of the switch-sequence. Only in the third experiment, in which predictability for an attention-switch was maximal due to a pre-instructed switch-sequence and predictable stimulus onsets, active switch-specific preparation was found. These results suggest that the cognitive system can prepare auditory attention-switches, and this preparation seems to be triggered primarily by the memorised switching-sequence and valid expectations about the time of target onset.

Exploring handedness asymmetries in the Simon effect

Spatially corresponding stimulus-response pairings usually produce shorter reaction times (RTs) than do non-corresponding pairings, even when the spatial dimension of the stimulus is irrelevant to the task. This “Simon effect” for visual stimuli and manual responses is often larger for the stimulus location on the side to which the person’s dominant hand is operating. The present study aimed at replicating and examining the nature of this asymmetry. To determine whether the Simon effect asymmetry is a function of the hand distinction or of conceptual spatial codes, performance with left and right manual key-presses was compared to that with vocal responses “left” and “right.” Whether the asymmetric Simon effect pattern is restricted to spatial stimuli was tested by comparing effects obtained with left and right located squares to those found with the centered words Left and Right. The asymmetry was only replicated for the spatial stimulus-manual response Simon task, for which a second experiment showed similar results when the hands and response box were not visible during task performance. The analysis revealed a general dominant-hand RT advantage that similarly adds to both corresponding and non-corresponding trials and is rather independent from the Simon effect. This advantage yields an apparent asymmetry when the data are analyzed as a function of correspondence for each stimulus location because the corresponding and non-corresponding RTs that are compared come from different hands.

Examining auditory selective attention in reverberant environments

Using a well-established binaural-listening paradigm, the ability to intentionally switch auditory selective attention was examined under anechoic, low reverberation (0.8 s) and high reverberation (1.75 s) conditions. Twenty-four young, normal-hearing subjects were tested in a within-subject design to analyze influences of the reverberation times. Spoken word pairs by two speakers were presented simultaneously to subjects from two of eight azimuth positions. The stimuli were word pairs that consisted of a single number word (i.e., 1 to 9) followed by either the German direction “UP” or “DOWN.” Guided by a visual cue prior to auditory stimulus onset indicating the position of the target speaker, subjects were asked to identify whether the target number was numerically smaller or greater than five and to categorize the direction of the second word. Switch costs (i.e., reaction time differences between a position switch of the target relative to a position repetition) were larger for the high reverberation c...

Intentional switching in auditory selective attention: Exploring attention shifts with different reverberation times

ABSTRACT Using a well‐established binaural‐listening paradigm the ability to intentionally switch auditory selective attention was examined under anechoic, low reverberation (0.8 s) and high reverberation (1.75 s) conditions. Twenty‐three young, normal‐hearing subjects were tested in a within‐subject design to analyze influences of the reverberation times. Spoken word pairs by two speakers were presented simultaneously to subjects from two of eight azimuth positions. The stimuli consisted of a single number word, (i.e., 1 to 9), followed by either the direction “UP” or “DOWN” in German. Guided by a visual cue prior to auditory stimulus onset indicating the position of the target speaker, subjects were asked to identify whether the target number was numerically smaller or greater than five and to categorize the direction of the second word. Switch costs, (i.e. reaction time differences between a position switch of the target relative to a position repetition), were larger under the high reverberation condition. Furthermore, the error rates were highly dependent on reverberant energy and reverberation interacted with the congruence effect, (i.e. stimuli spoken by target and distractor may evoke the same answer (congruent) or different answers (incongruent)), indicating larger congruence effects under higher reverberation times. HighlightsReverberation has a great effect on reaction times when maintaining attention to one direction.Additional reverberant energy has no impact on intentional switching attention to other speakers.The ability to ignore a distracting source is significantly influenced by reverberation.Localization cues have a relevant effect on performance in tasks of auditory selective attention.

Assessment of the Individual Work Organization During a Service Provision

Employees of knowledge-intensive service companies organize their work individually. Therefore, an inadequate coordination of people may lead to an exceeding of service time and costs. In order to avoid this, a method-based work analysis provides an appropriate, but also time-consuming procedure to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of operations at an individual employee level. In this paper, we introduce a new approach for the assessment of an individual work organization during a service provision. To achieve this objective, a performance measurement system and a software tool for tablets and smartphones are presented. The software tool will be introduced, and tested by a verification study in a service company.