The Motivating Effects of Distraction on Task Performance

نویسندگان

  • Glenn S. Sanders
  • Robert Steven Baron
چکیده

Two studies were conducted to assess whether distraction has drivelike effects on task performance. In both, the effects of distraction over all trials interacted significantly with the nature of the task; jlistraction tended to facilitate the performances of simple tasks and signirkantiy~impaired performance on complex tasks. Moreover, analyses focusing upon drive carryover effects generally replicated these effects; when distraction was momentarily suspended, performance on simple tasks was facilitated in both studies (compared to nondistraction controls, joint p<.OS), whereas performance on the complex task used in Study 2 was still impaired. Results of Study 2 indicate that lack of impairment on the complex task in Study 1 on such trials was due to practice effects of repeated testing. These results indicate that distraction (a) has drivelike properties and (b) does not invariably impair performance. These results are discussed in terms of recent research and theorizing in the area of social facilitation.

برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

منابع مشابه

The Effect of Different Break Activities on Eye-Hand Coordination in Female Students

People face breaks in their daily tasks that effect on their daily life. The present study was designed to evaluate the effect of different break activities on eye-hand coordination in female students. In the current experimental study conducted with repeated measures design, 36 high school female students with age range 13-15 years old were conveniently selected. In order to evaluate participa...

متن کامل

Long-Term Effects of Collaborative Task Planning vs. Individual Task Planning on Persian-Speaking EFL Learners’ Writing Performance

This study was aimed to compare long-term effects of collaborative and individual task planning on Persian-speaking EFL learners’ writing performance, using Brown and Bailey’s (1985) rating scale. Therefore, a group of 90 upper-intermediate EFL learners in collaborative task planning, individual task planning, and control groups took part in the study. In the experimental groups, the participan...

متن کامل

The Effects of Task Complexity on English Language Learners’ Listening Comprehension

This article reports on the findings of a study that investigated the impact of manipulating task performance conditions on listening task performance by learners of English as a foreign language (EFL). The study was designed to explore the effects of changing complexity dimensions on listening task performance and to achieve two aims: to see how listening comprehension task performance was aff...

متن کامل

The Effect of Task Complexity on EFL Learners’ Narrative Writing Task Performance

This study examined the effects of task complexity on written narrative production under different task complexity conditions by EFL learners at different proficiency levels. Task complexity was manipulated along Robinson’s (2001b) proposed task complexity dimension of Here-and-Now (simple) vs. There-and-Then (complex) in. Accordingly, three specific measures of the written narratives were targ...

متن کامل

ذخیره در منابع من


  با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید

برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

عنوان ژورنال:

دوره   شماره 

صفحات  -

تاریخ انتشار 2005