Complex skill acquisition by performing authentic learning tasks is constrained by limited working memory capacity (Baddeley, 1992). To prevent cognitive overload, task difficulty and support of each newly selected learning task can be adapted to the learner’s competence level and perceived task load, either by some external agent, the learner herself, or both. Health sciences students (N = 55)...

Grasp stability during object manipulation is achieved by the grip forces applied normal to the grasped surfaces increasing and decreasing in phase with increases and decreases of destabilizing load forces applied tangential to the grasped surfaces. This force coordination requires that the CNS anticipates the grip forces that match the requirements imposed by the self-generated load forces. He...

In this study we tested the gateway hypothesis of Broadmann area 10 (BA10). With a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) protocol we manipulated the saliency--stimulus-oriented (SO) attending--and the memory load--stimulus-independent (SI) attending--during a prospective memory (PM) task. We found a significant main effect of the SO manipulation within the medial BA10 and a significant i...

This study examines the hypothesis that audio-visual integration of speech requires both expectation to perceive speech and sufficient attentional resources to allow multimodal integration. Audio-visual integration was measured by recording susceptibility to the McGurk effect whilst participants simultaneously performed a primary visual task under conditions of high or low perceptual load. Acco...

Inhibition of return (IOR) refers to a processing disadvantage at a recently attended location. It is generally agreed that when elicited in a cue-target task, IOR will not be apparent until attention is disengaged from the originally cued location and returned to a neutral state. Here we test the hypothesis that when such disengagement is dependent on endogenous control, a secondary task that ...

This study examined the effects of unexpected loading on muscle activation during fast goal-oriented movements. We tested the hypothesis that the electromyographic (EMG) response to an unexpected load occurs at a short latency after the difference between the expected and the unexpected movement velocity exceeds a fixed threshold. Subjects performed two movement tasks as follows: 1) 30 degrees ...

The authors tested the hypothesis that impaired behavioral performance during intoxication results partly from alcohol's deleterious effects on cognitive control. The impact of alcohol on perseverative behavior was examined with an n-back working memory task that included manipulations of task complexity and prepotency of inclinations to respond or withhold responding. Thirty-two social drinker...

The classic account of the load theory (LT) of attention suggests that increasing cognitive load leads to greater processing of task-irrelevant stimuli due to competition for limited executive resource that reduces the ability to actively maintain current processing priorities. Studies testing this hypothesis have yielded widely divergent outcomes. The inconsistent results may, in part, be rela...

Task-induced deactivation (TID) refers to a regional decrease in blood flow during an active task relative to a "resting" or "passive" baseline. We tested the hypothesis that TID results from a reallocation of processing resources by parametrically manipulating task difficulty within three factors: target discriminability, stimulus presentation rate, and short-term memory load. Subjects perform...

The present study serves to test whether the cognitive mechanisms underlying social cooperation are affected by cognitive load. Participants interacted with trustworthy-looking and untrustworthy-looking partners in a sequential Prisoner's Dilemma Game. Facial trustworthiness was manipulated to stimulate expectations about the future behavior of the partners which were either violated or confirm...