Processing demands of sequential information

Abstract

Three experiments examined the processing capacity required to use sequential information in a serial reaction time task with partially predictable sequences. The first two experiments varied the response stimulus interval (RSI) between 0 and 500 msec and found the relative advantage of the high-probability stimulus to be independent of the length of the RSI. The third experiment compared utilization of sequential information either with or without a secondary task. The secondary task did not affect the high-probability stimulus but did increase the amount of time required to respond to the low-probability events. The results are discussed in terms of the attentional demands of memory access. © 1973 Psychonomic Society, Inc.