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The Effects of Divided Attention on Speech Motor, Verbal Fluency and Manual Motor Task Performance

Research in dual task performance varies widely in its methodology and results. The present study employed three different types of activity to provide insights into the interference that occurs in dual task performance. Twenty young adults completed a speech task (repeating a sentence), a verbal fluency task (listing words beginning with the same letter), and right- and left-handed motor tasks (placing pegs and washers in a peg board) in isolation and in concurrent conditions. Speech kinematic data revealed that during concurrent performance of manual tasks, lip displacement and peak velocity decreased, while sound pressure level and spatiotemporal variability increased. The impact of manual motor performance on speech differed between the right and left hand. Manual motor scores significantly decreased when concurrently performed with the verbal fluency task. Also, verbal fluency results declined when performed concurrently with left-handed manual motor task. These findings suggest that cortical localization of control may be more complex than is predicted by the functional distance hypothesis.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:BGMYU2/oai:scholarsarchive.byu.edu:etd-1546
Date08 July 2005
CreatorsHamblin, Erin
PublisherBYU ScholarsArchive
Source SetsBrigham Young University
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
SourceTheses and Dissertations
Rightshttp://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/

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