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On interpretation and task selection: the sub-component hypothesis of cognitive noise effects

It is often argued that the effects of noise on a “complex ability” (e.g., reading, writing, calculation) can be explained by the impairment noise causes to some ability (e.g., working memory) upon which the complex ability depends. Because of this, tasks that measure “sub-component abilities” (i.e....

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Autor principal: Sörqvist, Patrik
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4295433/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25642207
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01598
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author Sörqvist, Patrik
author_facet Sörqvist, Patrik
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description It is often argued that the effects of noise on a “complex ability” (e.g., reading, writing, calculation) can be explained by the impairment noise causes to some ability (e.g., working memory) upon which the complex ability depends. Because of this, tasks that measure “sub-component abilities” (i.e., those abilities upon which complex abilities depend) are often deemed sufficient in cognitive noise studies, even when the primary interest is to understand the effects of noise as they arise in applied settings (e.g., offices and schools). This approach can be called the “sub-component hypothesis of cognitive noise effects.” The present paper discusses two things that are troublesome for this approach: difficulties with interpretation and generalizability. A complete understanding of the effects of noise on complex abilities requires studying the complex ability itself. Cognitive noise researches must, therefore, employ tasks that mimic the tasks that are actually carried out in the applied setting to which the results are intended to be generalized. Tasks that measure “sub-component abilities” may be complementary, but should not be given priority in applied cognitive research.
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spelling pubmed-42954332015-01-30 On interpretation and task selection: the sub-component hypothesis of cognitive noise effects Sörqvist, Patrik Front Psychol Psychology It is often argued that the effects of noise on a “complex ability” (e.g., reading, writing, calculation) can be explained by the impairment noise causes to some ability (e.g., working memory) upon which the complex ability depends. Because of this, tasks that measure “sub-component abilities” (i.e., those abilities upon which complex abilities depend) are often deemed sufficient in cognitive noise studies, even when the primary interest is to understand the effects of noise as they arise in applied settings (e.g., offices and schools). This approach can be called the “sub-component hypothesis of cognitive noise effects.” The present paper discusses two things that are troublesome for this approach: difficulties with interpretation and generalizability. A complete understanding of the effects of noise on complex abilities requires studying the complex ability itself. Cognitive noise researches must, therefore, employ tasks that mimic the tasks that are actually carried out in the applied setting to which the results are intended to be generalized. Tasks that measure “sub-component abilities” may be complementary, but should not be given priority in applied cognitive research. Frontiers Media S.A. 2015-01-15 /pmc/articles/PMC4295433/ /pubmed/25642207 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01598 Text en Copyright © 2015 Sörqvist. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Sörqvist, Patrik
On interpretation and task selection: the sub-component hypothesis of cognitive noise effects
title On interpretation and task selection: the sub-component hypothesis of cognitive noise effects
title_full On interpretation and task selection: the sub-component hypothesis of cognitive noise effects
title_fullStr On interpretation and task selection: the sub-component hypothesis of cognitive noise effects
title_full_unstemmed On interpretation and task selection: the sub-component hypothesis of cognitive noise effects
title_short On interpretation and task selection: the sub-component hypothesis of cognitive noise effects
title_sort on interpretation and task selection: the sub-component hypothesis of cognitive noise effects
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4295433/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25642207
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01598
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