Modality matters: Three auditory conflict tasks to measure individual differences in attention control

Behav Res Methods. 2024 Feb 16. doi: 10.3758/s13428-023-02328-6. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTEarly work on selective attention used auditory-based tasks, such as dichotic listening, to shed light on capacity limitations and individual differences in these limitations. Today, there is great interest in individual differences in attentional abilities, but the field has shifted towards visual-modality tasks. Furthermore, most conflict-based tests of attention control lack reliability due to low signal-to-noise ratios and the use of difference scores. Critically, it is unclear to what extent attention control generalizes across sensory modalities, and without reliable auditory-based tests, an answer to this question will remain elusive. To this end, we developed three auditory-based tests of attention control that use an adaptive response deadline (DL) to account for speed-accuracy trade-offs: Auditory Simon DL, Auditory Flanker DL, and Auditory Stroop DL. In a large sample (N = 316), we investigated the psychometric properties of the three auditory conflict tasks, tested whether attention control is better modeled as a unitary factor or modality-specific factors, and estimated the extent to which unique variance in modality-specific factors contributed incrementally to the prediction of dichotic listening and multitasking performance. Our analyses indicated that the auditory conflict tasks have strong psychometric properties and demonstrate convergent validity with visual test...

Source: Behavior Research Methods - February 17, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Alexander P Burgoyne Dolly T Seeburger Randall W Engle Source Type: research