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PubMed · 876803

Noise and attention span.

J J O'Malley·J Gallas
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Abstract

The effect of emotional arousal, as induced by broad-band noise, upon breadth of attention was investigated. Four intensity levels were employed (no noise, 75 db, 85 db, and 100 db). Two of the tasks, Stroop color-word test, rod-and-frame test, required narrowed attention and the third, Tsai-Partington pathways test, required broader attention. Arousal level did not significantly affect performance on the rod-and-frame test or the pathways test, althouth in the latter a curvilinear trend was suggested. A complex relationship between arousal level and Stroop performance was obtained; performance of the 85-db group was superior to that of other groups, which did not differ significantly from one another. Results were discussed in terms of Easterbrook's (1959) arousal hypothesis.

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Acoustic StimulationArousalAttentionColor PerceptionCuesFemaleField Dependence-IndependenceHumansMaleNoisePitch DiscriminationPsychological TestsJournal ArticleResearch Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

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J J O'Malley, J Gallas. 1977. Noise and attention span.. https://doi.org/10.2466/pms.1977.44.3.919

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